By Kira Yates ’16

When presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist, he is not talking about the government owning and controlling major industries or the Marxist theory that socialism is the transitional stage between capitalism and communism.

Instead, Sanders argues that American workers deserve a lot more benefits, like what many workers around the world already receive. “Let me define for you, simply and straightforwardly, what democratic socialism means to me … It builds on the success of many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than we have in protecting the needs of their working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor,” Sanders explained.

He likens this system to the types of government in many Scandinavian countries of Europe. “I talked to a guy from Denmark, and he said, ‘In Denmark, it is very hard to become very, very rich, but it’s pretty hard to be very, very poor.’ And that makes a lot of sense to me,” Sanders said. He added that in Denmark, health care is a right for all, and college education is free.

Sanders is running to “fight for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all,” while taking “on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class,” according to his website. Sanders believes in closing the gap between the billionaire class and the rest of the country. In order to do this, Sanders plans to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour and to impose tax hikes and fees on the wealthiest Americans.