Sanders rallies cheering Boise crowd, bashes ‘billionaires buying elections’

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, taking the podium to address thousands of cheering fans at Taco Bell Arena in Boise today, said, “You know, I thought I walked into the wrong state. I was told Idaho is a conservative state – that’s not what I see here today.” The crowd cheered.

“I think that our country is not quite as politically divided as the media makes out,” Sanders said to another loud cheer. “Whether you are a progressive as I am, whether you are a conservative as many people in Idaho are, I think there are relatively few people who think that American democracy is about billionaires buying elections.” That drew an even louder cheer. “My guess is that in Idaho or Vermont, what people mean when they talk about democracy is one person, one vote, not superPACs!”

Sanders spoke out against growing income inequality, saying, “You want a radical idea? Here’s a radical idea: Together we are going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 Percent.”

He said the nation has a “corrupt campaign finance system” and a “rigged economy, where most of us work longer hours for lower wages.” To big cheers, Sanders said, “In my view we should be investing for our young people in education and jobs making sure our kids stay in school or have decent jobs – that’s the investment, not jails and incarceration.”

“It is a better investment to send kids to the University of Idaho than to jail,” Sanders told the cheering crowd. “I am a former mayor, and that’s not a radical idea. We’re spending $80 billion a year locking people up. Don’t tell me that if we use that money for education, and for jobs and for other areas, that we can’t cut that prison population down significantly. Of course we can.”

He also drew big cheers for advocating re-thinking the “war on drugs,” saying Americans shouldn’t be getting criminal records for possession of marijuana. “Nobody thinks marijuana is heroin,” he said. “It should not be a federal crime.”