I have been/am a very strong Bernie supporter, and was under the mistaken perception at the beginning of his campaign that he would win over the black vote. When that didn’t happen, I tried to think through why the African American community regards Hillary as being in their best interest. Usually when there’s a difference in perspective like that, it’s about privilege — something looks different from where I sit, because as a white person I enjoy certain societal luxuries which allow me to be less practical. Very often the subtle forms of white (or wealthy) privilege manifest as the luxury to be idealistic or curious or creative, to not have to think very concretely about the hard side-effects which won’t impact you, but will impact someone else’s ability to be viable in the world. I’m inclined to think that this is what the black/white distinction between Bernie and Hillary is about rather than the black community’s blind loyalty to Hillary.
I can’t pretend to see it in every detail, but I do feel that “Bernie or Bust” is not quite as insane as voting for Donald, but because the effect is the same as voting for Donald, it is really kind of insane. That is to say, it’s a willful form of blindness.
I remember when George Bush was president, and people were comparing him to Hitler. George Bush was not my favorite president by any stretch, but he was not Hitler. My grandfather-in-law was a Jewish survivor of both Stalinist and Nazi death camps. His reaction was that comparing Bush to Hitler is an insult to those who survived the camps.
George Bush was not Hitler and Hillary Clinton is obviously not remotely like Hitler or Moussolini. She’s establishment, fairly corporatist, unlikely to have the force of will to really heal what ails us in my view. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is closer to Hitler than anything our country has ever seen. You know it’s true. The mere fact that half of us are prepared to vote for him makes America look very different and is likely to figure into very many military and financial calculations abroad.
If our privilege blinds us to the difference between Hillary and Hitler, we could in all seriousness end up with Hitler’s little friend and the beginning of the end of the republic. I’m just saying...