I still support Bernie Sanders. I will go on supporting Bernie Sanders until it is mathematically impossible (not merely difficult) for him to win. Why? Because he is the only candidate whose goal is to change how the system works.
Make no mistake, Hillary Clinton is a remarkably qualified, intelligent, and capable candidate. If and when she becomes the nominee she will get full support from me. And I dislike the rhetoric of those who talk about staying home, or worse, casting a vote for Trump. I don’t think you have to like HRC to see that she is by far better than anything running for the GOP endorsement.
While I support every single policy position Bernie has put forward, one trumps them all: Changing the way politicians pay for elections.
I give money to Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and Betty McCollum too. I give money over the border to Russ Feingold. Feingold and Sanders get the most from me because they want to change how candidates campaign and win.
Why is this so important?
This paper by Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page is a very scholarly description of why.
I do not doubt the generally good intentions of many, if not most, Democratic politicians. But there is clear evidence (as shown in the cited paper) that representatives simply do not represent their actual constituents if there is a conflicting corporate interest. They do not. Period.
It isn’t because they are evil people, or ill intentioned people. They are people who try to do things for their home state or district. They will pass bills they believe in. They will bring money home from the Treasury. But they spend over half their time fund raising, and they cannot help but take seriously the interests of those who keep them in their jobs. After all (one presumes they think) I cannot do anything for my constituents if I am not in office.
Please also consider reading Republic, Lost by little-noticed Democratic candidate Lawrence Lessig. It documents in some detail how it can be that with “quid pro quo” corruption at an all time low, government is less responsive the needs of the public than at any time during the machine era and Teapot Dome.
The anger and mistrust that drives Trump voters is, sadly, justified. But what Trump offers is scapegoating and a road to authoritarianism
I love Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but both of them talk about “unilateral disarmament” when it comes to refusing PAC money and big donor fund raising (Obama’s reversal in the 2008 campaign is a case in point).
Forget all the Democratic Socialism, the free college, the universal single payer health care, all of which I support and want. A government of, by, and FOR THE PEOPLE is the idea of this country and it has eroded to near non-existence. Let Bernie drive on. Label him an egoist. Accuse him of a cult of personality. Claim that he “has no idea how he will do any of these things.” He does. He will start by campaigning without money from the “donor class.” And he will show congress acting against the popular will and will use the grassroots fund raising tools we are shaping to bring in a new class of legislators (okay, I’ll be honest — this is what I hope he will do with the systems we are building, win or lose) who likewise respond to the public.
In other words, the only right way to fight this fight is all the way. And Bernie will either prove me right by turning what he has built to the elections of new legislators who likewise believe in democracy over oligarchy, or the people I have been arguing with will be proved right.
In either case, if not Bernie today, than this atheist prays to god someone else like minded tomorrow.
And to all my fellow Bernie supporters who would sit out a Clinton-anybody election, or who would vote for anyone left after a Bernie defeat BUT HRC, well, shame on you.
But for anyone who believes that what I am saying and the sources I am citing are right and who votes against that belief for “practical” reasons, shame on you as well.