This should not come as a surprise or shock to anybody with even the slightest clue of the way American politics work. Clinton has her obvious place at the forefront of American politics, would be the first woman president, and would seem a logical torch-bearer of the Democratic Party’s plans, following President Obama’s two terms coming to their close.

Or, at least, that is the narrative that is fed to the public, but I think that not all of us are happily downing it. We don’t want it.

Perhaps it’s a product of the Internet Age, with millennials so accustomed to such a vast and deep well of information being available to explore. Maybe it’s also because the term “democratic socialism” isn’t scary to young people, because we’re actually more fearful of crippling student debt, climate change, Wall Street banks and firms getting off unscathed as people are locked up on petty offenses, perpetual war in the Middle East, and the systemic racism and police brutality that seem so constant and omnipresent in our country.

We aren’t falling for Clinton’s media endorsements as being representative of any widespread support; in fact, it further proves the point of certain politicians buying their elections, and only elevates the problem of wealth influencing campaign dynamics.

Senator Bernie Sanders is attacking this problem head-on, but refraining from playground tactics like insults, bullying, or scaring people into abandoning any shred of decency and empathy (all usually reserved for Trump and other Republican candidates). Instead, Bernie Sanders’s rise to the center of American politics, especially among the youth, is anchored by love and respect for all people, not tolerating the xenophobia and war-mongering spouted off by the Right, and, perhaps most importantly, by Senator Sanders’s proven record of actually sticking up for what he’s been advocating for.

Besides his extensive political involvements as a young man, like being involved in the Civil Rights Movement (marching to Dr. King Jr.’s “I Had a Dream” speech), to voting against the Iraq War and Patriot Act, and refusing campaign donations from Super PACs, Senator Sanders is not a flip-flopper, does not abandon his principles, and always works for the benefit of those who may not have their voices heard by those at the “top” of American society. If anything, Bernie Sanders is running for president under the pretense that the majority of Americans are the top, the middle and poorer classes, and not the extremely wealthy, and that is causing his numbers and momentum to surge. Bernie’s rise in stardom and in the polls is due to an overwhelming portion of the population just generally being sick of this entire system.

The sky is the limit for Senator Sanders, and even Clinton couldn’t account for her low numbers among young voters in a recent debate. The answer is because Bernie does what he says, stands up for what is right, for us, and is a true man of the people. Not a man of the money.

Sanders has been in Washington, D.C. since 1991, starting as a state representative of Vermont and later becoming a senator, but is not considered an “Establishment” candidate because he seeks to destroy what has been ruining, and the norm of, American democracy: Super PACs, millionaires and billionaires flooding campaigns with cash, and heavy lobbying by Wall Street firms and others.

Bernie, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist, the lovable old senator, the crazy guy to some, and a savior of sorts to others (to more than Republicans can stomach, which is fun), can be loved or hated, but he is here – and what he’s creating is here to stay, thankfully. He’s destroying a crooked system of wealth and hatred, and the movement he and his supporters are building is one of love and equality. He’s destroying it from the inside out, and good riddance.

Here’s to making the Clinton supporters sweat, and the Republicans nervous – here’s to Senator Sanders, soon to be President Bernie Sanders, and the movement he’s created, and the one we can all continue to strengthen and further.