Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders published an op-ed in The New York Times on Wednesday and called for a crackdown on Wall Street by breaking up big banks and prohibiting Wall Street executives from running the Federal Reserve.

"It's time to make banking work for the productive economy and for all Americans, not just a handful of wealthy speculators," wrote Sanders, a longtime advocate for Wall Street reform. "And it begins by making the Federal Reserve a more democratic institution, one that is responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans rather than the billionaires on Wall Street."

According to the Vermont senator, Wall Street has been "out of control" for far too long. Although American tax dollars were used to bail out the largest financial institutions in our nation, which were deemed "too big to fail" in 2008, Sanders points out that the banks are now bigger than ever. In order to chop banks down to size and prevent the need for another bailout, the Federal Reserve needs to be reformed, writes Sanders.

"To rein in Wall Street, we should begin by reforming the Federal Reserve, which oversees financial institutions and which uses monetary policy to maintain price stability and full employment," he said. "Unfortunately, an institution that was created to serve all Americans has been hijacked by the very bankers it regulates."

Despite support from Republican congressional members, Sanders said the Fed should not raise its interest rates since that will hurt small business owners and the economy.

He goes on to state that bank executives should no longer be allowed to serve on the Fed's boards, which is a clear conflict of interest.

"We would not tolerate the head of Exxon Mobil running the Environmental Protection Agency. We don't allow the Federal Communications Commission to be dominated by Verizon executives. And we should not allow big bank executives to serve on the boards of the main agency in charge of regulating financial institutions," explains the self-proclaimed democratic socialist.

"If I were elected president, the foxes would no longer guard the henhouse," he says.