Remarks in Huntington, West Virginia Following the Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania Primaries

West Virginia, thank you!

What an extraordinary turnout tonight. Thanks so much for being here.

I want to thank all of you for being here.

I want to thank all of you for being prepared to stand up, fight back, and make this country the nation we know it can become.

This campaign is not just about electing a president; it is about transforming our nation.

It is about having the courage to demand a political revolution.

And you are the revolutionaries because you understand that unlike football or basketball, politics is not a spectator sport.

So let me tell you a secret that many others will not. You are all – each and every one of you – powerful people if you choose to exercise that power.

The fight that we are waging is not an easy fight. But I know you are prepared to wage that fight against the 1%, against the billionaire class and against a small number of people with incredible wealth and incredible power who control our economic life, our political life, and our media life.

When we began this campaign just about a year ago, we started with no political organization. We started with no money and we had no name recognition outside of Vermont.

And I want all of you to get up to Vermont and visit our beautiful state.

And when we began this campaign, the media said "Well, Bernie is a nice guy. He combs his hair really well. Top notch dresser. But nonetheless, he really is a fringe candidate. The campaign is a fringe campaign not to be taken seriously."

And in the middle of all of that, we were taking on the most powerful political organization in America – an organization that elected a president – President Clinton – on two occasions and ran a very strong campaign for president for Secretary Clinton in 2008.

And when we began this campaign, we were about 3% in the national polls. We were about 60 points behind Secretary Clinton. Well, a lot has happened in the last year.

As of today, we have now won 16 primaries and caucuses all over this country.

And with your help, we're going to win here in West Virginia.

We have won over 1,200 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

And in the last several weeks, the national polls – they don't show us 60 points down. A few of them have us actually ahead or a few points down.

And what is also extremely important, if the Democratic party is to look at which candidate is the candidate to defeat Donald Trump or any other Republican ... [applause]

What we are seeing on national polls which have us 15, 20 points ahead of Donald Trump -- far more than Secretary Clinton. [applause]

Almost -- almost every national poll and every state poll has us defeating Trump and that margin for us is significantly larger than that of Secretary Clinton. [applause]

And the reason that we are doing so much better against Republican candidates is that not only are we winning that overwhelming majority of Democratic votes but we are winning independent votes and some Republican votes as well. [applause]

And that is a point that I hope the delegates to the Democratic convention fully understand. In a general election, everyone -- Democrat, independent, Republican has the right to vote for president. [applause]

The elections are not closed primaries. We were in New York state last week. Three million people in New York state could not vote ... [applause]

Because they were independents. Well, you know what? Those folks and independents all over this country will be voting in November for the next president of the United States. [applause]

And in most cases we win the independent vote by a two to one margin. [applause]

This campaign is doing as well as it is with the extraordinary energy and enthusiasm that we are generating all across this country. Look at -- look at this room here tonight. We have over 6,000 people. [applause]

And the reason that we are generating this enthusiasm is because we are doing something very unusual in contemporary American politics. We are telling the truth. [applause]

Now, the truth is as every person here knows whether it is in our own personal lives or in our broad national political life -- truth is not always pleasant. It's not always something you are happy to hear but if we go forward as human beings -- if we go forward as a nation we cannot sweep the hard realities of our lives underneath the rug. We got to bring it out, we have to deal with it. [applause]

And unfortunately -- unfortunately media in this country for a variety of reasons largely because they're owned by major corporations do not -- do not deal in most cases -- there are great exceptions. But they do not deal with the realities of our lives in a way that we need to be discussing. [applause]

Now let me -- let me just give you a few examples of what I mean and making it really relevant to life here in West Virginia and I've been all over country. I have been all over this country and the things that I have seen are incredibly heartbreaking. I was for Flint, Michigan where children are being poisoned by lead in the water that they are drinking. [applause]

I have been to Detroit, Michigan where their public school system is on the verge of a fiscal collapse. [applause]

I have been to Baltimore, Maryland where tens of thousands of people are addicted to heroin. [applause]

And I know -- I know that addiction is a problem here and we'll get to that in a second. But the point is -- point number one, I want everybody here to know this. Never forget it. We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world but most people in our country don't know that because almost all of the new income and wealth is going to the top one percent. [applause]

We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world and that means that public school systems should not be collapsing. Youth unemployment in this country should not be 30, 40 or 50 percent. Our infrastructure should not be disintegrating. [applause]

So we as a people have got to ask some very hard questions and then have the guts to take on some very powerful people. [applause]

A great nation is not judged by the number of billionaires it has or the number of nuclear weapons it has. It is judged by how it treats the weakest and most vulnerable amongst us. [applause]

