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A Story About Bernie!
Here is an article I found on reddit:
In the spring of 1981, I was a junior at the University of Vermont in Burlington, where Bernie Sanders was the newly elected mayor. He had been in office roughly a week, when the police gave me a citation for a slightly noisy party celebrating springtime. I viewed the citation, at first, as a nuisance.
But the trouble began when an ambitious city district attorney called me into his office and said, "Sorry, but we need to make an example out of you, so we are upping the charge to a felony."
A felony for a noise violation — are you kidding?
I was faced with the prospect of graduating from college but never getting a job, should the felony charge stick. This was a terrible thing to face and I was truly frightened. Not the least of my problems was explaining it to my lawyer father.
A fretful week went by, with me receiving only tangential help from the university's (non-lawyer) legal services. Then I received a phone call.
As clear as yesterday, I can recall the words on the other end of the line: "This is Bernie Sanders. I am new here and I like to do things differently." That got my attention.
Bernie went on to say, "How about this: You organize a dozen of your friends to pick up trash in city parks and fill in potholes for two days. If you do that, we can forget the whole thing. What do you say, do we have a deal?"
"You bet," I said. I am not sure, but like to tell myself that this was Bernie's first act as a politician.
So I filled in those potholes, while the city workers sat in the cab of their truck, smoked cigarettes and chided "the college boy" for having to do some manual labor. My friends bucked a bit after the first day, threatening to abandon the enterprise and leave me on the hook. But after some convincing they finished out the work — thankfully.
The local news station got wind of the unique nature of Bernie's handling of my lawbreaking and interviewed us on TV. Everybody felt good. The city saved money by not moving my case through the courts and, with our labor, improved the roads and made the parks look better. Good to Bernie's promise and much to my relief, the city dropped the charge against me.
In the 35 years since, I have served my country in the Peace Corps, founded three companies and helped establish two more, employed dozens of people, stayed happily married, raised two good children, became deeply involved in church and social issues and gladly paid my taxes. It is entirely possible none of these things would have happened unless Bernie Sanders stepped in. I am grateful.
Today, at 56, my story is not just about correcting the mistake of a college kid. Rather, for me, it was the creative and compassionate way Bernie attacked the problem. Feeling compelled to make a contribution to his campaign for president, I wrote a check and a note and delivered it to Bernie's headquarters in Burlington when I was there on business one day last fall.
As I handed my check to the young woman at the front desk, I told her my story. She listened patiently and then said, "Oh yes, we hear stories like that all the time." So it would appear this is who Bernie is and always has been — a rare politician who acts differently, seeking solutions for everyone based on a deep understanding of justice and favoring no one over another.
I have watched the Democratic primary campaign with great interest these last few months. It occurred to me that I could sum up both Bernie and Hillary with two words: principle and policy. Bernie clearly puts principle first from which policies spring. Hillary, it seems to me, puts forth policies from which she defines her principles. I am with Bernie in having principle guide all else, whereas the putting policy first feels like a long list of promises for every constituency. He proved it to me personally.
I want Bernie to keep doing things differently. More to the point, the time and place seem right for Bernie to do things differently for a lot more people.
[link:http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-insight-bernie-sanders-bailed-me-out-0228-20160226-story.html|
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