Bernie Sanders for U.S. President

To start, I want to clarify what I will be arguing this debate. I will be defending the statement, "Bernie Sanders should be the next President of the United States"and I will provide reasons that concur with my thesis. (I also wanted to thank the Con for reecognizing that this is 'for or against' debate, meaning that he will not argue for another candidate) And so I will immediately go into my reasonings, beginning with:-Bernie Sanders understands money. This statement can be interpreted in many ways, and it is my intention that is should be. In one sense, Bernie Sanders understands the need of financial suppport from experience. He realizes that a $7.25 minimum wage is not a living wage, despite the fact that in 2012, 1.532 million hourly workers only worked for minimum wage, and nearly 1.8 million more earned less than that. [1] Bernie Sanders knows that college tuition is rising while the amount of high school graduates that can afford college are getting lower. According to a study done by the ISAC (Illinois Student Assistance Commission), about 76% of students that have prepared for college in high school, eventually don't attend college because they couldn't afford it. [2] I would go on to say that Sanders also supports a universal healthcare system, however that argument could be seen as partisan and irrelevant. In another interpretation, Sanders also understands the corruption involved with money. Not every wealthy can be considered corrupt, and I would not call everyone in the upper class corrupt. However, Sanders recognizes the fact that with money comes the temptation. Without having an argument about the 1%, let me present more arguments on my part. It is a well known fact that conservative and right-wing billionaires such as R. Murdoch and the Koch Brothers openly and generously fund politicians that agree with what they believe. These people and their companies use the Constitution's First ammendment to support their funding, claiming that the millions they give are backed by the freedom to express. Sanders realizes, like we all should, that any person with billions of dollars is completely capable of running the government, because money means power. Figure 1: Look familiar? To prevent this, as President, Bernie Sanders would push for a constitutional ammendment that would limit campaign financing from big time companies and interest groups. Matter of fact, he's already proposed the idea in the Senate. [3]Further on the subject, Sanders also said “Freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government. "Any equality believing American realizes that Bernie Sanders brings the best to the table in terms of financial equality. -Bernie Sanders has higher approval percentages than most candidates. As a matter of fact, recent polling shows that Sanders has higher polling numbers than every other Republican running for president, and is closing in on Hillary Clinton. [4]I apologize for presenting short introductory arguments, because I'm choosing first to avoid using partisan social issues as support and most of my support may very well come from refuting the Con's argument. However, I want to thank the Con once again for accepting the debate, I hope it continues. [1] Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2013. (2014, March 1). Retrieved from . http://www.bls.gov... [2] Are Cost Barriers Keeping Qualified Students from College? (2013). Retrieved from, . https://www.isac.org... [3] Campaign Finance. (2014). Retrieved from, . http://www.sanders.senate.gov...[4] Release Detail. (2015, April 1). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from . http://www.quinnipiac.edu...