Sevan Sinton
Associate News Editor
Bernard “Bernie” Sanders was born on Sept. 4, 1941 in Brooklyn, to Jewish-Polish parents Eli and Dorothy Sanders. His father, Eli, found modest work as a paint salesman, managing to sparingly provide for his two sons, Larry and Bernie.
“It’s not that we were poor, but [there was always] the constant pressure of never having enough money,” said Bernie to the Sanders Institute, “the money question to me has always been deep and emotional.”
His mother, Dorothy, was a homemaker who passed away when Bernie was only 18. She had instilled the message of working hard in school to achieve more than she had growing up, a sentiment that Bernie would carry into his political career.
However, witnessing his family struggle financially was a stark reminder to Sanders that working hard may not guarantee financial success. Many families, still struggling today, have been relegated to financial comeuppance for generations, struck down by the same system that promises “The American Dream” to all who take advantage.
After graduating from James Madison High School, he attended Brooklyn College. In 1960 he enrolled at the University of Chicago and switched his major from English to political science.
“My mom had died the previous year,” said Sanders, “I felt it was time to leave the neighborhood and see what the rest of the world looked like.”
During Sanders’ years in Chicago, he became a leader in civil rights and pushed for housing desegregation within the university. In August of 1963, he was charged with resisting arrest while protesting against the segregation of schools in Chicago, two weeks later, he attended the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, he graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor’s degree in political science.
Fast forward to July 2016. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) was hacked, and thousands of emails and attachments were leaked to the public which showed favoritism to Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton over Sanders. The emails included numerous attacks against Sanders intended to destabilize his campaign, which was against the DNC’s proposed neutrality in selecting a nominee. The emails between high-ranking DNC staff and DNC chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz included statements such as calling Sanders’ campaign “a mess” and “[The Sanders Campaign] never had its act together.” The controversy even forced Wasserman Schultz to resign in the midst of the Clinton campaign.
So why was Sanders, a lifelong politician, preacher of democratic ideas, a fighter for racial equality, an experiencer of financial struggle, and promoter of keeping large corporate interests out of politics, cast aside by the DNC in 2016? There is no one correct answer. However, it is true that the political machine that fostered Sanders failed him in 2016. Despite his backing of Democrat presidential nominees such as Clinton, President Joe Biden, and Vice-President Kamala Harris, the same party that promotes worker rights and equality has never explicitly backed the Vermont Senator.
The 2020 election saw Sanders end his Democrat nomination bid against Biden in April, which was exacerbated by former President Barack Obama routinely campaigning on behalf of Biden. The Democrat strategy of ‘keeping it in the family’ proved successful in 2020 by defeating Donald Trump, but quickly saw doubt as questions over Biden’s mental aptitude were raised. Still, Sanders remained staunch in his support of the Party.
Now, in the wake of the 2024 Presidential Election, which saw President-elect Trump soundly defeat Vice President Harris, Sanders has starkly come out against the failed Democratic bid.
“It should come as no surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” wrote Sanders in an official statement on Nov. 6, “Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from the disastrous campaign? . . . Probably not.”
Sanders has even gone on to condemn the Party, calling for Democrats to stop “hanging their hats” on identity politics.
“Trump had his vision. It was incorrect, it was dishonest, it was in many cases racist and sexist,” Sanders said on “The Daily” podcast. “He had a vision. He had an explanation. In my view, Democrats really did not.”
Sanders, 83, will look to use the time he has left to enact change in a Senate that saw Republicans win 53 seats in 2024. This time, without the backing of any major Democrat interests.
Bernie Sanders trusted the System, but the System did not trust Bernie Sanders.