https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/sen-bernie-sanders-sits-down-with-seven-days-to-talk-about-aging-vermont-40575031Here's an interview from Seven Days that demonstrates how Sanders is likely to run again. Sanders has a strong instinct for bread-and-butter issues that matter to swing voters, and this has always been one of his greatest strengths.
Sanders' interest in issues of particular concern to elderly Vermonters dates back to his famous prescription bus runs to Canada. There are always a lot of votes to be won in this group, especially in a state as old as Vermont.
But Vermont is getting even older, and the cost-of-living is growing higher, driven by everything from housing costs, to workforce shortages, to rising state and local taxes. This feeds a cycle that drives working-age people out and leaves the elderly who are struggling to get by with even more difficulty getting housing, health care, and other necessities:
Long a champion for the have-nots, Sanders could have once been described as an underdog himself, until two presidential bids helped transform him into one of the most influential members of Congress. Vermont's senior senator now holds a powerful perch as the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or HELP. When he's not dragging in CEOs of major corporations for contentious hearings, Sanders is spending much of his time advocating for people 65 and older, whose ranks are set to grow by some 10,000 nationally each day through 2030. By then, roughly one in four Vermonters will be 65 or older.
If he runs again, which is still the modal expectation, I think he wants to run the score up by a lot. As I hinted at in my last post, the only other candidate to have filed anything with the FEC in this cycle is Scary Eagle Guy, a far-right figure by Vermont standards, who currently has enough cash on hand to buy about half a dozen cans of Heady Topper.
Estimates are seven out of 10 people might need some form of long-term care in their lifetimes. And yet we know the system we have now is not working for many. Labor shortages make it difficult to find workers who can help people age in place. Assisted-living facilities are priced well beyond the means of average Americans, and many end up having to dwindle their savings to qualify. Why hasn't anything been done about this?
People say, "If they only understood." My colleagues in Washington do understand. They're not stupid. They don't give a damn. And that's the point that most Americans don't know.