It is -- it is not acceptable to me that in America we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. That is not the way we should be treating the young people of this country. [applause]

And right here in West Virginia -- your beautiful state -- 100,000 children in this great state live in poverty. Over 24 percent of the total number of kids right here in West Virginia. [applause]

When we talk about employment, "officially," quote unquote, unemployment in America is supposed to be five percent but you know that that is not the case. Real unemployment is much, much higher than that. [applause]

In fact -- in fact right here in West Virginia this state has the lowest labor force participation rate in the country. In fact, only 54 percent of the working age population in this state has a job. [applause]

When we talk about the grotesque level and I talk about this a lot -- when I talk about the grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality, West Virginia is almost at the top of that list. [applause]

And again -- and again this is a national problem. Believe me, it exists in my state of Vermont but this is an issue we have got to deal with in every state in this country and listen to this. From 1979 to 2012, the top one percent of the people in West Virginia saw their income go up by more than 60 percent on average while the bottom 90 percent saw their income go down ... [applause]

Go down by four tenths of one percent and that is what we are seeing all over America. We have an economy today that is doing really, really, really great if you're in the top one percent. But if you're in the bottom 90 percent, the likelihood is you're working long hours for lower wages if you're lucky enough to have a job. [applause]

And I want everybody here to know this is not just -- I'm using West Virginia statistics tonight because I'm here. This is a national issue and that is why together we are going to create an economy that works for all of our people not just the people on top. [applause]

Couple of years ago I was chairman of a subcommittee in the Senate and we did a hearing on poverty as a death sentence. You know what I mean by that? [applause]

This is what I mean by that. When you hear about people being poor, people say, "well, that's too bad. They don't have a good car, their housing is really not good. They don't have enough money to go out to eat. It's really bad being poor." Being poor is much, much more than that. What being poor is about in America is you die at a significantly lower age than people who have money. [applause]

McDowell County here in West Virginia is one of the poorest counties in the United States of America. The United States of America being the richest country in the history of the world. In McDowell County, 77 percent of the children under 18 are living in poverty in the United States of America. [applause]

In McDowell County, men can only expect to live until the age of 63. [applause]

Now I want you to think about this. Again, being poor means -- it's not just you don't have the big flat screen TV or a fancy car. It means that you are dying at a significantly lower age than your fellow Americans. If you drive -- for example -- drive six miles north from this county, you go to Fairfax County, Virginia. In Fairfax County, men live on average until the age of 82 years of age -- 18 years more than men live (sic) in McDowell County.

The average life expectancy for a women in Fairfax County is 85. In McDowell County it is 73 years of age. [applause]

And it's not just McDowell County. We have counties like that -- maybe not so bad -- all over this country. These are issues of inequality that as a nation we have got to address. [applause]

Now, you know, one of the issues that I talk about a whole lot and it's directly related to poverty, directly related to unemployment is the fact that we have a broken criminal justice system. [applause]

Again, what this campaign is asking all of you is to think outside of the box -- think outside of the status quo, think beyond the options that corporate television allow you to envisage. [applause]

Think about why people in McDowell County die at a significantly lower age than people in wealthier communities. Think about why it is that in city after city in America we have youth unemployment levels of 40, 50, 60 percent and that relates to an international embarrassment that we have more people in jail than any other country on earth. [applause]

This is the United States of America. We should have the best educated people in the world. [applause]

Our people should have decent paying jobs not rot in jail. [applause]

Now, this campaign is going to win because we are doing something unusual. We are talking to the American people and not just the wealthy campaign contributors. [applause]

And when I talk about unpleasant truths that all of us have to address, truth number one is that we have a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining America democracy. [applause]

Think outside of the box. What does democracy mean? Is it not a complicated complex. It means that you have a vote, you got a vote, you got a vote, majority wins. [applause]

Democracy does not mean that the Coke brothers and a few other billionaires can spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy elections. [applause]

That is not democracy, my friends. That is called oligarchy. [applause]

And if we do not turn things around we will increasingly see an economy and a government run by a handful of billionaires and together we will not allow that to happen. [applause]

But is it not just -- it is not just a corrupt campaign finance system that we're going to have to address. It is a rigged economy. [applause]

And this is what a rigged economy means. It means today and listen to this. This is really pretty unbelievable. The top one tenth of one percent -- not one percent -- one tenth of one percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. [applause]

In America today, the wealthiest 20 people own more wealth than the bottom half of America -- 150 million people. [applause]

In American today, one family -- the Waltons family of Walmart -- one family owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people. [applause]

