bernie-sanders

When I was a young man, I did smoke marijuana on several occasions. For me, the result was a lot of coughing. Having said that, I strongly believe that we should move toward the legalization of marijuana because that issue is an integral part of our failed criminal justice system. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country, and there are millions of Americans who have police records because they were arrested for possessing marijuana. And when that happens, it can be harder to get a job or an apartment. If we are serious about criminal justice reform in this country, we must move towards the legalization of marijuana and that is something I’ll fight for.

Let me thank all of you for joining us today and asking very great questions. My plea is please get out and vote and bring your friends your family members and co-workers to the polls. We are now living under the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. We have got to end one-party rule in Washington and elect progressive governors and state officials. Let’s revitalize democracy. Let’s have a very large voter turnout on Tuesday. Let’s stand up and fight back. Thank you all very much. Please make a plan to vote here: https://iwillvote.com/

This a very important question and an issue I’ve been working very hard on for the last year. In fact, a resolution I brought the Senate floor with Senators Lee and Murphy called for ending in the war in Yemen. That war is an unbelievable and horrific humanitarian disaster. That country is facing a cholera epidemic and widespread famine. We should not be allied with a dictatorship like Saudi Arabia who is leading the effort in that war. Further, in my view, that war is unconstitutional because Congress, which has the war-making authority in our form of government, has not authorized it. Let’s get out of Yemen as soon as possible and help bring humanitarian help to that struggling country.

Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship which does not tolerate dissent, which treats women as third class citizens and which is run by a handful of multi-billionaires. I strongly condemn Trump’s affection for the rulers of Saudi Arabia, and if we are to avoid a never ending war in that part of the world, it is imperative that we develop an even-handed policy toward Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In my view, the younger generation is the most progressive generation in the history of our country. They are leaders in the fight against sexism, racism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and discrimination. They also understand, even though Trump does not, that climate change is very real and has to be addressed. This younger generation, will have a lower standard of living than their parents if we don’t turn the economy around and create jobs that pay decent wages. I have talked to too many college graduates who are earning 10 or 11 bucks an hour - and that is not acceptable. Further, millions of young people have left school deeply in debt and are struggling hard to pay off those debts. Low wage jobs and high debt makes for a difficult existence. My hope is, that young people in response to these issues will become increasingly involved in the political process and stand up for their rights. The young people can turn this country around if they run for office, if they vote and if they get involved. I very much hope they will.

I think we need to make a lot of improvements we have got to appreciate the young people of this country are the future of America. That means ending the absurdity that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. Children cannot learn if they’re hungry or homeless or if their families are struggling with drug addiction. Further, we have got to respect educators in this country and make sure that we attract the best and brightest to the teaching profession by paying our teachers good wages and providing them with good working conditions. Unbelievably, in America today, there are states like Oklahoma and Colorado where kids are going to school 4 days a week because of budgetary constraints. How insane is that? Further, we need to move toward universal, affordable childhood pre-K. The bottom line is: instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations we need to fund our schools and respect educators.