At a "Fight Oligarchy Tour' event in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) accused 'oligarchs' in the United States of subscribing to a 'religion of greed.'
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00:00The power of the billionaire class exists not only in the economy.
00:09Today we have an economy with more concentration of ownership
00:15than we have ever had in the history of this country.
00:17You know what that means?
00:18It means that in sector after sector of our economy,
00:21a handful of large corporations control what's produced
00:25and how much you pay for those products.
00:30And that is why, in many instances, prices are so high.
00:35But they control not only the economy,
00:39they also control our corrupt campaign finance system.
00:47Now, I want you to think about it.
00:49I want you to think about it for a second, and you tell me.
00:52And I don't care if you are a conservative, Republican,
00:56a progressive, an independent, moderate, whatever you are.
00:59You tell me.
01:00Do you think it is appropriate in this, the longest standing democracy on earth,
01:06that one man, Mr. Musk, could donate $270 million to elect Trump as president,
01:18and then get rewarded by getting the most important and powerful position in government.
01:29But I have to tell you, I have to tell you, it's not just Musk and Republicans,
01:39that corruption exists in the Democratic Party as well.
01:50Billionaires in the Democratic side make huge contributions.
01:58And there is a reason why, for too many years, and for too many candidates,
02:03Democrats have not had the guts to take on powerful special interests.
02:08I want to say something else, and that is, yeah, I want to say a lot of things.
02:23You know, I am not somebody who is, you know, I am proud to be Jewish, but I am not into organized religion very much.
02:36But, but, but, but, but, I do believe in moral values.
02:46I believe in that a lot.
02:51And I do believe, you know, Christ's Sermon on the Mount, what did he say?
02:56He said, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
03:03And it turns out that that principle, do unto others as you would have them do unto you,
03:09exists in virtually every religion on earth.
03:13It exists in Judaism, it exists in Islam, it exists in every religion.
03:19Treat people in the way that you would want them to treat you.
03:25Be decent to other people, be kind to other people, so they will be kind to you.
03:37And I know that in Utah, and in Vermont, and all over the country,
03:42there are millions, tens of millions of people who believe that, who try to do the right thing.
03:46Try to be decent, try to be humble, try to respect the rights of other people, try not to be bullies.
03:52Millions and millions of people hold that ethos very, very strongly.
03:57But I do want to say that in terms of the oligarchs in this country, they are also very religious people.
04:07But they have a strange religion.
04:13Their religion is greed, greed, and more greed.
04:17All over this country, we have a very serious problem in Vermont, and all over this country, about addiction, right?
04:37People addicted to drugs, people are drinking too much, all types of addiction.
04:46These people, the oligarchs, are addicted to greed.
04:51Our job is to help them break that addiction.
04:54We cannot continue to live in a country where billionaires will step on people,
05:12take food away from hungry children in order to give tax breaks to people who don't need it.
05:25I happen to believe that we are more human.
05:30We live more fulfilled lives when we try to help other people, not step on other people.