And you know what I say? I say enough is enough. [applause]

But it is not only an unfair distribution of wealth. It is income as well. Again, I want to say this to the young people who may not believe me and I want you to check it -- Google it after you get out of here. Not now. [laughter]

But here is the fact -- 40 years ago before the explosion of technology, before the cell phones and the space age technology and before the global economy it was possible in America for one person -- one breadwinner to earn enough money to take care of the entire family. [applause]

One breadwinner could take -- earn enough money to take care of the entire family. Well, then you got the whole global economy, all of the technology, you know what happens. Today, mom is out working, dad is out working, the kids are out working and they have less disposable income than a one breadwinner family had 40 years ago. Something is wrong with our economy. [applause]

In America today, in Vermont, West Virginia, you got people working not one job. They're working two jobs, they're working three jobs. You got people working longer hours for lower wages. We are going to create an economy that protects the needs of our workers, our children, our seniors, our veterans. All of the people of this country and not just the one percent. [applause]

Now, what does that mean? Is that a hard thing to do? No, it's not. Let me give you an example of some of what we have got to do. Number one, in America if you work 40 hours a week you should not be living in poverty. We're going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. [applause]

Fifteen bucks an hour will mean that millions of people will be able to support their families with the kind of dignity and security that they do not have today. [applause]

And second when we talk about equitable wages we're going to end the absurdity of women making $0.79 on the dollar compared to men ... [applause]

And I know that every man here will join the women in the fight for pay equity. [applause]

When unemployment rates throughout this country are extremely high especially in urban areas and in rural areas and when people are not making enough income to take care of their family, it is a no brainer to suggest we need a massive federal jobs program to put our people back to work. [applause]

In Vermont and in West Virginia and all over this country our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, our wastewater plants, our rail system, our airports, our levees and dams are in massive disrepair. We can create 13 million jobs with a trillion dollar investment. [applause]

Well, people say, "yeah. That's a nice idea. Yeah. Our infrastructure is crumbling. You're right, Bernie but how you going to pay for it?" I will tell you how we're going to pay for it. Right now we have a corrupt federal tax system which allows major corporations -- major corporations who make billions of dollars a year in profit to stash their profits in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and in other tax havens. [applause]

We're going to end -- we are going to end that tax loophole. A hundred billion a year we invest in the infrastructure, we create the jobs that we need ... [applause]

And when we talk about the economy, we've got to talk about something that media almost never talks about. It's not a sexy -- not a sexy issue but an enormously important issue and that is our disastrous trade policies. [applause]

Again, let me tell the young people something they may not know and that is there was actually once a time not so many years ago when you could go to a department store and buy products manufactured in the United States of America. [applause]

But as a result of trade policies like NAFTA and permanent normal trade relations with China, policies written by corporate America -- what happened is companies shut down plants in Vermont, West Virginia and all over this country. They said, "why do I want to pay somebody here $15, $20 an hour when I can go to China, Mexico, pay people pennies an hour," and that's what they did. [applause]

As a result of these terrible trade agreements we have lost millions of decent paying jobs. Millions and one of the big differences between Secretary Clinton and myself -- she supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements. I have opposed them all. [applause]

And our message to corporate America is you want us to buy the products you make, make these damn products here in West Virginia and in America. [applause]

This campaign is going to win because we are listening to people whose voices are not often heard. And one of the groups of people that I have been very proud to listen to all over this country is young people. [applause]

It's a funny thing. When we began this campaign, the general attitude of the punditry and the political scientists were, "well, young people, they're not really interested in government. They're not interested in politics. They're too busy with their video games or whatever else they do." Well, it turns out that the young people of this country are a lot smarter than many of the pundits thought. [applause]

If it turns out -- turns out that the young people understand. They are the future of this country and they want to help shape that future. [applause]

And young people understand that there is something profoundly wrong when in this country today the young generation may be the first generation in the modern history of America to have a lower standard of living than their parents. [applause]

That's right. My father came to this country at the age of 17 with money. He never made any money but we work hard and my mom worked hard and their dream was that their kids -- my brother and I would be financially better off than they were. That is called the American dream that millions of American families have experienced. Parents work hard so their kids can do better than they. [applause]

And together -- together that American dream -- that American dream -- we will not allow to die. [applause]

There's another issue out there that young people all over the country talk to me about. And they say, "Bernie, we did what our parents told us to do, what our teachers told us to do, what our community told us to do and that is go out and get the best education that we can." Because we all understand that learning and education is inherent in who we are as human beings and that also for our country to do well in the future we need the best educated work force in the world. [applause]

