Bernie Sanders draws crowd of 4,200 to Douglas County Fairgrounds

Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders waves to the crowd as he leaves the stage after a speech Thursday, March 3, 2016 at the Douglas County Fairground.

In the hour Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke here Thursday evening, he discussed issues ranging from health care to equality, education to student loans, and big business to the criminal justice system.

A crowd of 4,200 enthusiastic listeners followed Sanders’ words inside the 4H building at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Ryan Shelton, a volunteer with the campaign who helped count heads at the door, said 1,000 more people were still outside when the rally began at 6:45 p.m., bringing up a line that began forming early Thursday afternoon.

The U.S. senator from Vermont opened his speech talking about the war in Iraq. Not only are veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries from the experiences they have faced overseas, he said, their families and loved ones must also cope with those problems.

“The lesson of Iraq is that we should understand that war is a last resort, not a first resort,” he said. “… We must never, ever turn our backs on the men and women who put their lives on the line.”

Touting his grassroots fundraising efforts, Sanders said his campaign so far had received 4 million individual contributions, with an average donation of $27, and hasn’t taken funds from any super PACs, unlike the campaign of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, whom he’s hoping to beat in Saturday’s Kansas caucuses.

“What we have done in this campaign in terms of fundraising is revolutionary,” he said.

Sanders, who has described himself as a “democratic socialist,” spoke at length about big business and the issues of income inequality and minimum wage. He said because both parents, and often kids, in many American families are working longer hours for lower wages, they don’t have quality time to spend together.

“Fifty-eight percent of all new income generated today is going to the top 1 percent,” he said, drawing loud boos from the audience. “… Together, we are going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.”

He argued the minimum wage should be raised to $15 per hour and promised that rather than lower Social Security benefits if elected, he would raise them. And when it comes to public education, he said, it is no longer adequate for the system to comprise just kindergarten through 12th grade — a bachelor’s degree is basically equivalent to what a high school diploma used to do for people, and therefore college tuition should be free. That final message was appreciated by the primarily young crowd.

For Sarah Marschie, a high school student from Valley Falls who will turn 18 in August, Sanders’ views on education are especially significant “considering I am a student and I would really appreciate getting to go to college.”

“We have a lower-middle class family; we live on a farm. My parents aren’t paying for my college. I have a part-time job. Having free college would really help out a lot, because a lot of the money I make helps pay bills at home,” Marschie said.

It was Marschie’s first presidential election rally, and she was excited to hear Sanders speak in person.

Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders mingles with the crowd after speaking Thursday, March 3, 2016 at the Douglas County Fairground.

“To actually see him talk is a completely different thing from reading about what he says,” she said.

Sanders’ promises did not end with education equality — he also spoke of eliminating a gender wage gap, solving racial divisions and ending LGBT-based discrimination.

Jason Harris, a 22-year-old certified medical aid who attended the rally, said equality was one of the biggest issues that drew him to Sanders, who in his comments mentioned the disproportionate ratio of African-Americans in prison. Harris also said he objects to restrictions placed on abortion.

“If (abortion is) protected by law, it has to be a fundamental and attainable right, not just a theoretical one,” Harris said.

Harris said he believes if people didn’t think “socialism” were a negative term in American political discourse, “we’d have something useful.”

“I always think it’s funny that socialism is so widely used, in so many different aspects — the pure fact of taxes existing is a socialistic idea because we’re taking money from everybody to put toward something that we need,” Harris said. “Currently, our infrastructure is dying because nobody is putting money into it, even though we’re spending money for it.”

But receiving the strongest reactions from the crowd were Sanders’ statements about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

A supporter shouts out for Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Thursday, March 3, 2016 at the Douglas County Fairground.

“We will defeat Donald Trump because the American people do not want a president who insults Mexicans, Muslims; who insults women; who insults African-Americans and who planned the effort for this ‘birther’ nonsense, which attempted to delegitimize the presidency of Barack Obama for one reason: the color of his skin,” Sanders said.

The son of a Polish immigrant, Sanders noted no one has asked him for his passport. “Maybe that has something to do with the color of my skin,” he added.

“Standing together trumps divisiveness. … Community working together trumps selfishness,” he said. “Most importantly, we will defeat Donald Trump because love trumps hatred.”

Sanders made a few comments about Lawrence specifically. Before the rally, he spent some time downtown, stopping for a quick haircut at the Downtown Barber Shop, 824 Massachusetts St., and visiting several downtown businesses. Based on his observations of the day, he noted, Lawrence might be just a bit different from the rest of Kansas, and he’s optimistic about his chances in Saturday’s caucus.

“I have a feeling Lawrence may not be that conservative,” he joked.