"This Grotesque Level of Inequality Is Immoral"

"As some of you know, I was born in a far-away land called Brooklyn, New York.  My father came to this country from Poland without a penny in his pocket and without much of an education.  My mother graduated high school in New York City.  My father worked for almost his entire life as a paint salesman and we were solidly lower-middle class.  My parents, brother and I lived in a small rent-controlled apartment.  My mother's dream was to move out of that apartment into a home of our own.  She died young and her dream was never fulfilled.  As a kid I learned, in many, many ways, what lack of money means to a family.  That's a lesson I have never forgotten.
"I have seen the promise of America in my own life.  My parents would have never dreamed that their son would be a U.S. Senator, let alone run for president.  But for too many of our fellow Americans, the dream of progress and opportunity is being denied by the grind of an economy that funnels all the wealth to the top."


The Burlington Free Press prints Sen. Bernie Sanders's speech announcing his presidential campaign.