Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders didn’t hold back in his recent op-ed for Fox News, where he criticized the growing monetary influence of billionaires and America’s increasing wealth gap.
He painted a stark picture of a nation split in two—one for the ultra-rich elite, and another for everyone else.
Sanders wrote, “We are in a pivotal and unprecedented moment in American history. Either we fight to create a government and an economy that works for all, or we continue to move rapidly down the path of oligarchy and the rule of the super-rich.”
The Independent senator didn’t mince words when calling out tech billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg as examples of those whose wealth vastly overshadows the rest of society.
According to Sanders, the trio of billionaires collectively control more wealth than over 165 million Americans combined.
Throughout the piece, Sanders slammed multiple systemic issues, including the campaign finance system, what he described as an “inadequate” healthcare structure, and billionaires’ increasing control over platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Truth Social.
Sanders argued the influence these billionaires hold extends far beyond their wealth into spaces that shape public discourse and societal norms.
Sanders also painted a grim picture of how the working class fares in this contrasting America. He claimed that while the ultra-rich indulge in luxury items like yachts and private islands, millions of ordinary Americans face daily struggles to cover their most basic needs.
“In this America, over 60 percent of our people live paycheck to paycheck, millions work for starvation wages, 85 million are uninsured or underinsured, more than 20 million households spend over half of their limited incomes on rent or a mortgage and over 60,000 die each year because they can’t afford to go to a doctor on time,” he explained.
Sanders critique also extended to Wall Street and the media landscape. He pinpointed the growing ownership concentration in both industries, identifying them as critical drivers of inequality.
He claimed, “It is estimated that six huge media corporations now own 90 percent of what the American people see, hear and read.
This handful of corporations determines what is ‘important’ and what we discuss, and what is ‘unimportant’ and what we ignore.”
Sanders called on Americans to choose between two futures. One prioritizes democracy and justice, while the other centralizes power in the hands of a billionaire minority.
He labeled billionaire influence as fundamentally undemocratic, writing, “That is not democracy. That is not one person, one vote. That is not what this country is supposed to stand for.”
The Vermont Independent closed with an impactful comparison drawn from history, referring to Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address.
“In his Gettysburg Address in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke about ‘a government of the people, by the people, for the people.’ Well, today, we have a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, for the billionaire class.”
