White River Junction
As the independent senator took the stage at Lyman Point Park to mark Labor Day, a crowd of about 150 people, many wearing “Feel the Bern” clothing and campaign buttons, pressed toward the stage. Some had recycled their old campaign signs to show support.
Sanders took the opportunity to rally the crowd around his now-familiar campaign agenda.
Speaking in his signature blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, he exhorted the crowd with talk of campaign finance reform, a $15 minimum wage and taxing large banks.
“Is it moral that today, the top one-tenth of one percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent,” Sanders asked, to a loud reply of “No” from the crowd.
“Is it acceptable that the 20 wealthiest people in this country, 20 people, own more wealth than the bottom half of the American people,” he asked again to another loud “No.”
“What we are seeing — and what scares me very, very much — is a movement in this country toward oligarchy, an economy and politics controlled by a handful of billionaires,” Sanders said.
The biggest cheers came as Sanders discussed health care, and Republican failed effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
“We are the only major country that does not guarantee health care to all as a right and we’re spending far more than any other country,” Sanders said. “In my view, the time is now for the United States to pass Medicare-for-all single-payer health care.”
Sanders recently introduced a bill in the Senate that would do just that.
Sanders’ stop in White River Junction was one of four on Monday, with the senator also attending events in Manchester, Concord and Middlebury, Vt. The events come at a time when many have speculated whether Sanders intends to make another run for the presidency in 2020.
To that end, Sanders on Monday got practice taking aim at President Donald Trump, and recent reports that the president intends to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, which grants work permits to undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them to the Unites States as children. Trump is expected to announce his decision today.
“If he does that, please be assured that I and many others in the Senate and the House will do everything we can to pass legislation to overturn” the order, Sanders said to applause.
He also targeted the Trump administration’s attempts at it’s top ligislative prioirty this fall, tax reform legislation, saying the party’s plan will benefit the wealthiest and corporations.
“Billionaires do not need more tax breaks, they need to start paying their fair share,” Sanders said.
Sanders told his supporters that their No. 1 job is to stop Trump from further dividing the nation along partisan lines.
“Our second job is to bring forth a progressive agenda which speaks to the needs of the working people of this country,” Sanders said.
Many of Sanders’ supporters in the crowd said it’s that progressive message that continues to draw their interest, even in off-election years.
“He hits all the main issues,” said Katie Smith, a Norwich resident and longtime supporter.
Smith said she initially was skeptical of Sanders’ primary run, but now she hopes the Democratic Party will adopt the senator’s platform broadly in future elections. “He definitely got somewhere,” Smith said. “I didn’t really believe it in his presidential run, but I sure wish things would have turned out differently.”
State Rep. Kevin Christie, D-Hartford, also attributed the crowd to Sanders’ policy agenda. Christie was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Sanders, and said a broad cross-section of Americans can be found at events across the country.
“There’s a lot of people looking for that same message, and I think that’s what draws us all, is we have that common spirit,” he said.
Others continue to support Sanders in the hopes that he can defeat Trump in a potential future race. “I would love to see Bernie run again. I would love to see Bernie in there now,” said Allison Zito, a Claremont resident.
Zito said she grew up thinking America stood for human rights, both domestically and around the globe. But she now feels those ideals take a backseat to corporate interests.
“At this point, I feel like our government is the biggest criminal there is,” she said.
Candace Briere, who lives in Quechee, supports Sanders because his efforts to reform health care.
“There’s a chance that we could all lose an awful lot, and I think it’s really important for everybody to understand that he has a message to bring to the federal government, to bring to Washington,” Briere said.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.