How Bernie Changed the Democratic Debate The other candidates followed his lead, and leaned left.
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Democrats took the debate stage in Las Vegas at a crucial moment in American history.
As wealth inequality metastasizes to unsustainable levels, rich Americans and powerful corporations wield unprecedented—and growing—control over our politics. Voters are demanding answers.
This deep dissatisfaction has fueled the surprising rise of Bernie Sanders, who now leads Hillary Clinton in several key primary states. In Las Vegas, the candidates largely followed his lead: There was a substantive discussion about free college tuition, government action to raise wages, prosecuting Wall Street criminals, and expanding Social Security. There was even an exchange about the merits of socialism. Early in the debate, Anderson Cooper actually had occasion to ask, “Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist?”
The Democrats leaned eagerly left throughout the evening. Forty-two percent of Americans make less than $15 an hour, and both Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley favor a federal minimum wage of at least that much. Hillary Clinton wants a $12 hourly wage in most of the country, though she supports $15 in large urban areas. Paid sick leave is also a consensus position among the major Democratic candidates, as is pay equity. Clinton in particular repeatedly pushed “paycheck feminism” during the debate.
http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-changed-the-democratic-debate/
