By now I am fairly certain that if you are reading this, you have already read Kos' new marching order for the dKos community -- in a nutshell, that after March 15, if Hillary Clinton is still leading in the primary, there shall be no more dissent regarding who the eventual Democratic nominee will be. That from that point forward, the putative nominee will be Hillary and all dKos activity must organize around getting Hillary elected.
Fair enough. When I first read it, I was incensed. After all, I am now a die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter and I believe that he will win this thing. I also believe that he is the ONLY candidate who can win against any of the Republican candidates. And that he is the ONLY candidate who can actually make progressive change happen. So yeah…. Kos, you pissed me off.
But today, I get it. This is Kos’ site. He has always been clear: This site is about getting Democrats elected. It does not matter who they are -- they must get elected. And frankly, this is a good mission. The Republicans are uniformly horrible. A Republican president would be a disgrace. Regardless, this is Kos’ site. He can run it any way he wants to.
I joined dKos back in 2008. I got radicalized by the Obama campaign because I was so angry about how the Republicans were dealing with him. I needed a place to vent about Republicans and read others’ vents about Republicans! I LOVE DAILYKOS BACK IN THOSE DAYS. You can see it from my profile. I even wrote a diary once that made the rec list! (Once.) For lots of years now, I have LOATHED Republicans and LOVED Democrats. With each passing year, though, I became more and more progressive, and became more and more attuned to the fact that “DEMOCRATS” are a very broad category of politician.
Let me also say that over the years I have generally held Hillary Clinton in pretty high regard. I loved the idea of her becoming president. I was “ready for Hillary" when those bumper stickers first became available a long time ago. (We have one somewhere in the house, maybe stuck on a laundry basket or something.)
Let me emphasize: I was READY FOR HILLARY. I would have PROUDLY voted her into office. But then Bernie Sanders threw his hat into the ring.
For a few months after Bernie declared, I will admit, I did not think he had a chance. I viewed him as an incredibly useful tool to force Hillary to move to the left on her positions so that when she got elected she would be committed to making some serious progressive changes.
But then I started doing my homework in ways I never before had done. I read more about Hillary’s history, and Bernie’s history. And it became very easy for me to see that Bernie has, for his entire political career, espoused and supported and enacted political philosophies that are directly in line with my own. That he has never been one to move with the political winds. That he is almost unbelievably dedicated to the ideals of social and economic justice.
And then I saw how Bernie was getting treated by the mainstream media and the Democratic party establishment. They treated him like a joke, or a whim, or a distraction. They did not take him seriously. They were not interested in a healthy primary contest --- they wanted Hillary at the top, and they wanted it done quickly.
What this has all meant to me is that the mainstream, mainline, “elite” Democrats are NOT interested in true social justice. They are not interested in broad, visionary goals. They are not interested in redistribution of wealth back to the 99%. They are not interested in even asserting that health care is a human right!
So, I won’t make the argument that “the party has left me." It hasn’t. I have left the party. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and others want to propose that Bernie was "never” a Democrat, that he is seeking the nomination for political expediency. Okay — whatever. Then perhaps I never was, either.
What I have discovered, and what I suspect millions of others have discovered too, over these past few months, is that I am NOT a Democrat.
I am a Berniecrat.
If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, it is easy to see how he will then win the presidency. And I will happily, joyfully, gleefully vote for the Dem at the top of the ticket.
But if Bernie Sanders does not win the nomination, it is easy to see how his chances were affected by establishment (media and party) machinations all down the line. And it will be similarly easy for me not to vote for the Dem at the top of the ticket.
Kos, I am #bernieorbust. I am #anybluewontdo. I am a Berniecrat. And this is my last dKos diary.
