I am a proud Democrat. I believe we are the party of regular working people, a party that stands for equality, and justice, and freedom. However we are at a crossroads right now, and time is running out. We have two paths: allow our party to shrink even further by chasing away potential new activists, or to embark on an epic quest to revitalize ourselves with a broad new coalition.
What many of my fellow Democrats don’t seem to understand is that if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic Party nomination, all of those super enthusiastic NON-Democrats who so passionately support Bernie Sanders will never support her. They do not like or trust Clinton (her support starts and stops with Democrats). They see Clinton like most Democrats see Jeb Bush (even if you disagree with that assessment, that is how they perceive the situation).
Many seem to think that all Clinton needs to do is lock up the party nomination, and all those people will magically just jump onboard the Clinton ship, but it's not going to happen, and there's nothing you or I can do about it. Even Bernie Sanders himself could get down on his hands and knees and BEG them to support Clinton, and they still would not do it. That is how strong their views are and WHY they so strongly support Bernie's political revolution.
Bernie has the support of millions of independents, millennials, third party activists, and that segment of the population that is eligible to vote but never does (often because they perceive the system to be totally rigged and both parties to be the same). The reason why they support Bernie is not because of his personality or some cult-worship, it has nothing to do with him personally but the MESSAGE and integrity and vision he represents. They know Clinton does not have that, it cannot be market tested and sold like a product, it cannot be faked. It is the real deal or nothing to these folks.
If Bernie loses the nomination battle to Clinton, all those people will say home or vote for someone else. When Clinton has -16% net favorability ratings and zero appeal to anyone outside the Democratic Party, it is the perfect recipe for the type of low voter turnout election we had in 2010 and 2014 where Republicans do well.
The whippings will continue until moral improves: Blame those voters all you want, try to scare them with the spectre of Trump/Cruz, call them all the names you want, but it will be the fault of our Democratic Party establishment, corporate media, and the Clinton Machine that will be the cause of this. If she gets the nomination, it’s possible Clinton might still be elected president despite all this, but we will not retake the House, possibly not win back the Senate, and definitely not do well in State and Local races nationwide.
Our one and only hope of generating the wave election we need to not only retain the Presidency, but to have sweeping successes around the country in down ballot races and a whole new engaged movement demanding progress is by backing Bernie Sanders. He has already won all those non-Democrat groups that we need to win, and now we just need the majority of Democrats to join us to create a broad new coalition and get real change and reform to happen.
I am a down ballot Democrat (MN State Senate) and I welcome you to this movement to get a NEW New Deal done in America for a better future. Now is our time.
Help us make 2,000,000 calls this weekend to New York