More than 3,700 people squeezed into a Minneapolis gym to hear presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders lay out his campaign agenda. More people were left standing outside. Upon arrival, Sanders said he would like to ask people in the gym to sit down, but there were no more chairs.
Sanders said his campaign had scheduled the Minnesota stop as almost an afterthought - it was on the way to Iowa. But the event which was scheduled to be a gathering for two hundred at a union headquarters quickly drew thousands of RSVPs and was moved to the larger gym at the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
People are calling for "a political revolution in this country," said Sanders. He said it will take more than him to fight back against the powerful "billionaire class" that runs Washington, D.C. politics and uses its money to get middle class people to vote against their own best interests.
Sanders says the economy is "rigged" to benefit the most wealthy and that has to change so it works for everyone and not just a privileged few.
“Enough is enough, we want that wealth to come back to the working families."
Sanders called for a federal government jobs program to rebuild the country's decaying infrastructure. He also wants a higher minimum wage, pay equity for women, guaranteed sick leave and vacation, and free tuition at every college and university in the United States.
Sanders said people need to realize that we are the richest most powerful nation in the world and can afford to do what's right for its people.
He then turned to the environment, stating unequivocally that science has shown climate change is real, man made, and has devastating consequences. He faulted the Koch brothers and other corporations that fund climate change deniers. "“We are not going to allow them to destroy this planet for their short term profits.