Derek Redd PUTTING UP A FIGHT – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to a packed house at the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling on Friday night. The Wheeling stop is one of three Sanders will make in West Virginia as part of his “Fight Oligarchy” tour.

WHEELING – Americans are feeling the stress of living from paycheck to paycheck, and it’s affecting health, families and lives, according to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, I-Vermont, addressed a capacity crowd that gathered at the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling on Friday night to hear the “Fighting Oligarchy” message he is taking to a national level.

Music, cheerleaders, merchandise vendors greeted attendees as they entered, creating a jovial atmosphere to rile up the crowd. A number of chants were heard: “Mountaineers are always free,” “this is what democracy looks like,” and to elected lawmakers, “we can do better – do your job.”

Chants of “Bernie, Bernie” filled the air when Sanders took the stage.

“I was told West Virginia was a conservative state,” he told the crowd. “Somebody got it wrong.”

Sanders recounted growing up in a working-class household in Vermont 50 miles from the Canadian border where money was tight. He remembers often hearing his parents fight about finances.

“That reality of living in a rent-controlled apartment and seeing what stress does to families who don’t have money – that has motivated my political life,” Sanders said.

“It’s incredible that today in the richest country in the history of the world, 66% of our people are living paycheck-to-paycheck. You all know what that is about. You wake up in the morning and say, ‘Am I going to be able to pay the rent at the end of the month? Am I going to be able to buy the decent quality food my kid needs? And what happens if somebody gets sick and I have a large deductible?'”

He said, as a result, there are millions of Americans living with a massive amount of stress.

“And you know what happens when you live with stress?” he asked the crowd.

“You die,” they responded.

Despite the government spending about $14,000 a year on each resident for health care, Americans have a four-year lower life expectancy than in other nations, according to Sanders.

“And what you don’t know is that working-class Americans are living six years shorter lives than the wealthy,” he continued.

Doctors have told Sanders that there is something they call “diseases of despair.”

“That’s when people live under a constant amount of stress where every single day is a battle for survival – things happen to their minds, things happen to their bodies. They get physically sicker, and mentally (sicker) as well,” he said.

The end result of all of that is a lot of people dying, or they are trying to escape life, he continued. Many are turning to alcohol and other drugs.

Sanders encouraged the crowd to “take on the greed of the oligarchy” that he said is controlling government.

“It is not acceptable that one man – Elon Musk – has more wealth than 52% of households (combined) in the U.S,” Sanders said.

He added the public must rise up and tell them “you cannot have it all,” and ask them “how much do you really need?”

“They have enough money to support their family for 1,000 years,” Sanders said. “They don’t need any more.”

He also suggested that one reason Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election is that “there were too many billionaires telling her not to stand up for the working class.”

Sanders said citizens wanting to take issue with the U.S. government should put the Citizens United ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court at the top of their list. The ruling established that corporations and unions have the same First Amendment rights as individuals, permitting them to spend unlimited amounts of money on political advertising and independent expenditures.

This increased the role of money in politics, giving an unfair advantage to the wealthy, Sanders said.

“We believe in a democracy of one person, one vote,” he continued.

Sanders noted that the U.S. spends twice what other wealthy countries do on health care for its citizens.

“We should have one of the best health care systems in the world. Instead, we have one of the worst,” he said. “It’s insane that we have 60,000 Americans die each year because they can’t go to the doctor.”

Sanders also suggested improvements to education in America, and paying each teacher no less than $60,000 a year for their job.

He also advocated for the minimum wage to be raised to $17 an hour.

Four other speakers took the podium prior to Sanders’ speech.

Amy Jo Hutchison of Wheeling – an anti-poverty advocate who serves as campaign director for Moms Rising in West Virginia – was greeted with a strong ovation when she took the stage. A Triadelphia resident, she most recently has been involved with organizing volunteer efforts and rebuilding the community following flooding on June 14.

She told those present that while her own home wasn’t affected, she was able to watch from her porch as her neighbors’ homes were destroyed.

“I thought what this place now needs is an organizer – and I know a girl,” she said.

Other speakers included Morgantown City Council member Brian Butcher, also president of West Virginia Housing Justice; former West Virginia House of Delegates member Danielle Walker, and Zach Shrewsbury, founder of Bluejay Rising.