Bernie is the 'real recipe,' I want him to be president

To The Daily Sun,

I am a resident of Gilford and am proud to officially endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for president of the United States.

As a physician in practice for more than 20 years, I see the unsustainability of the current system where people forgo necessary care either because they are uninsured or underinsured. Even patients with insurance face financial hardship due to high deductibles and are still at risk for medical bankruptcy.

There is no reason that we are the only advanced democracy that does not guarantee health care for all of its citizens. Universal health care as a right is a non-controversial and non-partisan issue in all other industrialized nations. Senator Sanders was the first presidential candidate to successfully make this case to the American people. He took a position that was considered politically risky and made it mainstream.

Senator Sanders has been consistent in fighting for the rights of working people. He is a strong supporter of labor and collective bargaining. He was the first to recognize the damage that moving jobs overseas, outsourcing, canceling of pensions, job insecurity and gross income inequality was having on all Americans. These factors contribute to drug abuse, homelessness and suicides and have created and environment of despair and hopelessness that allowed a candidate like Donald Trump to become a viable candidate and be elected. Mr. Trump correctly understood the problem but missed the underlying causes, blaming immigrants and minorities. He tried to turn us against the most vulnerable and most powerless members of our communities. Bernie will get to the root of the problem and protect those in most need.

Bernie also has the strongest plan to combat climate change, which will save money both in property damage from stronger storms and rising seas and also save money and lives related to particulate pollution that is associated with burning fossil fuels. Investing in clean energy will keep us from falling behind other nations, including China, that are already investing in these technologies. We can’t pretend that we can hang on to or bring back the jobs of the past. We need to invest in the future and Bernie will do that.

Senator Sanders has transformed the Democratic Party away from a center-right, “Republican light” party that was just as much in bed with Wall Street as the Republicans and just as willing to dump on the weakest and most vulnerable of us when it suited them. The makeup of and the positions espoused by the current group of Democratic presidential candidates is a direct result of Senator Sanders 2016 campaign. And though there are many of the current crop of candidates that I admire, there is only one who is the “original recipe” and who has been unwavering in support of ordinary Americans for decades. There is only one candidate who transformed a party and can transform the government to one that works for the people instead of for monied interests. That candidate is Senator Bernie Sanders.

Michael Dowe

Gilford