Hello.
My name is Nathan (Nate) Jacobs and I support Bernie Sanders for President in 2016. I just turned 18 and I ideologically identify as a Liberal Republican.
You might be asking yourself, why is someone who identifies as a Republican supporting Bernie Sanders? Don’t most Republicans think Bernie Sanders is a crazy old socialist who wants to take their money and put it into failed social programs?
First, a bit of context. The Republican Party of today is incredibly conservative. Far, far more conservative than it was in the 70’s, 60’s, or even the 1900’s. The party is starved for Moderates and Liberals. It is captained and controlled by religious fanatics who think we should live in a theocracy and billionaires who say “to heck with the lesser endowed”. This has led to the stereotype of Republicans as the “dark side of the force” to use the Star Wars reference and that the Democrats are the opposite.
What most people do not realize is that today’s Democrats are a lot like 1980’s Republicans. They increasingly favor allowing the market to operate with minimal regulation and are largely content to sit on their hands about the environmental issue for instance. So when I say that I am a liberal Republican, I mean that I am like a Liberal Democrat, except I take a slightly different view of the function of government. What this means is that I am at the liberal end of my party, like a Liberal Democrat , but that I have a different view of government.
I do not think government should be any bigger than it has to be. I think the market is always more efficient than the government when it is not burdened by any more bureaucratic regulations than are necessary. I support the death penalty in limited instances. I am opposed to abortion in most cases except for rape, incest, and poverty. I think the minimum wage should be a starter wage instead of a slave wage. I think trade deals are good for human rights but are easily abused when only corporate interests are the ones at the table. I am largely opposed to higher taxes but am in favor of fair taxes. I am in favor of tax breaks for big businesses if they invest in renewable energy and other useful, environmentally friendly projects. I support Nuclear power. I want to get big (soft) money out of elections by overturning Citizens United.
To keep it brief I will not go into my position on every issue but I wanted to illustrate my beliefs as a progressive or Liberal Republican. They tie in a great deal as to why I support Bernie Sanders for President.
I support Senator Sanders mainly because he is honest. He has taken no money from the financial sector or any of the other special interest groups, unless you count Unions (and their donations have made up a tiny portion of his 74 million$ in donations) and those represent real people as well. He has a long history of voting for people’s interests instead of those of special interests. In short, he is a very honest politician, the very antithesis of one in today’s climate. When I vote for a president for the first time I want that person to be thinking of their people when they gets in office, not just when they are campaigning. I know that Bernie Sanders will be thinking of the people who supported him if he wins, not just because he has exceptional integrity but because he has taken donations from virtually no one but the people.
At a time of corporate domination of the airwaves, of the television, and elections I strongly believe that we need someone like Bernie Sanders to remind us that America should be a government by the people and for the people not by the wealthy few. As he said himself, he is running because he “gives a damn” not because he wants to advance his career, or give massive bailouts to some multibillion dollar company. Isn’t that what the Presidential office should be about? A President should be the Commander in Chief, not the Commander and Thief! They should care deeply about the interests of working people not the powerful few and like Abraham Lincoln, a conservative hero, I strongly believe that Bernie Sanders is the man we need to save the Union. But this time, it is not being destroyed by armed soldiers and segregationists, it is being destroyed by lies, greed, and a vicious economy that actively screws over the working man from making his own way in the world.
That brings me to my second, and final point. I support Bernie Sanders because he is the only candidate who will challenge the corporate plutocracy and bribery that is destroying this country. Every other candidate supports it or is backed by it! For example, Hillary Clinton is a woman of two faces. She suddenly cares about regular people when she needs their vote but in the Senate she repeatedly voted against their interests and took money from Goldman Sachs, TimeWarner, and Donald Trump! Then there is the Republican clown car. All of them are backed by millionaires or billionaires. In Donald Trump’s case the candidate is the billionaire. I strongly oppose all of these candidates. None of them will challenge the orgy of greed and thievery that takes place every day on K street, on Wall Street, and that has enslaved the U.S. Congress. Not one of them will actively prosecute the people who caused the 2008 financial crisis and got away with it scot free while sending the victimized taxpayers a 700 billion dollar bill to bail them out. But I know Bernie Sanders and his “Too big to fail? Too big to jail!” will do exactly that.
The Koch brothers, who have savings and investments in the billions, plan to spend 900 million dollars in this election. They have made 115 billion dollars in revenue and paid less than 1% in taxes by exploiting one loophole after another (Source). 1%!
As a Republican I do not understand that. While I may not favor most tax hikes it is unbelievable to me that anyone with that kind of money pays so little in taxes.
While we are talking about abortion, or de-funding planned parenthood, or gun control, the Koch brothers are paying less than 1 percent in taxes. They are paying science hacks millions upon millions to lie about climate change, which is causing more vicious storms and tornadoes that are killing people worldwide and in the South. They are pushing candidates that deny climate change, that think we should give up our freedoms for an illusion of safety, and who think already low corporate taxes should be even lower!
Theodore Roosevelt once compared giant corporations and the super-rich to slave owners:
"Of course there are many sincere men who now believe in unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly many sincere men who believed in slavery -- that is, in the unrestricted right of an individual to own another individual. These men do not by themselves have great weight, however. The effective fight against adequate government control and supervision of individual, and especially of corporate, wealth engaged in interstate business is chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to States' rights.... The chief reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily to the central government... The proposal to make the National Government supreme over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, for which the Constitution was founded. It does not represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgement of the patent fact that centralization has already come in business...”
While issues like terrorism and gun violence are important we cannot adequately address them until we address the ongoing robbery that goes on in the United States by the powerful few of the many. If we truly want the United States to be a land of opportunity, where a man or woman who wishes to advance themselves can do just that through hard work, tenacity, and ingenuity we need to have more income equality. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who is not for sale or has not made his money exploiting the system as Donald Trump has. Bernie may increase taxes on all people to pay for, but I would much rather pay a little more in taxes than endless premiums and deductibles to some health insurance company.
That is why Bernie Sanders has my vote and I would urge my fellow Republicans to think not of the small and divisive issues, like abortion, when you decide who to support. Instead I urge you to think of how more people are working harder for less money. I urge you to think of the rising level of income inequality and how wages for the wealthiest have exploded by comparison with everyone else.
At one time the Republican Party, my party, was the party of integrity. They stood up to the slave-owners and sided with the abolitionists. They believed in the freedom of all Americans. Now, Republican lawmakers and talk show hosts are telling us that gays should have less rights than the rest of us. Now, they are saying that corporate welfare should continue while working people see little to no increase in their income and the middle class continues to shrink. Now they are on the side of the slave owners. Look, many of us may not agree with Bernie on the small things like gay marriage or tuition free college, that’s understandable. I disagree with him on a number of his policies. But Bernie is the candidate to vote for because he supports the basic Republican ideal of liberty, and freedom. He supports your freedom from a plutocracy, your freedom to make a living wage, your freedom to go to a decent school, your freedom to compete in the marketplace, and finally your freedom to have healthcare that doesn’t bankrupt you.
That is why I am voting for Bernie Sanders, and why anyone who values freedom should too.
Edited as of Jan. 9 for grammatical mistakes and to clarify some parts of this diary.