Watch out, America.
Bernie Sanders’ big brother, Larry, has been a significant political influence on his baby sibling throughout their lives.
Both men still believe Bernie can defeat Hillary Clinton to secure the Democratic Party nomination.
Hillary Clinton is sometimes called ‘entitled’ – but Larry Sanders says of Bern ‘I think he feels quite Presidential’.
The brothers Sanders still speak regularly – so is there a chance some of Larry’s out-there policy ideas could cross the Atlantic if his baby brother sweeps to the White House come November?
Larry, a British resident since the ‘60s, recently got promoted to be the health spokesman in the UK’s fringe Green Party.
The 81-year-old stood for the British Parliament last year but managed just 4.4 per cent of the vote.
Now he is in charge of fronting unconventional ideas to get Britain healthy.
According to his party’s manifesto, a Sanders National Health Service would use taxpayer cash to subsidize bananas, while whacking a 20 per cent tax on pizza to keep everyone slim.
The Greens have pledged to use public funds to knock a third off the price of fresh produce, while killing a tax exemption for food if it isn’t deemed healthy enough.
But his health agenda also gets muddied by the Greens’ climate change obsession, which could see operations cancelled for emitting too much CO2.
The manifesto aims to change NHS rules to discourage procedures that lead to greenhouse gas emissions.
Sanders also wants to stop doctors throwing away some medical equipment which is currently destroyed for sanitary reasons.
The ideas are as far from the political mainstream in the UK as they are in the United States.
But if sufficient Americans Feel the Bern, and Sanders Jnr inherits the White House, the US green lobby would suddenly gain a very influential voice.
Indeed, Larry has kept dual US-UK citizenship, so has every right to head to Washington and make a play for the political clout that has so eluded him in Britain.
