Bernie Sanders has a powerful message. I am not immune to it as a Hillary supporter. To be honest when I first heard about Sanders running for the presidency, I rolled my eyes and said “pffff who’s gonna take this self-described socialist from Vermont seriously”. However, I was driving home from work one day and I found myself listening to a Bloomberg News interview with Sanders on the radio.

I was taken aback by the force and conviction in Bernie’s voice... that was the first time I heard him speak. There was something about Bernie’s speaking and message which created an emotion in me which I can’t easily describe. To put it succinctly, I’d say he was tugging at my conscience. Bernie’s passion and honesty in addressing our system of extreme economic inequality in America made me feel indignant… indignant about the economic injustice which exists and how the rich and powerful perpetuate this injustice to their advantage. 

However as soon as the Bernie interview was done, a nagging reality soon set in as I pondered more on his message and how his promised revolution would square up against reality in America. Because the truth of the matter is: the extreme economic inequity which exists in America is not just been perpetuated by the rich and powerful, the middle and working classes have dutifully allowed this to continue. This perturbing social experiment proves it: 

As you see in the video, regular Americans — some who might even be struggling to make ends meet, had no problem forking over what little they had to support a rich man who is boasting that he is “down to his last million”, but noone had such sympathy for a poor man who actually needs the money to survive. What we saw here is an example of the ubiquitous indifference towards the poor which is ingrained in American culture. 

To understand where this indifference is coming from, you have to analyse why America was founded and why people come to this country in the first place. The United States is truly a land of immigrants… the saying goes we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. The #1 reason why people were drawn to America and continue to be drawn to this country today, is the prospect of making a better life for themselves.

To many Americans, a person who is poor and homeless has failed to capitalize on the opportunities that America has to offer and is in that situation because of their own doing. Given that they see poverty as failure of the individual, they generally want nothing to do with the poor and feel very little sympathy for their plight. On the other hand, the rich are celebrated because they are seen as living up to their potential in the land of opportunities. Many Americans believe that they too can one day live up to this potential, and as a result continue to allow the wealthy to concentrate unprecedented wealth and power. 

This is why I believe Bernie’s Revolution will not have the impact politically that some of his supporters believe. You could take Americans’ indifference towards the poor as a proxy for their lack of action over the growing income inequality in America. Too many are busy chasing that elusive American dream and been distracted by things on Facebook and other modern trappings to notice or give a damn about the rich skimming all the cream off the surface. 

This is the reality of life in America. Given that I am resolved to making sure a Republican doesn’t appoint our next Supreme Court Justices and roll back all the progress we’ve made under Obama, I see no other choice but Hillary.