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Bernie Sanders

U.S. Senator and longest-serving independent in congressional history who defines the deep state as the "oligarchy" — the billionaire class that buys politicians, owns media, and turns American democracy into a government "of, by, and for the billionaires."

FieldDetails
Full NameBernard Sanders
BornSeptember 8, 1941, Brooklyn, New York
RoleU.S. Senator (I-VT), Former Presidential Candidate
PlatformU.S. Senate floor speeches, campaign rallies, books, op-eds, video series, X/Twitter
Notable WorksOur Revolution: A Future to Believe In (2016), Where We Go from Here: Two Years in the Resistance (2018), It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (2023), Fight Oligarchy (2025)
Evidence RatingWELL-DOCUMENTED

Background & Biography​

Bernard Sanders was born into a working-class Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brooklyn College before graduating from the University of Chicago in 1964, where he was a protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the civil rights movement.

After moving to Vermont in 1968, Sanders worked as a union carpenter and freelance journalist while becoming active in the anti-Vietnam War movement. He was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981 as an independent — defeating a six-term incumbent Democrat — and was reelected three times. As mayor, he launched downtown revitalization, created pollution controls for Lake Champlain, and funded low-income housing.

Sanders won Vermont's at-large U.S. House seat in 1990 and served until 2006, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He is now serving his fourth Senate term after winning re-election in 2024. He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, building a massive grassroots fundraising movement that demonstrated small-dollar donations could compete with corporate money. He caucuses with Senate Democrats and served as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee (2021-2023) and Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (2023-2025).

Their Deep State Definition​

Sanders does not typically use the phrase "deep state." His framework identifies the same problem from a different angle: unelected power over government comes from concentrated wealth. Where others name intelligence agencies or secret societies, Sanders names the billionaire class, the donor class, and the corporate lobby system as the mechanism by which democracy is overridden.

His core thesis is that the United States has become an "oligarchic form of society" where a handful of billionaires exercise enormous economic and political power through campaign contributions, lobbying, media ownership, and revolving-door influence. The result is the same outcome deep state researchers document: politicians acting against the will of the people on war, economic policy, healthcare, and regulation.

Sanders has stated: "We are moving rapidly away from our democratic heritage into an oligarchic form of society where today we are experiencing a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires." He identifies the Citizens United Supreme Court decision (2010) as the inflection point that legalized unlimited billionaire spending in elections, accelerating the conversion of democracy into oligarchy.

Their Puppet Master Definition​

The "oligarchy" or "billionaire class" / "donor class" / extreme wealth concentration — super-rich individuals and corporations who buy politicians via campaign finance, lobbyists, and media, turning government into "of, by, and for the billionaires." Bipartisan issue. Repeated in speeches, Guardian op-eds, books, his podcast, and X posts; focuses on economic power buying political outcomes.

Key Quotes​

"We are moving rapidly away from our democratic heritage into an oligarchic form of society where today we are experiencing a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires." — Bernie Sanders, Senate floor speech, 2025

"When I started talking about Oligarchy, many people didn't understand what I meant. Well, that's changed. When the 3 wealthiest men in America sit behind Trump at his inauguration, everyone understands that the billionaire class now controls our government." — Bernie Sanders, X/Twitter, January 2025

"This is oligarchy: a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires. We must defeat Trump. We must overturn Citizens United. We must fight for democracy." — Bernie Sanders, X/Twitter, 2024

"Never before in American history have so few owned so much." — Bernie Sanders, Senate floor speech on oligarchy

"History will record that the 'Citizens United' decision is one of the worst in the history of our country." — Bernie Sanders, multiple speeches

"Never before in American history have so few media conglomerates, all owned by the billionaire class, had so much influence over the public." — Bernie Sanders, Senate floor speech

"The US has a ruling class — and Americans must stand up to it." — Bernie Sanders, Guardian op-ed