So millions -- millions of young people did the right thing. They went to college but then what happened is they left school 30, 50, $70,000 in debt. [applause]

And I have talked to people who are paying off that debt for decades. [applause]

They can't afford to buy a car, buy a house, get married, have kids because they're paying off that debt. For what crime did they commit? For getting an education. That is nuts. [applause]

All of you know that 40 or 50 years ago if you had a high school degree the likelihood was that you were able to go out and get a halfway decent job and make it into the middle class with a high school degree. But the world has changed, the economy has changed, technology has changed, people today need more education than they did 50 years ago. [applause]

And thinking outside of the box, outside of the status quo leads you to a very simple conclusion. Fifty years ago it was great that we had free public education from first grade to 12th grade. That was great. But the world has changed and when we talk about public education today it must mean making public colleges and universities tuition free. [applause]

Now think for a moment there are people who have attacked me on this. Oh, saying it's a radical idea, Bernie. This is not a radical idea. It exists in countries like Germany already and Scandinavia. They understand that investing in their young people is investing in the future of their country. [applause]

And by the way, you may not know this but 50 years ago in the United States of America our major great public colleges and universities were virtually tuition free. If we could have virtually free tuition 50 years ago, we damn well can do it today. [applause]

Now, once again -- once again this proposal which by the way also includes dealing with the crisis of student debt today because we have millions of people dealing with student debt and our proposal will allow people with student debt to refinance their loans at the lowest interest rates they can find. [applause]

Just out of curiosity, how many people here are carrying student debt right now. [applause]

OK. All right. We are going to lower than student debt. [applause]

Now, my critics say, "hey, Bernie. You're a nice guy. You're giving out free tuition, you're going to lower student debt. Where you going to get the money?" OK. And here is the point. I want you to think again outside of the box. This is not the dynamic that the media provides but you got to think through this stuff and you can. Eight, nine years ago as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street the Congress bailed out the big banks. [applause]

Apparently -- apparently there was plenty of money available to bail out large banks who were too big to fail. Now I believe that right now when Wall Street is doing quite well thank you that we should impose a tax on Wall Street speculation. [applause]

And that tax alone -- that one tax alone will bring in more than enough money to substantially lower student debt and make public colleges tuition free in this country. [applause]

Now, Wall Street may not like it but you know what? I could care less what Wall Street likes. [applause]

And by the way when we make public colleges and universities tuition free we do something that is really revolutionary. I want you to think about this for a second. Right now in my state and right here in West Virginia you got a lot of kids who grew up, are growing up poor whose parents never went to college and these kids never in a million years can imagine that they will go to college.

But if we can make it clear to the parents and the teachers and the children that any kid in this country who studies hard, who does his or her school work well -- those kids will be able to get a higher education. [applause]

That is revolutionary. Now I want to touch on an issue that I know is controversial here in West Virginia but it's an issue I deal with all over the country and I am not going to tell you anything different than I say in Vermont or California. [applause]

And that is -- that is that as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the environment I have talked to scientists all over this country and all over the world. And what the scientists tell us almost unanimously is that climate change is real. [applause]

Climate change is caused by human activity. [applause]

And climate change is already causing devastating problems in our country and around the world. [applause]

And here's what the scientists also tell and this is scary stuff. What they say is if we do not get our act together and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel then what we will be seeing in years to come is more drought, more flooding, more extreme weather disturbances, more acidification of the ocean, more rising sea levels and more international conflict as people fight over limited natural resources. [applause]

And it seems to me that to address this issue we have got to do two things. Number one, we have a moral obligation to our kids and future generations to make certain that we leave this planet in a way that is healthy and habitable. [applause]

But second of all, we have a moral obligation to protect those workers in the fossil fuel industry. [applause]

We cannot leave those people in the coal industry, in the oil industry, in the gas industry high and dry. We cannot go that and that is why ... [applause]

That is why we have a moral obligation to make certain that those people who may lose their jobs get new jobs. [applause]

And get the education and all of the benefits that they deserve. [applause]

When we think outside of the box we have to ask ourselves some simple questions. How does it happen that every major country on earth guarantees health care to all of their people except the United States? [applause]

I'm a member of the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. They Affordable Care Act has done a lot of good things but -- but today 29 million people have no health insurance still. Many of you are underinsured with high co-payments and high deductibles and the drug companies rip us all off by charging us the highest price [inaudible] ... [applause]

And that is why I believe we need to move toward a Medicare for all single payer [inaudible] ... [applause]

Think -- think about an America where every person as a right has health care. What that means is you will not have to stay on your job if you don't like that job just because you got health care on that job. [applause]

