, as compiled by Andrew Prokip at Vox. I've included paragraphs on five subjects, with only subheads for the rest:
Move to a single-payer health care system
The major issue on which Sanders embraces "full socialism" is health care, where he maintains his longtime support of a single-payer health-care system. At an Iowa event last year, Sanders called Obamacare a "modest step forward." But he said much more work needed to be done on expanding coverage and reducing the costs of care: "We are the only major nation on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people." The problem, he said, is that in the current system, "the goal is for the insurance companies and the drug companies to make as much money as possible."
Sanders was a key supporter of Vermont's plan to implement the United States' first single-payer health care system. "If we do it and do it well, other states will get in line and follow us," he said. "And we will have a national system." But the plan has since foundered over cost concerns, and implementation has been indefinitely postponed. "It's not that it hasn't worked out, it hasn't been implemented," Sanders told The Hill this February.
Overturn Citizens United, publicly fund elections [...]
Free trade's expansion has been a "disaster"
"Unfettered free trade has been a disaster for the American people," Sanders told me. "It was pushed by corporate America with many Democrats including Bill Clinton and the Republicans working to support him." He said that during his two and a half decades in Congress, "I voted against all the trade agreements." He has been harshly critical of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and will make his opposition to it a key feature of his campaign.
Combat climate change with a carbon tax [...]
Don't cut Social Security—expand it (by taxing the wealthy more) [...]
More spending on infrastructure, less on defense
Sanders has proposed spending $1 trillion on modernizing infrastructure, saying it would both put people to work and generate more economic activity. As for deficits, he wants big cuts in military spending, saying, "It is absurd that the United States continues to spend almost as much on defense as the rest of the world combined." He's frequently suggested that any increases in defending should be fully funded by tax increases on the wealthy.
Don't tax the middle class more—they're already getting squeezed [...]
Raise the minimum wage quite a lot [...]
Supports immigration reform—but not guest worker programs for unskilled labor [...]
Does not support drug legalization
"I have real concerns about implications of the war on drugs," Sanders told Time in 2014. He said it's lasted decades, to "a huge cost and the destruction of a whole lot of lives of people who were never involved in any violent activities." But he added that especially considering Vermont's heroin epidemic, "I am concerned about the overuse of dangerous drugs." Asked about marijuana legalization, Sanders said he'd "look at it," but that "to me it is not one of the major issues facing this country."
Label foods with GMO ingredients [...]
Supports more gun control—but hasn't always [...]
Much more government funding for higher education [...]
Less foreign policy interventionism
Sanders is a critic of most large-scale military interventions abroad, saying they are frequently expensive and counterproductive. He opposed the Iraq War, says Republicans are now "itching" for a war with Iran, and said he had "reservations" about Obama's intervention in Libya.
"ISIS is a brutal, awful, dangerous army and they have got to be defeated," he said last year. But, he added, "this is not just an American problem," and called on Arab nations to take the lead in the fight. "This is a war for the soul of Islam and the Muslim nations must be deeply involved."
Stop the NSA's "out-of-control" surveillance [...]
Supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage [...]
Network neutrality is essential for free speech [...]
Reform the Export-Import Bank [...]
joins us, with Baltimore still dominating the headlines. Sanders is in, facing long odds as expected. A NYC cop reportedly tells protesters, "If we could arrest all of you, we might." Are we getting closer to that? They can already track or even punish protesters they can't arrest. Do we even know who's tracking us? Mike Lee says he can stop it. But can he? Can anyone? Hell, the Senate couldn't even curtail their own powers (see "secret hold"). How can they curtail executive power that claims it's unrestrainable? Should we be worried that it hasn't been that long since George Bush claimed it, and now his brother's running?