I’m a Bernie supporter. I canvassed for him. I phone-banked for him. I have contributed $2,100 to his campaign so far, and plan to keep giving until either I hit the maximum or he is no longer in the race. Have I established my bonafides?
I am not, however, an absolutist. I recognize politics is a win or lose proposition and, in the end, we often have to support the better of the two options, even if they are not the options I would want. In other words, if Bernie loses, I will be canvassing for Hillary, phone banking for her, and shifting my contributions to her.
Here are a few numbers that explain why:
17 million: The number of people who will lose their health insurance if Hillary or Bernie is not elected. 2: The number of Supreme Court Justices who will likely be named in the next four years. That amount is high enough that it will lock SCOTUS in either a conservative or liberal position for decades. 4.75: The minimum amount per hour that people working for minimum wage will not receive for at least through 2021. 33: The percent of women who will seek an abortion sometime in their lives who will not be able to obtain one because Republicans will be in power in all three branches of government. 1: The minimum number of international accords on controlling climate change that the United States will abrogate. 5: The section of the Voting Rights Act that was gutted by the conservative court, which has led to the disenfranchisement of untold hundreds of thousands of voters (that would be a number too, but it is unknowable) and that will have no chance of being restored. 11 million: The number of undocumented workers who will live in absolute terror that they will be ripped away from their families, or who will be forced to burrow down even deeper into hiding to avoid the war that will be waged on them. 1: The minimum number of treaties designed to control the development of WMDs with Iran which will be cancelled. Which leads to: 100: The percent probability that the Republicans, in abandoning the Iran deal, will declare war on Iran. 2020: The year when the next census will be taken and, by having failed to vote for democrats across the board, left to Republicans for another round of gerrymandering, putting the House in their control for another decade. 75 billion: The amount scheduled to be spent over the next decade to provide for early childhood education that will be cut. 10 million: The number of domestic abusers who are guaranteed to continue to have access to guns, without restriction. 500,000: The number of already existing same-sex marriages that likely will be invalidated.I could keep going on and on and on. Which leads me to my question for some of those who have also felt the Bern and say they won’t vote if he is not the nominee: What the hell is wrong with you?
You believe, because Hillary received money from people (people, not corporations) who work on Wall Street, all of this suffering must be inflicted on real people? Because Hillary made a mistake in an important vote 13 years ago, all this suffering should be inflicted on real people? Because of a bunch of bumper sticker talking points (corporate shill, Kissinger, blah blah) all this suffering should be inflicted on real people?
Any of my fellow Bernie supporters who either deny this is the consequence or answer these questions yes, let me say this: You are not progressives. You are not liberals. No one who would let this happen could possibly be.
There is another diary that is on the rec list from a Hillary supporter who says you piss him off. That one is much more of a rant than this, but I understand the frustration. Do none of you Bernie absolutists know anyone who will lose their insurance if either Bernie or Hillary is not president? I do. Do none of you know any families that depend on government programs to provide early childhood education? I do. Do none of you work in soup kitchens that depend in part on small federal block grants to stay open? I do.
And you think all of this should be destroyed because Hillary isn’t perfect? Or because you have a bunch of three-word talking points that you fling out time and again?
I know, from what I have seen, that this diary will either be ignored by the people I am writing to, or they will come in with some “why should I vote for someone I don’t support” line. Don’t bother.
Answer the question: Why should all this suffering be inflicted so you can preserve your own self-identified political purity?
Many complain about having to vote for the lesser of two evils. And those people, by the very nature of what they are saying, would rather be governed by the most evil.
Why? What are you thinking? And more important, why don’t you care about the real damage that will be inflicted for at least a decade?