Think about going to the doctor when you're sick not having to worry about a co-payment or a deductible. [applause]

And think about a Medicare for all program saving the average family thousands of dollars a year on their health insurance. [applause]

And when we talk about health care let me deal very briefly with an issue that is on the minds of all of you in West Virginia and in my state of Vermont. There is no debate but that we have a tragic crisis in America today with opiate and heroin addiction. [applause]

And I know -- I know that it is a serious crisis here but trust me it is a serious crisis in my state as well. And the issue of how we deal with it seems to me to reach the conclusion that we have got to deal with substance abuse and addiction as a health issue, not a criminal issue. [applause]

What does that mean? What it means and again think outside of the box. What it means is that we have got to revolutionize mental health treatment in America. [applause]

We have got to provide treatment to people when they need it not six months from now. [applause]

And on another issue relating to drugs, one of the problems with our criminal justice system is that over the last 30 years millions of people have received criminal records because of possession of marijuana. [applause]

And if you have a criminal record you know what? And you're a kid it is hard to go out and get a job. We have got to rethink the so-called war on drugs. [applause]

Right now -- right now under the federal controlled substance act -- federal controlled substance act marijuana is listed as a schedule I drug next to heroin. [applause]

Now, scientists argue -- scientists argue the pluses and minuses of marijuana but marijuana is not heroin which is a killer drug. [applause]

And that is why I have legislation in that will take marijuana out of the federal controlled substance act. [applause]

Legalizing -- legalizing marijuana is a state issue. It should not be a federal crime. [applause]

Everybody here knows a profound lesson of American history and that is that real change never takes place from the top on down. It always takes place from the bottom up. [applause]

A hundred years ago when workers in West Virginia and all over this country were forced to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day, when kids were working in the mines and in the factories, working people came together to form trade unions so they could have some dignity on the job. [applause]

And that's what happens when people come together. A hundred years ago in this country and the kids don't know this -- women did not have the right to vote, did not have the right to get the education or the jobs they wanted less than a hundred years ago. [applause]

But what happened? Women stood up. [applause]

Women fought back and with their male allies they said, "you know what? In America, women will not be second class citizens." [applause]

Hundreds of years ago amidst the abomination of slavery African Americans and their allies had a different vision for America. Some of them went to jail, some of them died, some of them were beaten but they said that in America we will end racism, segregation and [inaudible] ... [applause]

If we were here in this room 10 years ago which is no time at all from a historical perspective and somebody jumps up and says, "you know, Bernie, I think that by the year 2015 gay marriage will be legal in 50 states of this country..." [applause]

The person next to him would have said, "you're crazy. Not going to happen. Not going to happen." But because the gay community and their straight allies were prepared to take on bigotry and hatred we've succeeded in making gay marriage legal. [applause]

If we were here five years ago -- five years ago, somebody jumps up and says, "Bernie, a $7.25 federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. We have to raise that wage to $15 an hour." The person next to her would have said, "$15 an hour? You want to more than double the minimum wage? You're nuts. You're thinking too big. It can't happen. Maybe $8, maybe nine -- 15 -- too high." But you know what happened? Workers in the fast food industry in MacDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's went out on strike. [applause]

They stood up and they fought back and then two years ago in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, $15 an hour minimum wage. [applause]

In Oregon, in California, New York State, $15 an hour minimum wage. [applause]

What is my point? My point is that ideas today that seem so radical -- raising the minimum wage, making public colleges and universities tuition free, providing health care for all people as a right, having paid family and medical leave ... [applause]

Ending a corrupt campaign finance system ... [applause]

Addressing the crisis of climate change, making sure that women are paid equal pay for equal work ... [applause]

Making sure our kids have jobs not jail cells ... [applause]

All of these ideas today they seem radical but they are not radical. They are ideas that in fact are supported by the vast majority of the American people. [applause]

But they are not supported by the billionaire class, by Wall Street and corporate America. [applause]

So what this campaign is about is asking millions of people throughout this country -- working people, middle class people, young people, old people, gay people, straight people, black, white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American ... [applause]

Making certain that the Donald Trumps of the world do not divide us up. [applause]

Understanding that when we stand together there is nothing -- nothing that we cannot accomplish. [applause]

Now, on May 10th there is going to be a very important primary here in West Virginia. [applause]

And what we have learned in this campaign is when there are large voter turnouts we win. When they are low voter turnouts we lose. [applause]

All right. That's what I want to hear. [applause]

I hope -- I hope that on May 10th, West Virginia will have the largest voter turnout in the history of the state. [applause]

And I hope very much that West Virginia will join the political revolution. Thank you all very much. [applause]