Cathedral City feels the bern

The line of Bernie Sanders supporters stretched down the sidewalk along Date Palm in Cathedral City this morning, as thousands of people waited to enter a rally for the Democratic presidential candidate. The rally today came shortly after a visit to the Coachella Valley by Sanders, and the day was desert perfect.

The upbeat energy of the crowd gathering for the rally was similar to that of the recent Joshua Tree Music Festival, helped along by the music of The Hive Minds, an indie rock/folk group from Palm Springs. A couple from Tucson, who noted this was their seventh Bernie Sanders rally, handed me a bumper sticker on the way into the rally. They were well prepared with campaign materials to hand out to anyone in need. T-shirts, buttons, and signs were in abundance outside the rally's entrance - for a price.

Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis was one of the speakers prior to Sanders taking the stage, with the crowd reacting enthusiastically to his brief talk on social justice, healthcare, and diversity. Pettis is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Karalee Hargrove, the Democratic opponent to Chad Mayes for the 42nd Assembly District race in 2014 introduced Sanders to the crowd that numbered between 2,000 and 3,000 at Big League Dreams. Hargrove is a Democrat from Twentynine Palms, and she did a fine job of rousing the crowd in preparation for Bernie's arrival on stage. Her impassioned speech left one wishing she was back in the race against Mayes this time around.

Bernie didn't waste time once he took the stage. He talked about campaign finance issues, noting Trump's quest to obtain campaign funding from Sheldon Adelson, putting it as a multi-billionaire supporting a billionaire. Sanders said while Trump calls himself a billionaire, it's difficult to know exactly how much he's worth as, "Donald Trump lies all the time."

Sanders talked about our corrupt campaign system, the need to overturn the disastrous Citizen's United Supreme Court decision, and his desire to see a publicly financed campaign system.

He addressed the rigged economy that has seen a massive redistribution of wealth over the past 25 years, with the top one-tenth of one percent of the country's population owning as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. He tackled the Waltons, the wealthiest family in America thanks to their company, WalMart. where too many of their employees rely on public assistance for food stamps and medical care.

"We need an economy that works for all of us, not just the one percent," Sanders stressed. "A country is judged by how it treats the weakest and most vulnerable citizens." He added his goal is that if you work 40 hours a week, "you will not live in poverty," adding that women, "should not be forced to work for 79 cents on the dollar," and men need to support women's pay equality.

Sanders noted that real unemployment is actually about double the government's rate of five percent, and we need to put people back to work, and scolded the country's corporate elite for the imbalance of wealth - and the resultant poverty that accompanies it.

"Your greed is helping to destroy this country," he stressed. "You are not going to get it all," adding that we are encountering greed that is "unparalleled in the history of our country."

Sanders took issue with the Disney corporation as well, with its CEO making around $42 million as Disney products are made in China.

"Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, come home!" Bernie exclaimed.

Sanders talked about diversity, and strongly included Native Americans in his comments, noting they have been cheated and lied to since the United States became a nation. His only mention of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, came when he spoke about fracking and climate change. His plans for free tuition to state college systems, healthcare for all, legalizing marijuana, and other topics were all addressed during the rally.

There was a colorful hi-desert contingent at the rally, which was large and enthusiastic, especially considering there was only about a one-day notice that it was taking place, and the fact it was held mid-day on a work day.

The message Sanders delivered today was largely common sense, not the hyped "socialism" boogie man schtick his opponents have tried to use to drive the image of the government giving away free things. Instead, it sounded like a well reasoned argument for Americans to finally get something benefiting Americans for their tax money. It sounded as if someone was letting us know we've been scammed for far too long. As Sanders noted, we don't have money for education or healthcare, but start a war - yeah, we've got trillions of dollars for that, no problem. How that gets spun into freeloaders wanting free stuff is the work of propagandists, and it could strongly be argued that their work in doing so is anti-American in its objectives.

The Sun Runner will be endorsing Bernie Sanders for president based upon his common sense stands on issues that impact all Americans, including those in the Southwest.

Bernie Sanders at the Cathedral City rally, May 25, 2016.