Its been a while since I have written something, and I am sure this diary has been done by someone who is a better writer than me, but I just want to put my thoughts on paper because I think people like me are not being represented in the current Bernie/Hillary primary wars.
I am voting for Bernie Sanders in the primary. I agree with his message, have listened to him for years and think that he is the right person for the times. I believe that strongly. I have donated a little money to his campaign even, which is kind of big for me since I am in pretty much poor right now. I like what he has to say about income inequality, education, racial justice, climate change. I think he pushes left, he is honest, straight-forward, electable and someone who would be a great president of the united states.
I have heard him talk on the Thom Hartmann Radio Program for years, he is the only national politician that I know of that takes random questions like that. He fights for the little person, and I like that a lot.
That being said, I believe as a democrat, I am a steward of good governance, a firewall between presidency and the rabid, insane fucking crazy right. Sure, Hillary Clinton may represent the status quo far more than Bernie Sanders does, but the crazy right represents a degradation, a reversal in time, an authoritarian reaction to the status quo established in the Obama era. We are the stewards of that record. We are the keepers of that flame, and like it or not any democrat will, at the bare minimum, keep the Obama era of politics alive. And while I agree with many Bernie supporters that the status quo isn’t ideal or even tenable long term, it is a damn sight better than what the republicans offer — a xenophobic, reactionary future and a path the United States absolutely can not afford to go down. The ones left sane enough to vote for either Bernie or Hillary should know that history is about to repeat itself and the only ones standing between that and some semblance of sanity is us.
Like it or not, politics is a zero sum game. We either win and preserve the strides made in the Obama era or lose and start the long back slide into a protofascist wet dream. Call it fearmongering, I don’t give a fuck. We cannot afford to sit on our asses and let the gains made during the Obama presidency be ripped limb from limb from these ravenous assholes. Because believe me, they will joyously kill all of the little battles won in the last eight years while we sit and argue about bullshit.
If Bernie does lose, I intend on voting for whoever the nominee is — Be that Hillary Clinton or the very unlikely Martin O’Malley. Because I feel I am required to protect what little strides we have made with the possibility of making maybe a few more rather than sit and watch as the republicans set it all ablaze and try to rebuild from the ashes, losing many, many more years in the process.
With any Democratic nominee, it is my firm belief that the United States will be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, while under a Republican Administration we would have to fight tooth and nail not only to preserve Obama’s legacy, but the Democratic legacy in total. At least under the “generic D” we can have confidence that we can fight for progressive causes and still have some sort of sympathetic ear, and perhaps work to take over the democratic party from the left as we have been.
We know that 8 years of a Republican presidency can damage our country almost beyond repair. Not only that, we know that they would do anything, including steal our vote or take away the right completely just for a chance at power once again, why in gods name would I chose not to fight that. To just stay home, because Bernie Sanders did not get the nomination.
I know Bernie isn’t doing that. He has fought his entire damn career for little people like me and that doesn’t end with this campaign. You know if he loses he will be using his newly found influence and voting records to 1) Bar republicans from ever gaining the presidency again, and 2) pushing whoever ends up being the nominee left. The man is fucking pragmatic, he is the only socialist in the most conservative deliberative body in the world! No way he would throw away his influence over losing the nomination. He is going to use that newly found power to push democrats left! And he will be extremely successful at it, if indeed he doesn’t take this whole thing (which I strongly believe could happen).
So anyway, I am wandering. Long story short: I love Bernie, I support the hell out of him and hope that he wins this whole thing. Should he not, I am not going to whine and cry about it, I am not going to sit at home. I am going to work to elect democrats because we have a duty and responsibility to every citizen of the United States to preserve good governance and put an end to the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in the this country. I have a duty to preserve and extend to the maximum extent the Obama legacy, and I believe Bernie Sanders remains the best hope to do just that. Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley would both do a fine job preserving the Obama legacy, but I believe Bernie remains the best hope of building off that legacy quickly.
I just wanted to get that off my chest.