Bernie is very different. I got to see that first hand at his Rolinsford, NH stop on Sunday morning. That difference isn't just confined to his ideology or his grass roots campaign work, it is a part of who he is as a human being. He's been fighting the system his whole life, he doesn't look at things the same way as everyone else, and he is much more about helping people than just getting votes, obtaining money, or listening or responding to to talking heads, perfected polls, or the media's black hole. They are distractions.

When you hear Bernie speak to a group it isn't the words he says that end up being the most important part of the conversation and it does feel like a conversation, not a speech. He's listening, he's taking us all in, he's seeing where we are, he's looking at us as human beings, living in the same messed up world he is.  He doesn't pander or sugar coat or gossip. He makes mistakes, he forgets things, he looks exasperated sometimes, but he also sees our struggles and knows he has to keep on fighting, though the odds seem fixed against all but the most privileged in our nation. It's his time to help in that respect.

Make no mistake Bernie is not a champion on a bright white horse dashing in to save us and he knows it. He knows that all of his ability to change things comes from us. It comes from our shared  struggles, our passions, our dreams. He knows he isn't us and he knows he needs us and not just for our vote, he needs to hear our voice, because one straight, white, Jewish man can't know all of us just by looking into himself and at his life. To be the next president he has to know people, he knows he has to earn trust, because he'll need to call on us time after time in the coming years. You cannot fundamentally change an entire nation without the help of the people. We’re all in this together.

He knows rolling back the effects of the Citizen United case, to put elections back in the hands of the people, instead of corporations and the wealthiest citizens, is essential to the future of the republic and the health of becoming a stable democracy. He also knows we need to go further. Publicly funded elections need to become the new norm. No other candidate goes this far. No other candidate wants the playing field to be that level. I was surprised how much people liked this idea at the Rollinsford, NH event this weekend. Perhaps they were so amenable to his idea because the idea was coming from someone who practices what he preaches. For this to happen he'll need all of us behind him.

Again, the murders of Sandra Bland and Sam Dubose and dozens and dozens of others this year were not just talking points to him; they are not statistics to him. They were people and now everything they ever would have been is gone. He knows that if we do not address systemic racism throughout the nation, our nation cannot move into the 21st century.  Our nation cannot heal if we cannot talk about our problems.  If we simply choose to erase portions of history or re-write them, we can never move past them.  We cannot function as a society when the police who are sworn to protect all of us act like hyper testosterone infused, militarized bullies with the license to kill whomever they please. He knows that has to stop now. He knows he will need us to make it happen, because the current system is so racist, people honestly believe racism does not exist here. He's not just talking oversight, he's not just talking accountability, he's talking a complete change. No other candidate has the courage to address this issue.

Whether he was talking about income inequality, addressing the unequal tax structure, the $15 minimum wage, universal healthcare, or free public college he's looking at helping as many of our people as we allow him to help. He knows we have the money to do this because he remembers what FDR was able to accomplish and how big his dream was, how staunch the opposition and how FDR was able to fund what he did. He's thinking very big and he's isn't afraid of Wall Street, or billionaires, or the established political structure; he has shunned all of them. He knows they are holding us back. He knows they are afraid of what we can do when we stop listening to them and their all too frequent distractions and start listening to each other.

That's what Bernie's campaign event was about. Helping us find each other. When you get to that primary booth you will have three choices. 

Ultra Conservative, Establishment, or Bernie. Vote to change everything. We owe it to each other.

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