"Bernie Sanders: Still Ahead of His Time"

Apr 1, 2020

This video from RootsAction points to why Sanders is the strongest candidate to take on the coronavirus pandemic.

A video released Thursday by progressive advocacy organization RootsAction uses decades of archival footage to show that the deadly coronavirus pandemic has—in just a matter of weeks—vindicated Sen. Bernie Sanders' career-long support for Medicare for All and sweeping economic change.

"They're basic problems in our political and economic system that Bernie Sanders has been correctly diagnosing his entire career."
—Norman Solomon, RootsAction

The two-minute clip features footage dating back to 1987 of Sanders, today a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, warning about the "crisis of affordable healthcare" and urging the U.S. government take steps to "protect the American people and people throughout the world" from a possible global outbreak on the scale of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.

"Voters are watching in real time as Bernie Sanders' platform—Medicare for All, a federal housing guarantee, paid leave for everyone, and much else—is looking more and more like a common-sense solution to huge problems," Jeff Cohen, co-founder of RootsAction.org, said in a statement.

"With 27 states and territories left to cast their votes [in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary]," said Cohen, "we believe that it's important to deliver this message as widely as possible."