During a speech at the California Democratic Convention in California, Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders made his stances on several important policy issues very clear: he will not compromise on the climate, on health care, or on guns.
Contrary to some of the establishment Democrats, such as Joe Biden that are building their campaign platforms on a more centrist approach, Sanders is taking a bolder progressive stance.
We have got to make it clear that when the future of the planet is at stake, there is no ‘middle ground,'” Sanders said. “We will take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system.”
“When it comes to healthcare, there is no middle ground,” Sanders continued. “When it comes to abortion, there is no middle ground. When it comes to mass shootings and the fact that 40,000 people were killed last year with guns, no middle ground.”
“In my view, we will not defeat Donald Trump unless we bring excitement and energy into the campaign, and unless we give millions of working people and young people a reason to vote, and a reason to believe that politics is relevant to their lives,” Sanders told his audience in California. “We cannot go back to the old ways, we have got to go forward with a new and progressive agenda.”
“When it comes to prescription drugs, there is #NoMiddleGround. We will take on the pharmaceutical industry and cut prescription drug prices,” wrote Sanders on Twitter, using the now trending hashtag #NoMiddleGround.
Sanders encouraged the crowd to unite against Trump, whom he called “a racist, a sexist, a homophobe and a religious bigot.”
“Together we are going to defeat a president who has the most corrupt administration in history,” Sanders said, “and a president who knows nothing about real American values.”
The speech helped kick off California’s state Democratic convention. 14 of the 24 presidential hopefuls attended, including Senators Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. Noticeably absent was Joe Biden, who currently leads Sanders in the polls for the Democratic nomination in California and nationwide, and who has promoted a criticized centrist approach to important policy topics such as climate change.
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