Bernie rushes forward with 975 elected delegates and Hillary sits with 1,243 as of March 29, 2016. Bernie’s real elected delegate count is closer to 1,020 after the state of Washington allocates its remaining delegates to Bernie. Bernie won five out of the last six primary states and is continuing to push forward with “yuuuuge” momentum!

There are a little over 1,700 elected delegates left in the race for the Democratic Primary nomination. Bernie Sanders continues to grow and flourish with additional media attention late in the race, while Hillary and her campaign continue to work to avoid falling behind. Bernie took five out of six states and won more total delegates this past week. Bernie won 126 elected delegates while Clinton lagged behind with only 75 total delegates, despite Bernie not yet being allocated his 72 percent of the vote in Washington. After Bernie receives his total and HRC receives her proper total, it will reflect a much bigger win for Bernie. A quick calculation reveals Bernie winning with 175 delegates last week and HRC with only 93 elected delegates. This is well over the range of the 55-60 percent of elected delegates Bernie will need to retain to win the national nomination. In this article, I will investigate further the superdelegate debacle and describe a few reasons why Bernie Sanders is gaining “yuuuuge” momentum in this primary race.

First: The undecided superdelegates. As you may have noticed, not all of the superdelegates are being allocated as the primary race moves forward. This could be for a variety of reasons; however, what it shows is that some of the superdelegates are waiting to cast or announce their vote until all democratic voters have spoken. This will be a reoccurring statement: Superdelegates cannot officially cast their vote until the Democratic National Convention in late July. That means their vote does not matter right now. Superdelegates will be obliged to fall in line with democratic voters of this country, or the DNC will face a landslide of lawsuits. The superdelegates are free to change their announced vote up until the Democratic convention in July. When voters continue to support Bernie, superdelegates  will fall in line. The media should not even be considering or tallying superdelegate votes. By doing so, the media continues to exacerbate the problem that so many democratic voters are outraged by, namely establishment politics and liberals who want to keep the status quo. When we consider those superdelegates that Hillary continues to rack up because of establishment politics, we can consider them null and void until July.

When voters continue to support Bernie, superdelegates  will fall in line. The media should not even be considering or tallying superdelegate votes.

Let’s outline some of Bernie’s proposals and the reasons he is gaining “yuuuge” momentum. I gathered this information straight from Bernie Sanders’ website, where he has provided detail on not only his proposals for his time in office, but also has outlined how to carry out these plans monetarily. His proposals are reasonable, and, quite frankly, they just make sense for an America in the 21st century. Bernie’s plans include but are not limited to: the Rebuild America Act, College for All, Expand and Extend Social Security, Youth Jobs Program and Renewable Energy and Clean Jobs Transition among other things. I won’t go into all of these, but it is good to know that each of these plans has smaller goals within their respective frameworks.

In Bernie’s College for All act, he lays out the “six steps” he will take to make sure that more Americans get the college education they deserve in order to be competitive in a global economy. Steps include, “make tuition free at public colleges and universities, stopping the federal government from making a profit on student loans, allowing Americans to refinance student loans at today’s low rates.” These are sensible steps to making college more accessible to everyone. The federal government should not be profiting from student loans, nor should it prevent students from refinancing their loans at current rates. Americans can refinance other large portions of their debt, so why not their student loans? Bernie’s plans take a multifaceted approach at solving complex issues which impact middle and working class Americans. In later articles, we will dissect some of these issues in more detail. The biggest critique Bernie faces for all his proposals is: “How’s he gonna pay for all this?” This is my favorite part, because Bernie does have a plan to pay for all of this, and it simply makes sense.

Americans can refinance other large portions of their debt, so why not their student loans?

How Bernie pays for his proposals. I am willing to be honest here with very broad strokes. Bernie Sanders is going to tax the wealthy and Wall Street into paying their fair share of rates in taxes. If you are single making under 200k or married making jointly under 250k, Bernie’s proposed tax brackets will not affect you. The truth of the matter is Bernie’s proposed tax rates will not even return the United States to tax rates of Eisenhower, Nixon or Reagan. I will concede that Reagan did lower the rates of the highest tax bracket from 70 percent to 50 percent after his first year in office, but that was if you made over 85k (jointly married) or 41k (if filing single). However, Bernie wants to return the United States highest bracket to rates of only 52 percent if you make over $10 million and only 37 percent if you make 250k-500k. Skipping a history lesson: Bernie’s plans are not as far left as they appear to be. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who are considered the champions of the conservative right, taxed at rates much higher than Bernie’s proposed plans do. So I fail to see what all the fuss is about.

The truth of the matter is Bernie’s proposed tax rates will not even return the United States to tax rates of Eisenhower, Nixon or Reagan.

In the next article, I will go into a few more of Bernie’s plans and how he plans to pay for them in more detail. Until then, please like “UCSB For Bernie” on Facebook to see all of our upcoming events, meetings and information for Get Out the Vote. We will hold a general meeting with a special guest on Thursday, March 31 at 6 p.m. in the State Street room in the UCen.

UCSB For Bernie and Riley Brann are continuing to vie for Senator Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic Presidential Nomination. They hope you #FeeltheBern and will get out to vote!

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