I figured this might be a good place to stack a few rocks to mark my journey to this point… especially to mark the point where Debbie Wasserman Kos finally completely freaked out and called the election for Hillary! This is in no way a GBCW entry, I’m not going anywhere… like I said above, I’m just dropping this here so I can look back 5 or so years from now and see if things change. Read if you want or not… comment if you want or not. These are my thoughts at this juncture, traveling my path through Daily Kos.
I am a Bernie Sanders supporter. 12 years ago I was definitely, “Bernie Who?”, but especially over the last 4 years I feel I met, learned, and grew with him. I was excited when he took the plunge and decided to run, and I had no illusions as to the likely hopelessness of his campaign. I have to admit that it has been fun watching he and my fellow supporters surmount every unfair obstacle thrown our way… I will still keep working to get him the nomination, but apparently not here on Daily Kos after the 15th...
Prior to this, I evolved and suffered as a Democrat right along with the Clintons and more recently with Obama. Prior even to that, I suffered with Jimmy Carter. Suffered to watch the assault and subsequent abandonment of the core principles of the Democratic party to keep up with the Overton Window being driven by corporate interests. The Clintons made compromises to accommodate this, as has Obama… I uncomfortably went along because the alternative was worse.
To be clear I took the loyalty oath for 2016 and diaried my intentions back in July. Being said, Hillary is a horribly flawed candidate as documented by a litany of bad decisions… she was possibly less of a horribly flawed candidate in 2008 when I supported Obama from the get go. You will pardon my generalizations, as this is but a summary... and hopefully trust when I say that I read and research extensively. I will not be indulging in “show some links”.
Single issue? Bernie is all about removing the the cancerous tendrils of Miltonian ethics from economics, government and all walks of life… Hillary, Bill, and their foundation represent only a repackaging and reframing of the same ethics in the form of micro-economies and other strategies, which study after study have shown to be a failure… their incremental change is neither, and guarantees that corporations continue to control government to the detriment of the earth and thus humankind. I would argue that this is the root of ANY other issue you care to name.
In conclusion, my 12 year hike through Daily Kos has led to what appears to be a heck of a lot of barbed wire and warnings of execution… ‘twould be foolish for me, emotionally, to risk exclusion from a still vibrant and diverse community that I have such a wonderful history with. If this is to become the Daily Hillary after March 15th, I guess I will become even more of a lurker than I have, out of civility, over the last 9 months.
This may sound cynical, but it’s not meant to be… humans are hypocritical by nature. I truly believe that. But we achieve greatness by the degree to which we are able to recognize and control this from within and not use it as the only tool for survival. So, if we become The Daily Hillary, I will read, likely participate in some things, but I won’t campaign. I won’t link to Facebook... I won’t donate… not to anything or any candidate descended from or attached to a corporation. I won’t GOTV. I WILL continue to volunteer and work in my community towards true progressive values and goals. I will continue to vote Democrat, including for Hillary, if it comes to it… as that is the degree of hypocrisy that I am comfortable with.
Does anybody have an appropriate address that I can return a used copy of “Crashing the Gates” to? ;)