Key Arguments & Evidence They Cite​

  • Wealth concentration: Four individuals — Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg — hold an estimated $1.3 trillion in combined wealth, more than the bottom half of America (170 million people)
  • Citizens United: The 2010 Supreme Court decision allowed unlimited corporate and billionaire spending in elections, enabling the donor class to buy political outcomes
  • Pandemic profiteering: 745 billionaires became more than $2 trillion richer during the COVID pandemic while thousands of essential workers died
  • Media consolidation: Six media corporations own 90% of what Americans see, hear, and read; billionaires personally own major platforms (Musk owns Twitter/X, Bezos owns the Washington Post, Zuckerberg owns Meta)
  • Campaign finance corruption: In the 2024 cycle, 15 billionaires spent $433 million to influence elections; Elon Musk alone spent over $277 million to elect Trump
  • Bipartisan capture: The oligarchy controls both parties — policies benefiting the wealthy persist across Democratic and Republican administrations
  • Two Americas: The rise of "two Americas" — one for the billionaire class overflowing with "unimaginable wealth, greed and opulence that makes the Gilded Age seem very modest," and one where the majority live paycheck to paycheck

Where They've Said It​

  • Senate floor speeches: Multiple major addresses on oligarchy, including "What the Oligarchs Really Want" and "America's Dangerous Movement Toward Oligarchy, Authoritarianism & Kleptocracy"
  • Books: Our Revolution (2016), Where We Go from Here (2018), It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (2023), Fight Oligarchy (2025, New York Times bestseller)
  • Op-eds: The Guardian ("The US has a ruling class — and Americans must stand up to it"), Fox News (op-ed on political power of billionaires), Sanders Senate website op-eds
  • Video series: Launched a Senate video series on global oligarchy and the Trump administration (2025)
  • Fighting Oligarchy Tour: National speaking tour in 2025, drawing 2,000+ in Iowa City and 3,400+ in Omaha
  • Brookings Institution: Address titled "We have a government of, by, and for billionaires"
  • X/Twitter (@BernieSanders and @SenSanders): Regular posts on oligarchy, wealth concentration, and Citizens United
  • 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns: Central campaign message on billionaire class control
  • NPR, Rolling Stone, The Nation, Common Dreams: Extensive interviews on oligarchy themes

The Counterargument​

  • Critics argue Sanders oversimplifies by reducing all political dysfunction to wealth inequality, ignoring the role of intelligence agencies, foreign governments, and ideological capture
  • Libertarian and right-wing deep state analysts note Sanders' framework excludes government bureaucracy itself as a source of unelected power — he focuses on who buys government rather than the permanent administrative state
  • Some argue his solutions (higher taxes, public campaign financing, expanded government programs) would increase the very government power that other deep state analysts identify as the problem
  • Sanders has been criticized for caucusing with Democrats while calling the system corrupt, and for endorsing establishment candidates (Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020) after his primary defeats
  • Free-market economists argue that campaign spending does not reliably predict election outcomes, and that corporate lobbying is a symptom of excessive government power rather than its cause
  • Chris Hedges — Shares Sanders' critique of corporate power but goes further, arguing the entire system including the Democratic Party is beyond reform
  • Ron Paul — Identifies the same bipartisan establishment capture from a libertarian angle; both agree on opposition to foreign wars and the Federal Reserve, but diverge sharply on economic solutions
  • Dennis Kucinich — Fellow progressive congressman who challenged the military-industrial complex and was redistricted out of Congress; shares Sanders' critique of war profiteering
  • Catherine Austin Fitts — Her "financial coup d'etat" framework overlaps with Sanders' oligarchy thesis but includes black budget finance and intelligence agency funding that Sanders does not address

Other Coverage Worth Reading​

  • Catherine Austin Fitts: Former HUD official documents $21 trillion in undocumented government spending funneled to unaccountable networks.
  • Ron Paul: Three-time presidential candidate who named the Federal Reserve as the deep state's financial engine.
  • Whitney Webb: Investigative journalist connecting intelligence agencies, big tech, and billionaire networks in documented detail.
  • Peter Dale Scott: UC Berkeley professor who coined "deep politics" and traced covert power structures through decades of research.

Sources​

This information was compiled by Claude AI research.