There’s this meme going around. It shows pictures of Hillary and Bernie and says how they’re both good people, and regardless of who gets the nomination, it’s our duty to vote for the nominee in the general election. It tries to claim that they’re both progressives, and that SCOTUS is at stake, and Hillary is so much better than any of the Republicans….
Well, okay, it tries to claim that it’s encouraging Hillary supporters to vote for Bernie in November if he wins too. But you know, Bernie or Bust has a more familiar ring to it.
Now let me say this up front: In November, I will vote for either candidate. If it’s Bernie, I will do it proudly. If it’s Hillary, I will vomit on the way out of the polling station and drink myself into a stupor with cheap bourbon (I hate cheap sicky-sweet bourbon), throwing up again on the way. But I do plan on voting for the Democratic nominee.
Unless I keep seeing that meme.
Because every time I see that meme, I’m reminded that I’m being played. I’m reminded that my issues are being sidelined. You see, I’m a middle aged white male with a sweetie and no kids. Yes, I lean liberal. But my big issue is the environment. I love seeing people who love each other being able to get married, but if there isn’t going to be a livable planet for them to grow old on, it’s less of a draw for me. Hillary has Monsanto people on her staff. She has Goldman Handcuffs. She is the public face of the destroyers.
When it comes down to it, no Democrat is running for the Democratic Party nomination. We have an independent democratic socialist, and we have an oligarch. One of them is perfectly happy with Corporate Person-hood. One of them is perfectly happy with big pipelines. One of them is perfectly happy with the corporate food system. And the other is Bernie Sanders.
So when Hillary’s people whine that both candidates are equally acceptable Democrats, and the Bernie or Bust folk are going to throw us to the wolves, let’s remember: Hillary is one of the wolves. And the DNC has a way out. There is a way to avoid this problem. HRC and the DNC can start Feeling the Bern. That makes it an easy win in November.
But it’s no use looking for a scapegoat already. It’s no use telling me that the third party threat is the culprit in Hillary’s defeat, because all the poling shows that she will not win against the GOP. She will not attract the center. She will not attract the undecideds and the independents. She will loose.
If I keep seeing that meme, I’ll probably change my mind. And if Hillary gets the nomination, I’ll write in Bernie’s name in November and walk out with my head high. Maybe there will still be a chance. And the town hall janitor will thank me.
