I am not a Sanders supporter. I never have been. I was for Hillary in ‘08, and even more so now. I have gone from respecting Sanders to, on most days, wishing he would disappear.
That being said, if I take a step back from the primary pie fight, take a step back from the ease with which we anonymously insult each other and attack each other online, I have to recognize that I am profoundly grateful to Bernie Sanders for the role he has played in this presidential campaign.
Without equivocation, without apology, without trying to find a mushy middle-ground, Bernie Sanders condemned the influence that money has in our political system. Condemned that political system for furthering the interests of the wealthy while leaving everyone else behind. Condemned the rapacious greed of corporations who are destroying our environment and our middle-class. Condemned the politicians who give cover to and aid and abet that greed. His statements were a breath of fresh air to me. To people just tuning in, or to people who had tuned out a while ago, I can see how appealing that directness was.
That was Bernie’s contribution. That was Bernie’s gift to us. No matter what else he has said or done, he stood up and called out the problems that we Democrats of all stripes recognize and despair of on a daily basis. He gave us a voice that was lacking in the political arena. He moved the window left. And he deserves our thanks.
Given that, why didn't I support him? Because as much as I agreed with his diagnosis of the systemic illness in the body politic, I didn’t think his solutions would be effective. 15.00 an hour min wage is too blunt an instrument in a country with as diverse costs of living as Manhattan, NYC and Greenwood, SC. Tying the minimum wage to inflation is such a good idea it should be a gimme, but it wasn’t Bernie’s idea. College doesn’t have to be free — it just should be affordable. Single payer is one model for universal health care coverage, but it’s not the only model. Fracking is horrible but coal is worse. And the details for his proposals were always scant in my mind and didn’t hold up to rigorous examination.
I haven’t loved how Bernie’s acted during the primary and after it’s over but you know what, who cares. The ideas that Bernie espoused, the problems that he identified, we’ve all known for a long time. He just grabbed the mic and gave them the attention they needed. People didn’t flock to him because he said something new or something we didn’t know — they flocked to him because he was a politician who finally said what we’ve been saying all along.
He lost and to me that’s a good thing. I don’t think he could have won the general, if he had I don’t think he could have gotten his ideas passed, and if he did I don’t think his ideas would have worked particularly well. But it’s immaterial now — he lost. Bernie supporters need to understand that Bernie Sanders is no longer relevant. In reality he never was beyond that he told the truth about the problems we face. Hillary supporters also need to understand that Bernie is no longer relevant. If he doesn’t endorse, if he throws a fit at the convention, whatever — yes it will damage the Dems and yes it will damage the causes he espouses but they’re not Bernie’s causes — they are ours and always have been. And if he works to fuck them up we just have to work that much harder to fix them.
Hillary Clinton is our vehicle for addressing those issues now. She is far from perfect, but so are all politicians including Bernie. So are we. There’s a part of me that likes anonymously sniping at perfect strangers on the internet, but I’m done with it. The primary is over, we’ve got a general election to win, and we’ve got a candidate and a party to applaud where they get things right, and to push when they don’t.
Thanks Bernie for calling it like it is. I look forward to fighting for Hillary, and barring that against Trump, with you in the general.