My new idea is to interview folks who actively support candidates on the left or right, and better understand their perspectives and reasoning for supporting a given candidate an issue. This interview was conducted via email with William, AKA @TheBoom1, who is an activist from Michigan who owns the Michigan for Bernie Sanders 2016 Google Plus Community. Let’s see the raw feedback – interested in anyone’s feedback and comments on social media!

How long have you been following Bernie Sanders, and what stood out and appealed to you over other more conventional candidates like Hillary Clinton?

WG: You’ve been following Bernie Sanders since last June. I was originally going to support Hillary Clinton because I saw her run last time. But that changed once I learned about Bernie Sanders. I didn’t take him seriously will when I first heard about him on the drunken peasant. But I wanted to talk into him to see what he was about. This is when I had seen a lot of his speeches on c-span. Then I looked up his record and bills he was putting to the floor now. All this made me want to support him the more i learned how well his policies actually work for a strong economy. When did you start the 2016 Bernie Sanders google plus community and do you have direct affiliation with the campaign?

WG: I started back in december. I do not have direct affiliation the campaign although I am a volunteer. I was told to do it by @Michigan4bernie twitter account to do it. What are your top three issues in this presidential cycle and how does Bernie Sanders align with and champion these issues?

WG: Campaign financing and all the follows, Reforming and expanding social programs, increasing the minimum wage. Bernie fits these and has always been fighting for these issues since he started in the senate. How would you characterize the general culture of the United States in terms of shared values of all citizens?

WG: We all want the four freedoms by FDR. This second bill of rights. Which is why I think is why Bernie Sanders works so well. These are the only way for us to get prosperity for all. What are your thoughts on the constitution and the bill of rights?

WG: The bill of rights have to change with the times as the founders intended. The rights are meant to protect from individuals from anyone else abusing another’s rights. For instance the ACLU did not agree with the KKK. However, they defended their right to peacefully assemble in a minority community. You don’t have to agree with someone to protect their right to do it. Tell me about socialism – what do you define it as and the it’s benefits.

WG: Well socialism means that if you contribute you get back as much as you put in. Also include equal involvement in all things. This may or may not be democratic. Though democratic socialism is a democratic involvement in one’s workplace and government. For instance the more our needs grow so must our government to provide/protect them, but so must our involvement in government also. The benefits of this is income inequality gets as low as 2%. This allows everyone to be prosperous. Which allow all to have a decent standard of living so that our rate of dying by starvation to near 0%. This meets everyone’s basic needs. So we have the net to where you can get back on your feet easily. What other activities have you participated in to promote your socialist ideals? Have you protested before?

Have you protested before? WG: I am a democratic socialist not simply a socialist which has a different definition like christian atheist. I have protested and get involved online and offline to help people understand why things need to be done. What are your thoughts on the #BlackLivesMatter Movement?

How do you think this will influence the next election? WG: I think the #BlackLivesMatter movement is one of the most important ones. The issue they raise affects all communities and we all need to be protected from police violence. By the fact we help push the policies for other groups live will be saved from these efforts. They will change the election so that way we can finally focus on issue like criminal justice and have a resolution to save lives. What are your thoughts on ISIS?

Do you feel that Obama has the right strategy or a strategy for success? WG: ISIS is a group that formed in an extremely stress environment due to many pressures. Regardless of their reason pose a threat to the people around them especially Muslims. It is one thing to fight against American occupation but then slaughter a lot of people for ideological reasons is cruelty still. The drones need to stop they have a 90% miss rate while still hitting someone. I see Bernie’s method as the best to establish a local military policing group. This would allow us to pull out safely while using drones to survey and some special forces to monitor incase action is needed. Let me give you a scenario: young man works hard in high school earns mostly A’s and B’s. He attends college earns a degree in business administration and begins a pizza franchise at 24. he’s broke and works day and night for four years until he starts making enough to support his family. He grows the number on franchises to 5 by the time he is 30. His take home earnings are around half a million dollars a year. How should he be taxed?

WG: I would set taxes at 50% at that level with lowest marginal tax rate of 35%. We have in our code for investing in your business and expansion which allows for deductions. However we need a limitation on how low that can go. With certain people getting as low 15% we no longer have the money to invest in the country.

So what do you think?