Straight Talk Where Few Politicians Dare to Talk At All

How will Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders force the U.S. Senate to deal with issues it rarely talks about if he is elected in 2006? Take a look at the video of his statement from his packed town hall meeting on poverty for a taste (on the bottom right at this link). Here's the most important excerpt:

"The issue of poverty is a difficult issue to talk about, and I will tell you why as someone who grew up in a family that didn't have a lot of money. Nobody wants to get up and say hey I am poor look at me. Nobody wants to do that, because there is an element of shame attached to that, an element of failure attached to that. But we have got to overcome that.

"What I want to say to people is that you and I know there are so many people in the state of Vermont who work day and night trying to be the best workers they can be, the best providers they can be, the best parents they can be. People are working one job, two jobs, three jobs, sacrificing for their kids, for their grandchildren trying to do the right thing. I know there are some people who don't work very hard, but those are a minority of people. The vast majority of people are struggling, they are working as hard they can and I don't want anyone who is in that position today to start blaming themselves, to start saying I am a failure in life. You are not a failure. Our system is failing the American people, you are not failing your family."

That's the kind of thing you rarely hear in Washington, where politicians are more comfortable publicly berating people who are struggling to get by. And that's the kind of thing a Senator Sanders will force the Senate to start dealing with if he is elected in 2006.