Bernie is the best thing that ever happened to the Democratic Party. -
One Pissed Off Liberal from A moment of truth for Democrats
I grew up in a working class religious conservative home that loved Reagan, but I think they would have been Democrats if they weren't afraid of black people and opposed to abortion. My dad once sat me down and explained that this country has enough food to feed the whole world, but we're too greedy to do it. He even whispered to me that greed was the true reason we rejected communism.
I was old enough to vote for the first time in 1992. I voted for Bush over Clinton and Perot. I didn't really know anything about politics at the time. I was in seminary to be a minister and everyone I knew was voting for Bush, so, that's why I voted for him.
I didn't vote in the next few elections. I didn't really care about politics. What little exposure I had left me with the impression that everyone was full of shit.
I realized how mistaken I was about staying out of politics by the 2006 elections. My wife gave me a test to see where I landed on the political spectrum and I was solidly on the left. That both surprised me and didn't, because despite how they voted, my family were mostly liberal on economic issues and on social issues, we just totally disagreed. Much to their deep disappointment, I quit being a minister after barely getting started, in part because of rejecting Hell, but just as much because of the racism and sexism and bigotry against gay people that I found in church.
In the 2008 primaries, at first I really liked John Edwards, even though I didn't care for his charming answers when asked questions about his integrity. I assume the best in people, so, I didn't jump to any conclusions about him, but I was honestly a little surprised, and of course dissapointed, when it turned out that he was a lying cheating son of a bitch. In retrospect, I think I had a bit of a blind spot when it came to people who speak with intense emotional passion. I am that kind of person. I was that kind of preacher.
But by the time that came out about Edwards, he had already dropped out of the race and I had already gotten behind Obama, who I liked even more than Edwards. Although, my actual first choice was Joe Biden. I really liked Obama, but I thought it would be a better idea to have someone with more experience to handle the perfect storm of disasters going on at the time. I was very happy when Obama picked Biden as a running mate and close adviser.
I didn't like Hillary Clinton at all during the primaries, but I softened toward her when I watched her endorse Obama. I actually thought that maybe she wasn't quite as bad as I thought she was. But then Obama nominated her for Secretary of State and that surprised me. I was reading Dorris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, but I was still puzzled by the move. She lied about dodging sniper fire... how is she right for SOS?
But was it really fair of me to judge her unqualified just because of a big fish story she told to impress friends? Maybe I was being too hard on her, because of how intense the primaries had gotten. I mean, I was honestly as afraid of her being President as I was of another Republican. But then I asked myself why. Why was I afraid of Hillary Clinton? And I realized that I didn't know why. I just was. That really surprised me, because I always considered myself above that kind of gut bias toward people.
So, I decided to look back at her history as a public servant and judge her by her record. I was ashamed to realize that based on her record, I had absolutely no reason to feel anything but respect for her. Sure, like all politicians, she had fucked up sometimes. And I disagreed with her on some important issues, such as marriage equality. But all in all, she seemed like a pretty god damn great public servant.
And I realized that the only reason I didn't like her... that I was actually afraid of her... was because I grew up hearing her demonized by the right. I had bought their bullshit about her.
I remembered hearing that she had made some remark about not baking cookies back in the 90s and how offended everyone was about it at the time. But I actually liked it back then, because I was so for women choosing who they were going to be and what they were going to do with their lives. Looking back at that moment, I was able to fully appreciate just how bad ass it was that Hillary Clinton had said that. I still smile thinking about her saying that.
Around that same time, I saw Senator Bernie Sanders on Real Time With Bill Maher. I loved him instantly. Literally, everything about him. There's only been a few people who were public figures that I have wanted to meet in person and sit down and talk with at length and he is one of those people. The other two are Neil Degrasse Tyson and Larry David. Bernie is quiet until he's ready to speak and when he speaks you listen, because he knows what he's fucking talking about and he truly honestly gives a shit. He's almost too good to be true, except that he is the real deal.
So, you'd think I would be the first to jump on the bandwagon when he announced he was running for President. But I wasn't.
As I wrote above, I haven't been engaged in politics for all that long. Just about a decade. But that has been long enough to learned that Presidents do not have the power to change a country. At best, a President can be ready to join a final big push when the momentum for change already exists. If the country isn't ready to change, the best a President can do is plant seeds for the future and stay ready in case the opportunity arises.
