Oh. My. God. I just cannot believe the things I read here, every day. I was a Bernie supporter, but I don’t claim to understand some of my fellow Berniacs.
Anyone who is interested, can find in my comment history, that I was a Bernie supporter, although it won’t be as obvious as it is for some, as I never indulged myself much in the Bernie vs. Hillary wars here, because I didn’t see much sense in it, and I sure never saw it make an iota of difference in who supported who, for all the millions of words typed out here in the battle.
I guess for me, I’ve never seen the REAL battle as between Bernie and Hillary, although I certainly saw reasons to support Bernie. And I did, with several donations to grow and spread his voice. Don’t regret a one of them.
But now, with all due respect to Bernie, I have transitioned to supporting the presumptive Democratic nominee. Which does not mean I have turned against Bernie, just that he will not be the nominee, and for me that means, after a battle well fought, it is time for me to be realistic about it all, and figure out how to go on.
This will surely NOT be how many of my fellow Bernie supporters feel, and I not only get that, I DO support Bernie continuing to run in these primaries till the very last vote is cast. I want him to do that.
Not wild about his latter primary voice, which predictably became the voice of attack, as it does for every politician at some time and place. Hillary has absolutely done it too, in her several runs at elected office. But see, I NEVER thought Bernie wasn’t a politician, and I ALWAYS knew Hillary was a politician, so for me this is all kind of a wash.
BUT, I am gob-smacked at the amount of voice I hear here, not JUST supporting Bernie, but willing to do so by conflating Trump and Clinton as two equal evils. And YES, GD it, that is NOT AT ALL unusual here these days.
So look, although I hate this cliche, “it really is what it is”---that’s what makes a cliche a cliche. I know that I’ll take it in the pants from my fellow Bernie supporters for this diary and I’m OK with that, although I won’t enjoy it and it will bring up all kinds of feeling of auld lang syne. I will be both empathetic to some of my fellow Bernie supporters, and repulsed by others. AND, I will both miss the revolution, and be relieved to not have to sing that song anymore, when I knew long ago, that it wasn’t going to come to be in the way Bernie forecasted it would come to be, at this moment in time.
But what REALLY pisses me off is those I once aligned myself with who insist on kicking what has been voted for in the teeth. FAR, FAR beyond just believing in Bernie, some have taken it to a whole other level---one I NEVER signed up for when I decided to support Bernie, and one I won’t participate in now.
I WILL crawl over glass to vote against Trump. He repulses me in a way I feel so darn sure of, that I really have no time for those who wonder if maybe, he and Clinton are both evil…or even those who damn her with the faint praise of being the lessor of two evils.
For me, I don’t have ANY desire to beg ANY Democrat, progressive or independent to vote for Hillary when she becomes the nominee. If you “will not be brought to heel” (an arrogant yet so assured statement that places itself above the nuances and difficult decisions most of us have to make every day in every way in life, let alone politics ) then FINE. Fine, fine, fine.
Just do it. Vote against the Democratic party and Clinton. By all freaking means, satisfy your needs. Spread your wings, engage your rage.
But puleeeeeze don’t keep doing it here, where the agenda has been clear from day one. Where many of us are happy silly, by your estimate, to try to do the best we can for the Democratic party, AND the way the votes are coming in, which despite all its imperfection, many of us still believe in.
Have the guts to roar somewhere that doesn't get as many eyeballs. Yeah, I know, that’s the rub, but you can do it, right? Build your movement, make some other site the newest, latest and greatest in the progressive movement that agrees with you that Clinton and Trump are equal evils or whatever. That Clinton is a republican, more hawkish than Trump, a dishonest woman who will lead us to our demise. Yeah, all that and more. Surely, you can sell and build your vision without the anchor of a site that is so old, stodgy and antiquated that when a primary has been fought and won, it wants to come together as well, yes, Democrats, despite that none of have had our way all around the block.
I think I speak for many here when I say, you need to find, and/or build, a site that supports your desire to re-make the Democratic party in our own image, and do it by tomorrow. A site that has no time for incrementalism or compromise. If you believe in that, then build it. It’s not so easy, but I’m sure you can make a good run for it, right?