When Bernie Sanders first announced his candidacy for President of the United States in April 2015, almost nobody took him seriously. He was a 73-year-old man who called himself a socialist, a word that most Americans find synonymous with the most putrid ideologies that have ever graced this planet; after all, the Nazis were socialists.

He had shunned the Democratic Party by serving as the longest-tenured Independent Congressman in America history and yet he now sought the party’s nomination. He had almost no money with which to run a campaign and was relatively unknown beyond his home state of Vermont.

The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, provided a stark contrast to Sanders. Her nomination seemed inevitable, while his campaign seemed doomed to fail. At that time, to suggest that Bernie Sanders could lead a reawakening in American politics and lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the nomination seemed insane.

Now, Bernie Sanders has done just that. He has received 3.7 million contributions averaging $27 each as the only Democratic candidate without a Super PAC.

It is no surprise that Bernie Sanders offers, as his campaign slogan reads, “A Future to Believe In.” His policies seek to revolutionize Washington and America. This guy who looks like my grandpa (with the same first name!) puts the future of our country first and emphasizes it more than any other candidate, not just with rhetoric but with his policies.

Bernie Sanders has launched his campaign on the platform of combating inequality. America has bailed out its banks and given tax breaks to the richest Americans. Elections are essentially bought by rich donors and corporations who overrun democracy by shoving unfathomable stacks of cash into our political process. Meanwhile, racial and social injustice is rampant and our criminal justice system is devastatingly broken. Our priorities have been skewed and our country has been led in the wrong direction as the billionaires win and Americans lose. Sanders is here to fix that.

Sanders starts with a topic crucial to all students at the high school: education. He understands that a high school diploma is simply not enough anymore. Yet, receiving higher education is outlandishly expensive; student debt afflicts over 60 percent of college students at an average of $24,000 per student. In response he proposes extending free public education up through college in order to develop an educated workforce ready for the modern world.

Another critical issue on Bernie’s agenda is health care. 29 million Americans do not have health insurance and tens of millions more are critically underinsured, despite the gains made under Obamacare. Furthermore, America’s inept health insurance system is the world’s most expensive and inefficient.

Sanders proposes overhauling our insurance laws to create a “Medicare-for-all” system, which would insure every American adequately under a single-payer process. This would drive down prices for treatment by moving the healthcare industry from the private sector of large, insurance companies who put profits before people to the public sector.

Sanders plans to take on wealth inequality and the massive greed of large corporations by installing a $15 per hour minimum wage. The concept behind this “living” wage is that no person working full-time should be living a dire life of poverty.

His other proposals, such as demanding equal pay for equal work for women, requiring paid family leave, supporting unions and worker co-ops (businesses where employees own a stake in the company), rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure while creating 13 million jobs in the process, and supporting international trade policies that create jobs in America all accomplish the same goal: creating an economy that works for all Americans, not just the large corporations and wealthy elite.

Sanders understands that climate change is a critical issue that has the potential to decimate America and the world, yet he also sees it as an opportunity. Sanders plans to invest in reversing climate change while creating millions of American jobs by creating a renewable and green energy industry to overtake fossil fuels and lead America forward.

Sanders does not plan to let the crisis of 2008 that destroyed the national and global economy, occur again. He has introduced massive Wall Street reform and regulation that includes taxes on financial institutions and their dangerous financial actions. The American taxpayers bailed the banks out and now it is the banks turn to help Americans out.

The main criticism of Sanders’ plans are the tremendous costs, especially since America’s government already spends more than it takes in and has a rising debt of over $19 trillion. Sanders understands that his investments in the American economy will create powerful growth that will send the wealth of America’s 99 percent skyrocketing. Sander’s spending comes with groundbreaking tax reform. He will charge the Americans who have benefited from the system more by raising income and estate taxes.

Bernie Sanders is revolutionizing American politics as we know it and leading a rebellion on behalf of America’s 99 percent against injustice and inequality. His refreshing and groundbreaking reforms will create a prosperous future for all, not just the one percent who benefit now. The high school should listen up.

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Bernie Sanders should not be president of the United States. His glaring lack of command and distance from reality set him apart as an uninformed, second-rate candidate. Sanders’ radical socialist policies and pricey wishlist would essentially kill economic growth and serve only to increase the $486 billion deficit. According to a Wall Street Journal study, cumulative spending for Sanders’ wishlist would total over $18 trillion over the next decade. The American people deserve better.

One of Sanders’ most significant economic proposals is to end free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among others. Free trade agreements such as these support over 140,000 small and mid-sized businesses across America. NAFTA alone has created over 14 million new jobs since 1994, increased American exports, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce credits NAFTA with increasing U.S. trade in goods and services with Canada and Mexico by $1.2 trillion in 2011. There are 14 other free trade agreements, each providing important benefits for the US economy. Clearly, there is an important correlation between economic growth and free trade.

Universal Healthcare. These two words are ones that electrify Sanders supporters, leading them into unimaginable fantasies about what the American healthcare system could become. However, a closer look reveals the catastrophic effects of a single-payer system. Take Canada for example. All of its citizens are entitled to health insurance and preventive care regardless of medical history, personal income or standard of living. This sounds great on paper right?

A Canadian think tank recently calculated that residents of our northern neighbor have to wait an average of two months to get an MRI. To receive orthopedic surgery, many Canadians have to wait for almost a year. No wonder hundreds cross the border each year to receive medical treatment in America. Medical innovation and research have also dropped off considerably, by 29 percent to be exact. Sanders’ new system wants to ‘stand up to drug companies and negotiate fair prices.’ Companies will have little incentive to develop new technologies or drugs because the government will immediately establish price controls on their services. While the healthcare system needs reform, it does not need Sanders’ help.

America is a nation of immigrants and reforming the current system could provide opportunities for new families and create a brighter future for the American economy. Our border needs to be more secure than it is now in order to prevent drug trafficking, illegal immigration and other unlawful activity. Bernie Sanders is soft on immigration and that is costly to American taxpayers.

Robert Rector, MA, Senior Research Fellow in Domestic Policy at the Heritage Foundation, and Jason Richwine, PhD, Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation conducted a study on the costs and benefits of illegal immigrants in America. The study found that “In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers…”

Instead of providing illegal immigrants with government benefits, we should allocate this funding elsewhere (i.e. to veteran’s care and infrastructure). Sanders also states that his plan for reform will “pave the way for a swift and fair legislative roadmap to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants.” Currently, there is a backlog of law-abiding, tax-paying legal immigrants waiting to become citizens. How is this policy fair to legal immigrants who want to become a part of American society? Instead, we should streamline the immigration process for all immigrants and address the issue of amnesty and asylum on a case by case basis. The United States should enforce its immigration laws while allowing immigrants the chance to improve their lives and live out the American dream.

America is great because of competitive capitalism. It spurs on innovation and economic growth. The very workhorse that drives this great country forward is currently under attack. The key to solving America’s problems is not by coddling the less fortunate; rather, it is by providing them with the opportunity and freedom to succeed (i.e. a proper education, an end to discrimination based on gender and race and equal opportunities at the workplace). The United States of America is great and will continue to be great as long as Bernie Sanders does not become the President.

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