At a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in Shreveport, Louisiana, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about his opposition to the U.S. helping Israel in its war against Iran, hours before President Trump struck Iranian nuclear sites.
00:00And unlike Republican leadership, I don't think everybody has to agree with everything I say.
00:06But I'll give you an example of something I feel very strongly about.
00:08I brought forth several what's called joint resolutions of disapproval.
00:14And what those are, and what I was trying to do, was to end U.S. military aid to the Netanyahu government in Israel.
00:30And the reason I did that is that right now what's going on in Gaza is unspeakable.
00:53And children are starving. People are being shot in cold blood.
00:59But my point here, my point is, my point is, on that resolution calling for cessation of military aid to Netanyahu's government, I got 15 votes.
01:1215.
01:13Now, why did I get 15 votes?
01:15Do you think it's because other Democrats and Republicans are not concerned and not understanding of what's going on there?
01:23They do.
01:23They are afraid of super PACs like AIPAC and other PACs, and understand that if they stand up, they're going to get primaries.
01:34I'll give you another example.
01:35And again, I don't know how people in this room feel.
01:37I think it would be a disaster for the United States to get involved right now with Israel in a war against Iran.
01:47And I remember, I remember, I remember all of the political rhetoric that was going on.
02:17regarding the need to get us into the war in Iraq.
02:23Oh, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
02:27Terrible, terrible.
02:29It turned out we got involved in that terrible war, and I went to too many funerals in Vermont, which I'll never forget.
02:36Young people.
02:38Young people died in that war.
02:40All over the country, we lost approximately 4,500 young men, women.
02:4632,000 were wounded.
02:49Now, it seems to me that God only knows that we have enough problems right here in the United States to address.
02:55We don't need to spend billions more getting involved in a war in Iran.
02:59But I raise those points not just to talk about Gaza or Iran, but to talk about the power of money in our political process.
03:18And that is why the most important political issue that we must deal with as a nation is getting rid of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
03:30And moving to public funding of elections.
03:45In other words, you want to run for office, and I hope some of you will.
03:50You should not have to beg rich people for campaign contributions.
