With the self proclaimed Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders poll numbers rising above former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s in many primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, the Vermont senator is looking more and more promising as a legitimate candidate with strong chances of securing the democratic nomination. While Clinton’s campaign has been bogged down with an e-mail scandal and failure to be clear on her stances on certain issues, Sen. Sanders has taken the spotlight. With his massive rallies of supporters with head counts in the thousands and a clean cut record that goes all of the way back to the ’60s, Senator Sanders is a man who looks to the future and that is what his campaign, and presidency, feature. Below are six reasons I support Bernie Sanders and you should too.

He plans to make all public universities free of charge

For too long college education has not been considered a basic right for all. With the advancement in technology and requirements to get upper level careers in today’s changing job market, it is essential to have an upper level education and to put a price tag on that is unacceptable and must be changed.

He plans to reverse the Citizens United decision and get money out of politics

For the last five years, our judiciary system has allowed uncapped spending to run rampant across Washington and many state governments, including our own. As of now it is legal to donate millions, billions even, of dollars to candidates campaigns thus essentially, buying them. This needs to be reversed and power must be restored to the people, not corporations and unions.

He plans to increase the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour

Study after study has shown that raising the minimum wage increases the GDP (gross domestic product), boosts the economy and improves the standard of living. And when the minimum wage goes up, everyone’s wages go up too. Also, when you pay people living wages, they do not quit; thus saving valuable time and money on training new employees.

He has plans to start a country wide infrastructure project to promote job growth

The main idea of this is something that everyone wants: more jobs. But his plan is different for two reasons. Reason one is that the size of it is much larger than anything recently proposed, we are talking about a trillion dollar jobs program to rebuild our roads and bridges, not just some small time pipeline. Reason two being is that it is as direct as it can be. There are no tax breaks to multi-billion dollar companies in the hopes that they will use that money to create jobs, it goes straight to the workers pockets, right into the economy and not an off shore bank account.

He is not in Wall Street’s pocket

Unlike Clinton, Sen. Sanders has no ties to Wall St. and big banks and he sure is not going to turn a blind eye. He is not afraid to stand up to the banks and make them adhere to regulation unlike Clinton, who even if she wanted to, could not because if she did, her money would dry up. Sanders, on the other hand, as I mentioned before, gets his money from small, individual donations, not large bulk donations from individuals and corporations expecting favors in return.

He is a strong supporter of single payer health care

For those of you who do not know what single payer health care is, it is basically healthcare right through the government, no insurance companies. And the reason this is what we should have done to begin with is because at their base, insurance companies are an obstacle. They are inefficient; they slow the process down. And that is if we want to go easy on them. Let us think about the purpose of insurance companies and it is not to protect you. Insurance companies are a business and a business’s goal first and foremost is to make a profit. And that is great when you are selling computer parts, or running a coffee shop.  Business is a good thing a majority of the time. It is not great, however, when you are in the business of deciding who lives, and who dies, especially when your decisions are based on quarterly profits.

Clearly, Sanders warrants your vote.  My facts are based on his campaign web site.  Feel free to check it out yourself. berniesanders.com