I was 11 years old when Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered the White House in 1933. FDR was faced with the Great Depression.

Banks failed and middle class wealth was wiped out. Our country had wealth inequality; the super rich dominated. The middle class suffered disproportionately. Today, the U.S. looks like 1933.

My favorite political observer and writer, John Nichols, contends that a middle class cannot exist without interventions and protections from government. FDR “oversaw a transformation of American society” by creating millions of jobs in WPA and CCC and TVA, by signing the Social Security Act to protect seniors and the Wagner Act to encourage unions to collectively bargain, and by instituting a minimum wage and providing mortgage relief.

From the 1930s to 1980 there was a “New Deal consensus” to keep in place the policies that secure a strong middle class. The New Deal created preconditions for further nurturing the middle class — Medicaid and Medicare were created.

I see Bernie Sanders as the new FDR. Sanders will put the middle class back together. He insists that education is key to quality jobs and a living wage. He will champion workers’ rights. He will seek expansion of improved Medicare for all. He will protect us from big banks and Wall Street.

Sanders is accepting campaign support only from everyday people. These small donors believe that Bernie genuinely feels the pain of Americans who are struggling so hard to create successful lives for themselves. And they believe that he can do something about it.

He will not back down in his quest to help the middle class. Bernie Sanders is encouraging us to come together to fight for secure, happy futures for everyone. Join me in supporting this extraordinary man, Bernie Sanders, the new FDR.

Margaret Zierdt

Loveland