The primary season for Election 2016 begins Feb. 1 with the Iowa caucuses. Long-presumed nominee for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton is now in a tight race with Bernie Sanders, long-presumed underdog. Sanders’ campaign has been a spirited fight against corporate influence and corruption in politics. By not accepting Super Pac monies and instead financing his campaign with small, individual donations, he has remained viable in a money-saturated spectacle that is indicative of today’s political campaigns. He has drawn thousands and thousands of people to events around the country by talking about issues important to them–not just old guard liberals, but young people–millennials, in college or out of college and coming to grips with a world that seems to be getting harder and colder. Many of them are burdened by student debt, that awful unshakeable millstone that threatens their future. Sanders offers a lot to these young people. His College for All Act calls for public college and university tuition to be free, paid for by a transaction tax on Wall Street (50 cents for every $100 worth of stock and a 0.1 percent fee on bonds) He wants work-study programs to be expanded and the student financial aid application to be simplified. He has repeatedly called for a restructuring of student debt to lower interest rates and has even brought the idea of eliminating some student loan debt. Sanders’ philosophy of education is that it is a public good, not a private commodity, and as such should be available to all qualified applicants.

Bernie Sanders reminds us often: “No president, no leader, can do it without the people standing together.” Stand with Bernie Sanders and caucus for him on Feb. 1, 2016. A growing movement of Bernie supporters around the country will be standing with you!