Senator Bernie Sanders says the same thing. He can't change the country. The only thing that will change this country is the people of this country. If they change, then the country can change and a President who is behind those changes can help facilitate.
And this is where one of my biggest hesitations for voting for Sanders in the primary comes from. I have minor issues with him, but nothing bigger than I have for Clinton or Biden (if he jumps into the race). Both honestly, those minor issues are not what hold me back. One of the big things that holds me back is that I don't believe that the country is ready to change in the ways that Sanders is suggesting and at the rate he is suggesting.
That sounds like such a terrible thing to say. But it's what I think.
I wasn't surprised when the country changed on marriage equality, because you could see the change happening all around. The entire spectrum of attitudes in this country shifted toward favoring marriage equality. People like Franklin Graham who call marriage equality evil sound like crazy people.
It was the same with ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. You could see the change in how people felt about war between 2001 to 2008. People who say we should start a war with Iran sound like crazy people. The country changed.
But I don't see the change in the country when it comes to economic inequality. To be honest, I have a friend who is a religious conservative who would never vote for a Democrat who loves Senator Bernie Sanders. So, I don't deny that his message has appeal beyond the Democratic party. But I still don't see the momentum. Large crowds at campaign rallies for a primary are not evidence of momentum for national change. They are evidence that a particular candidate has a lot of supporters.
Now, don't get me wrong. I want change. I hope for change. I believe this country is changing, but it doesn't seem to be at a tipping point yet. At least not in regards to economic inequality. Of course, I am just a single person looking around getting a sense of things. What the fuck do I know? Well, but, what the fuck does everyone who believes they can sweep the country into suddenly changing in revolutionary ways know either?
But, what does any of this have to do with the quote from the other diary? Well, it's context for my response to it.
First of all, the idea that Senator Bernie Sanders is the best thing that has ever happened to the Democratic party is not only absurd, but it's incredibly ignorant and arrogant and disrespectful toward everyone who has been a Democrat for more than a few weeks.
And I would simply roll my eyes at it as if it is just another over excited hyperbolic thing some supporter said during primary seasons that if Sanders heard he would modestly smile and put up his hand and explain that while he appreciates the passionate support, of course, he certainly doesn't feel this way about himself.
Except that while I know that while he would never consider himself the best thing that has ever happened to the Democratic party... I do think that he does believe that right now he is the best thing that could happen to the Democratic party.
Of course, so does everyone who runs to be the presidential nominee of their party. They all think they are the best thing that could happen to their party. They better or why are they running?
But it's not his party. It's a party he has rejected for decades but now needs because he is running for President and he doesn't have a chance in hell to win as an independent.
I haven't been a Democrat for very long. Just since the 2006 elections. But when I joined I joined a big tent party filled with many different people. Different people that did their best to find common ground to work together.
I grew up in a home where my father felt he had to whisper to his son that he felt that communism would work if people weren't greedy, because on the right, you either get in line or you get the fuck out.
I loved that the left allowed dissent and differences and that it valued compromise and an open mind to change. Yes, the Democratic party has always been deeply flawed in some terrible ways, but for my life time it has been an alternative to living in Stepford.
In 2006, when I realized that I belonged in the Democratic party, I was so relieved. At last, people who shared my values. People who shared my passions. People who shared my skepticism. I felt like an ugly duckling who had just found a flock of swans.
I understand the frustrations that Democrats have with other people in their party, but as someone who spent over the 30 years on the outside, let me say that I think you should be a little bit more appreciative of the Democratic party and a little bit more respectful toward those in the party who have done wonderful things for the people of this country and the world.
Senator Bernie Sanders might be right and this country might be poised at the tipping point of major changes for the better. If he is right, I will be overjoyed. And despite it rubbing me the wrong way that he is running as a Democrat after decades of rejecting Democrats, if he IS the nominee, I will certainly do everything I can to help him win, because he's a great public servant and I'm sure that he'll give everything he's got to work hard as President.
But I am not going to support him in the primary. If Biden runs and he looks like he can win, he has my vote. But otherwise, my vote is going to Hillary Clinton. I think she'll be a great President. I think she has a better sense of where the country is on issues and I think she'll do a better job making progress than Sanders would(unless there really is some kind of progressive revolution). And she's been a Democrat for decades. That DOES mean something to me.
At least in the primary when both candidates are like picking between which ice cream I love better. I mean, I feel sorry for the right, because their candidates are jokes. Ours are fantastic. There's no losing on our side.