Bernie Sanders on What Corporate Media Does Not Want Discussed: The Oligarchy

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont penned a new op-ed published Wednesday in which he attempts to redirect the American electorate away from what most media outlets seem fixated upon to a subject he argues they would rather not acknowledge, discuss, or promote—let alone challenge: the existence and power of the nation's oligarchy, which day by day continues to hollow out democracy while keeping the working class mired in relative poverty with families scraping to meet basic material needs.

"Let’s take a deep breath and, for one moment, forget about Donald Trump, Jimmy Kimmel, the UN, Charlie Kirk, Gaza, a government shutdown, and the other crises that we face," writes Sanders, an Independent, in The Guardian.

Instead, he says, "Let’s talk instead about the reality which the corporately-controlled media and the corporately-controlled political system don’t talk about very much," which is a two-tiered nation in which extremely wealthy billionaires—including mega-billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg—live in "a world completely removed from ordinary Americans" that struggle to have affordable healthcare, housing, and education while earning wages that are lower, on average, than they were half a century ago despite huge increases in worker productivity.

Sanders writes:

What we are witnessing right now is the rise of two Americas. One for the billionaire class. And one for everybody else.

In one America, the richest people are becoming obscenely richer and have never, ever, had it so good. That America is overflowing with unimaginable wealth, greed and opulence that makes the Gilded Age seem very modest.

And then there is a second America–an America where a majority of people live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to secure the very basic necessities of life–food, healthcare, housing and education.

The sad conclusion, Sanders argues, is that the political system in the United States "is badly broken," crushed by the same oligarchs who have amassed large enough private fortunes that they can control "our government, our economy, and our future."

Noting that Musk, Bezos, Ellison, and Zuckerberg—just four individuals—are now have an estimated $1.3 trillion in combined wealth, Sanders says it's not just them. "The top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 93%," he writes.

[The 1%] don’t ride overcrowded subways to get to work or sit in traffic jams to get home. They fly on private jets and helicopters they own. They live in mansions all over the world, send their kids to the most elite private schools and vacation on their own islands. And, for fun, some spend millions to fly off into space on their own rocket ships.

And then there is the other America, where the vast majority of our people live. For them, the economy is not just broken, it is collapsing. In this America, despite a massive increase in worker productivity, real weekly wages for the average American worker are lower today than they were more than 52 years ago.

Since Trump returned to office, Sanders has been traveling the nation as part of his "Fight Oligarchy" tour that has attracted tens of thousands of attendees in red, blue, and purple states. While the message appears to be resonating—and more lawmakers and candidate running for office echoing Sanders' message—the Vermont senator says the fight against massive inequality—both on the economic and political front—is far from over, but must be kept front and center.

After listing the litany of economic injustices faced by the nation's working class, Sanders says, "Enough is enough. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said in 1933: 'We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both.' That warning is even more relevant today."

Despite President Donald Trump being in office and the headwins seemingly in favor of the billionaire class, which has been able to buy elections and increase its stranglehold on major media outlets and platforms, Sanders suggests that the people still have the upper hand when it comes to the long-term battle for the nation's future.

"I know day-to-day life can take a toll, but we must not allow ourselves to fall into despair," he writes. "If we do not allow ourselves to be divided up by Trump and is oligarch allies, we can change the path we are on."

"The choice is clear," Sanders concludes. "Let’s stand together for democracy and justice."