This may very well be the last entry I make here at emo-central (aka Daily Kos). It appears that according to Bernie Sanders I really don’t belong here, and judging from the comments pages of any diary that is even remotely pro-Hillary (which seems to be quite rare around here), or anti-Bernie I’m inclined to agree.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
Here’s the thing. I’m a 50 year old Black Gay man with a job that has both healthcare and retirement benefits. So promises of “free healthcare” mean absolutely nothing to me (and given that I am 50 years old, neither does “free college tuition”). And breaking up Wall St. will likely do me more harm than good since, like most people whose job doesn’t entail constant use of the word “grande”, my retirement income is tied to Wall St. And while income inequality is a good conversation to have, perp-walking all the evil, greedy bankers to jail will not put one extra dime in my pocket, food on my table, a roof over my head, or clothes on my back. And frankly, I give 0 f-cks about how much money either Hillary or Bernie made from speaking engagements, how much they raised for their respective campaigns or from whom, since none of that money goes into or comes out of my paycheck.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
Here are the things that actually do concern me. As a Black man I worry about being shot by police for simply DWB (Driving While Black) in the wrong neighborhood. As a Gay man I worry about being beaten up by bible-thumping homophobes for holding hands with my boyfriend, and having no legal recourse because hate-crimes legislation in my state doesn’t cover sexual orientation. I worry that should my young nieces, God forbid, have to deal with an unwanted pregnancy through carelessness or rape they’d be force to have the child because the GOP has successfully managed to put Planned Parenthood out of business. These issues apparently aren’t very important to “progressives” given their resentment of #BlackLivesMatter, the Human Rights Campaign, and Planned Parenthood. Probably because acknowledging the problems of minorities, women, and LGBTQ folk take time away from their jail-the-bankers-Wall-St-is-evil-rich-people-are-the-devil crusade.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
I’m not voting for free stuff. I’m not voting for a movement or a revolution. I’m not voting for an ideology. I’m not voting for a progressive utopia that will never happen. I’m not even really voting for a party. I’m voting for the person I feel will best serve this country as President. That vote is not based on anger, or resentment, or some desire to be about something without know what that something is. That vote is based on rational, critical thought combined with a thorough understanding of what both candidates are about. It also includes a level of pragmatism, moderation, and a basic understanding of civics which apparently disqualifies me from being a progressive.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
I am a 50 year old Black Gay man who is sick to death of lily-White emo-progressives who walk around with the arrogant presumption that they can tell, suggest, dictate to Black people who they should vote for. White emos who’ve probably never even once had to deal with racism, sexism, homophobia, or poverty in their lives. Emos whose only reason for being angry at anything is because a 74 year old White man who’s been in congress over 20 years with shit to show for it told them to be angry.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
Making a bunch of magic pony promises won’t make me join your “revolution”. And digging up a bunch of dirt on Hillary Clinton, as if I haven’t been paying attention for the past 25 years, isn’t going to make me vote for your guy. Nor is calling me “establishment”, “shill”, “right-wing troll”, “vagina voter” (which is interesting since, last I checked, I didn’t have one), “cunt”, “faggot”, or “nigger”. All of which I’ve been called by folks whom up until now I thought were the good-guys.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
And frankly, at this point I’m not interested in making nice with “progressives”. I will support Bernie Sanders in the general election IF he gets the nomination (which he WON’T). But don’t expect me to come together and hold hands singing Kum-By-Yah while skipping through a field full of daffodils. In fact, the only thing keeping me from going “f-ck all y’all” and voting Republican is the fact that as bad as I think a Sanders presidency will be for America, a Republican presidency will be much worse.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE!
And I’m pretty sure that I speak for other non-progressives when I say this. If being progressive means believing in fairy-tale promises of a socialist paradise, joining some revolution while having no idea what it is or what it means (or how to measure it’s success), dealing solely in absolutes and shunning any kind of fact-based moderation or evolution, or adopting a “with us” or “against us” attitude that seeks to ostracize anyone who doesn’t fall lock-step with the mob mentality, then frankly I’d just as soon join the local Tea Party. From what I see, there’s not much difference between the two.
I AM NOT A PROGRESSIVE...AND I’M FUCKING PROUD OF IT!