Binghamton feels the Bern

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One of the only ways to get thousands of college students to stand outside at 7am is a Bernie Sanders rally. With queues that went on for blocks, the smell of wheatgrass smoothies, and an arena more riddled with TSA than an airpot, excitement was high at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.

As the stadium slowly filled to capacity, a number of speakers came on, ranging from a struggling but vivacious Verizon employee, to Binghamton’s own student city council member, to even a spirited Texas populist. The rally also attracted an interesting juxtaposition between professional journalists and student writers trying to get the scoop.

Binghamton served as an ideal place for a Bernie Sanders rally, with a diverse crowd of college students mixed with Binghamton locals who know first hand what it is like to live in an area neglected by the government. These two key demographics make up a large portion of Bernie Sanders support. There was a nice medley containing dreadlocks, fedoras, suits, and sweats. Well, this and the fact that Bernie used to teach at Binghamton University.

When Bernie finally made his appearance the crowd erupted, featuring Bernie’s recognizable and unique shade of red face. After asking the crowd if they are ,”ready for a political revolution,” there was an electricity in the air, with a magnetism  that drew everyone towards Bernie and onto the edge of their seats.

After that it was the Bernie Sanders show as you can imagine, aside from a few light hearted agitators wearing “Make America Great Again” apparel. Excitement reached a high when he mentioned his plan to lift the federal controlled substance label that Marijuana currently has.

From thereon after Bernie continued to make his regular run around the statistics that support his policies. Overwhelming numbers such as twenty people controlling more money than half of the American population along with the Whalton family owning more wealth than the bottom of the American 40 percent were featured as per usual.

Ian Brill, sophomore English major, was happy to have this opportunity. “Waking up early is never something I want to do. But doing it for this, where all these Binghamton students want to make a difference… it’s pretty cool.”

Other students shared similar sentiments to Brill, like senior music major Adam Luftig. “It was refreshing to see a candidate with no agenda other than fighting for working families in America,” Luftig continued, “It was a very enthusiastic crowd which gave me hope for our countries future.”

Bernie appealed to the young crowd by referring to youth as the future of this nation, like an approving grandfather. He insisted that we must, “invest in our youth with jobs and education, not jails and incarceration.” Every and any statement he made were consistently followed by an overwhelming round of applause and cheer.

He followed with the differences between Hilary Clinton and himself, illustrating over and over his point of not accepting funding from big business. Reference was made to his unprecedented acquisition of 6 million individual contributions.

“When we began 11 months ago, we were 70 points behind Hilary Clinton, now we’re winning national polls,” said Sanders. As people left the arena there was a hopeful air all around, with a unified sense of support around the presidential hopeful. One thing was certain, Binghamton definitely felt the Bern.