It's fairly clear at this point the primary will continue to June, where there are over 700 delegates at stake. There can be no transgression for "re-litigating" the primary while we’re still litigating it. Even setting that aside, abrasive calls to unify under Hillary Clinton are not going to be successful right now and I am writing to explain why I believe they fail.
Like most people in my age range (25-39), I don’t have much faith left in churches, banks, journalists, government, the Court, or any other institution many of us would consider to be pillars in a society. Since the federal government under a sitting Democratic president coordinated a crackdown on the OWS, I can’t pretend that there’s any serious difference between the two parties on fundamental questions of power distribution. Of those, I “prefer” the Democratic party since it's at least not shamelessly trafficking in fanning racism in middle and lower classes. Perhaps for that reason and a nostalgia for what I thought the Democratic Party could be when I was younger, I canvassed for Obama in Pennsylvania in 2012 and voted for him. But it felt hollow. I wasn't even actively involved with OWS but seeing what happened was a watershed moment, like seeing your parent sneaking the gifts under the Christmas tree with your own eyes. Just no going back from that point.
Hillary’s a tough sell for me right now and I have voted D in every state and national election since I was 18, including the dreadful midterms. I’ll speak honestly, since there's still a chance I’ll end up so disgusted in the fall that I shill for Hill, but attempts to use Donald Trump or pictures of innocent children to shame me into voting for her come across as self-interested emotional blackmail. It may feel righteous to do so, but the result backfires. If she becomes the nominee, even if I support her, I will always resent those who lacked the moral courage to support a candidate who stands for an utter cleansing of the depraved pay-to-play corruption that has paralyzed government and ruined our country and instead risked the future on an unabashedly insider gamble who's campaign resume is an endless litany of turning 25 point inevitabilities into nailbiters and losses.
I don’t believe Senator Sanders v. an intransigent Congress would be able to accomplish everything on his “ambitious” agenda of streamlining the prosperous United States with the other genuine first world nations on the globe. However, I have every confidence that whatever result he produces would be the best he can attain under the circumstances. Because I trust him. By contrast, I expect the worst from Hillary Clinton, selling us out to transnational interests the moment we turn our backs, ruling in private like Margaret Thatcher while celebrating Black History Month and Gay Pride Day in public. I used to believe Democrats behaved this way because they underestimated the political will to do the right thing, when I was younger. How quaint.
I’m not that demanding of a customer, so the fact that I even have to consider abandoning ship this year is a bad sign. There are a lot of people out there far less amenable to reconciliation. Mainstream Democrats need them more than the reverse is true. If building a bridge is the goal, it would be helpful to recognize how much the mainstream attempted to invalidate the aspiration to achieve something better protecting the jaundiced status quo. It wasn't the case of saying “we think you’re ultimately going to lose"; it was “your laughably naive dreams have absolutely no chance of making any difference anywhere.”
That's pretty bad, especially when they were wrong.
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UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who reached out and recommended. I have to get some work done and then head to a doctor’s appointment (routine check-up, no worries) but I will try to address comments as best as I can throughout the day/evening. Best, -B