Mark Parent
Opinions Editor

This past Sunday night, I was locked in a medieval torture chamber. Well, not really. The truth is that I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a local Bernie Sanders political rally on behalf of The Carolinian; as you can probably guess, I decided that socialism is not my forte.

Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, was somehow able to draw a crowd of over 9,000 people to hear him spew his divisive rhetoric concerning everything from income inequality to the country’s need for another massive federal work program.

Fortunately, I was able to arrive at the coliseum hours before this crazy speech, which allowed me to talk to a variety of people standing in line outside. And, thanks to the generosity of the Sanders campaign, I earned a press pass that granted me additional access to the event.

During this time, I spoke to numerous groups of young people from all over the state of North Carolina. And, to be honest, just about everyone was kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable about the candidate.

However, just about all of these people were supporters of Sanders because of the government services he’s promising them.

I mean, seriously, he’s the political equivalent of a con-artist who doesn’t know how to do math.

This becomes all the more evident when one begins to examine the many costs of his political positions.

So, in an effort to prove my journalistic bona fides, I chose to list every single policy item he mentioned during his speech. Then, I made a sub-list that contained each policy item that will cost the taxpayers money. Suffice it to say, it’ll cost a hell of a lot of money.

Now, before breaking into the specifics of Sanders’ irresponsible spending habits, it’s important to note the current fiscal state of the country.

As of this fiscal year, our federal revenue currently stands at about $3 trillion, the federal deficit is roughly $500 billion and our national debt has eclipsed $18 trillion. So, to be perfectly blunt, we’re broke and must be mindful of the costs of any federal proposal that involves spending taxpayer dollars.

Of course, the Sanders folks either don’t know about these facts, or they don’t care.

By their logic, wrecking the American economy is perfectly justifiable if it makes us feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.After all, Bernie Sanders did support the anti-austerity, anti-common sense Syriza Party in Greece during its bailout negotiations with its Eurozone creditors this past summer.

This brings me to my list of the costly expenditures Sanders proposed.

Throughout his speech, he mentioned the need for a $1 trillion infrastructure program, free college tuition at a cost of $70 billion (paid for by Wall Street taxes), guaranteed 12-week family and medical leave for public and private sector workers, public financing of elections, a massive federal work program and a single-payer health care system.

Obviously, Sanders claims that his taxes on Wall Street and the billionaire class will pay for these programs, which is beyond preposterous. In fact, you’re looking at trillions of dollars in additional government spending that has no clear fundraising mechanism.

And, up to this date, Sanders has yet to release a detailed tax policy, which would help alleviate many of these questions surrounding his arithmetic. Despite this detail, it should be known that Sanders has gone on the record as saying he would be perfectly fine with a 90 percent federal income tax on the super rich in this country. Of course, anyone with a brain knows that this tactic is unfeasible economically and politically in the U.S.; it would simply take money from people who tend to spend more of it on leisure and charity, and reallocate it to a federal government prone to inefficiencies.

Yet, Sanders, his guest speakers and his supporters outside were all perfectly fine with such a high rate.

You see, in their minds, it’s okay to demonize successful and wealthy people if you’re acting within the interests of the greater good. And, to borrow a quote from a young lady I spoke with in line, it’s great that Bernie isn’t a fan of that “pull you up by your own bootstraps mentality.”

Sadly, this mindset is catching on among our generation. People like Bernie Sanders and his supporters will gladly vilify the wealthy and corporations if it means more votes and higher poll numbers.

For these people, it’s about political expediency rather than valuing the greatness of capitalism, which has helped feed the world, developed life-saving technologies and tear down government-sanctioned aristocracies.

Of course, no one I talked to at the rally cared about those facts either. They just wanted a scapegoat.

But I don’t want to get hung-up on the dirty political tricks that Democrats employ; instead, I’d love to focus on the many new regulations Bernie Sanders wants to force upon American businesses.

First, Sanders is as anti-trade as Donald Trump. That’s right, he might as well be a protectionist. In his speech, he mentioned the fact that China is swindling our country; our manufacturing is abandoning our states and cities, and evil corporations are outsourcing jobs with relative ease.

For you and me, this potential policy would undoubtedly lead to increased prices on a variety of essential goods, thus placing an additional financial burden on struggling families and individuals.

Next, Sanders wants to implement new climate change regulations that will eventually phase out fossil fuels. As per usual, Sanders criticized Republicans as being anti-science on the issue, while providing no specifics as to how he’ll tackle this global problem. Certainly, Sanders is fully aware of the unfathomable costs that these enhanced regulations would place on American businesses. And this doesn’t even mention the inevitable increase in fuel prices that hard-working Americans will have to endure. So, kids, under President Sanders you might as well say goodbye to gas at $2 per gallon.

Lastly, Sanders urged the crowd to support him in his push for a $15 federal minimum wage, which is more than double the current wage of $7.25 per hour. This is pure silliness. According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, an increase of the minimum wage to a meager $10.10 per hour would result in the loss of 500,000 jobs. Now, just imagine the loss of work under Bernie’s plan.

Oh, and isn’t it ironic that young people, minorities and undereducated individuals will feel the negative consequences of such a wage policy? Personally, I think so.

At this point, I feel as if I must turn to my overall impressions of the event.

This brings me to a memorable moment toward the beginning of Sanders’ speech. In this portion, he claimed that the establishment was against him because he “tells the truth.”

Well, the hard truth is that Bernie Sanders and his brand of politics are toxic, divisive and will lead this country into bankruptcy.

For me, the main question at the end of the night was this: do I feel the Bern? The answer is an emphatic yes; and, if Sanders is elected, all of us will feel the Bern.

That is, we’ll feel the heat of a fire that is engulfing our entire federal government through stupidity, populism, pettiness and a lack of intellectual curiosity.

But the really sad part of this tragedy is that its fault would lie with each and every person who chose to put a socialist in the White House. So, for the sake of our generation and those unborn, let’s hope that Sanders implodes and this movement becomes nothing more than a footnote in history.