In my experience we vote where our heartbreak lies. Lots of issues may move us and we may support. But only a few truly break our hearts.
Republicans who vote on forced-birtherism as their “prime issue” have had their hearts broken rightly or wrongly about the issue.
Republicans who vote on issues of “liberty” as their issue have had their hearts broken by the alleged affront to to their personal sovereignty. This heartbreak in Republicans often turns to anger.
For Republicans the enemy is always clear — Democrats.
For Democrats who have had their hearts broken around many issues the enemy is clear.
If you are a Democrat and your issue, your heartbreaking issue, is choice and women’s rights — Republicans are always your enemy and Hillary Clinton is a salve for your heartbreak.
If you are a Democrat and idiocy in government is your heartbreaking issue — Republicans are always your enemy and Hillary Clinton in all her intelligence will meet your heartbreak and even maybe even tend to it because she is — if nothing else — competent.
If you are a Democrat and gun control is your one big issue — Republicans are always your enemy and Hillary Clinton with her voice as clear as you can make it in our culture is your candidate because she speaks right to that heartbreak.
Now if you are a voter and your heartbreaking issue is money in politics… while Republicans are definitely the enemy, Democrats also are the enemy too. They can be frustratingly not active against this issue. Sanders meets you at your heartbreak in word and deed and Clinton doesn’t.
If you are a voter and your heartbreak lies with climate change ...there is no doubt that Republicans are the enemy but so often Democrats don’t do enough or fight hard enough for the issue and choose “lesser evils”. If climate change makes you weep Clinton can’t be your person and Sanders must be almost by default.
No heartbreak is better than another heartbreak but it seems to me that on some of the issues that matter most to Democrats/Progressives and Sanders voters as well is that they have been burned by the Democratic party on their heartbreaking issue when they thought there should only be one enemy in the game — the Republicans.
The voters who have been with Clinton since the early days perhaps have been fighting for their heartbreaking issues and never felt deeply and regularly betrayed by Democrats and have only had Republicans as their enemy.
In my own activism I have been confounded by Democratic undercutting of my crazy progressive work for years. I’ve seen progressive big money, in front of me, weaken my proposals or dismiss them. I’ve seen Democratic politicians roll over to industry in meetings I have been part of while doing my activism that is driven by some of my heartbreaking issues. I have also seen them try to do the right thing and learn and do better as well. But that dual pull is deeply frustrating when it seems clear that they should be allies.
It seems to me that perhaps the issues that separates and separated Clinton and Sanders voters is experience with either one versus two enemies on the issue of their heartbreak.
Which is why there is so much coalescing going on right now because the enemy is so clear — Trump meets none of our heartbreak.
I am deeply unenthusiastic about Clinton not because she is evil or I that hate her (I don’t even the slightest) but because I have seen her be opposition on the issues that break my heart most when I thought she should be most on my side.
This isn’t meant to be a ROX/SUX Diary but one that might actually capture some emotional nuance between the support we see in our party.