( A rant )

There is nobody on this site more “progressive” than I am. I used to be a (literally) card carrying Firebagger. I was excoriated on this very website and by some of the same people who are now calling me “establishment” (or whatever the buzz word is now for speaking ill of the Bern), for daring to point out in 2007 that Obama was not the progressive savior that so many of, yes, you, thought he was. Though I voted for him twice, I was hounded off this site for a time for failing to be in awe of his great progressivism.

I say this so that you can have some context. My political beliefs have only evolved leftward since FDL folded. I was foursquare for Sanders in 2016 but I am not this year. The reason is that even in 2016, some of Sanders’ supporters were displaying a disturbing personality cult-like behavior. I joined the “Women for Bernie” group, thinking that we were advocating for Sanders but instead I got email after relentless email demanding that I recommend posts bashing Clinton and troll posts supporting her. That group was not about supporting Sanders but about hamstringing Clinton and badmouthing the Democratic Party. Maybe it started off honestly but that’s not where it was during the few days that I was a member. Now banned user geebeebee was the worst offender but there were many, many others, some now gone and some who remain.

I used to be baffled as to why so many Sanders supporters would think that bullying and scorn would persuade people to vote for a candidate and the only way that makes sense is if persuasion was never the point. Markos is right. Obviously you don’t like what he said but that by itself doesn’t make him wrong. I hated it when he announced that Trump had won the White House. I mean, I really hated it! Passionately, angrily and nauseatingly. But none of that made it untrue, nor does it make what he said today untrue. Sanders doesn’t seem interested in growing his support or adjusting his message and too many of his supporters seem entirely unconcerned with anything other than telling people who dare to criticize “Bernie” to fuck off and die. Most of you guys know how government works better than the overwhelming majority of the US public, yet you have somehow convinced yourselves that electing Sanders is going to be the panacea for all that ails this country.

Well, once more into the breach: Sanders is not a progressive savior! Even if he somehow got elected President, unless we get the Senate, then nothing changes. If we hold the House and somehow take the Senate as well, it’s still not going to usher in an Utopian era of progressive policy. There are too many conservadems in Congress and Sanders has disgruntled too many of his fellows on the liberal sides of the aisles. You’re living in a fantasy world to believe anything else. You know this. There is no logic that you can offer that gets us from here to M4A, Universal Basic Income and free college. Apart from the lack of overwhelming support among the Congress for these policies, there is the realty that a whole lot of time and energy is going to have to be expended repairing or mitigating the damage that Trump and his den of thieves have done. A President Sanders may hold great rallies for his fan base but as far as accomplishing our wish list? Not unless there are some drastic societal changes in the next couple of years.

That’s reality. Senator Sanders could have done the work but instead decided to be bombastic and stubbornly cling to his outrage. Senator Sanders could have put together a team of professionals who are skilled at outreach and persuading groups of people but instead he hired a team of purity trolls, some of whom have openly bragged about helping to defeat Hillary elect Trump. And many of you guys...bless your hearts, you know what I’m saying is true but you just can’t even tolerate the idea that someone would dare to even legitimately criticize your candidate. Take off your ideological glasses, give up your outrage for five minutes and think about what I’m saying. Think about the fact that so many of you call him “Bernie”, like he’s a personal friend and seem to believe that he is going to have abilities that no President prior has possessed. Your reverence in many cases leaps over the border into adoration and that is just creepy to me.

I’m not telling you to vote for anybody that you don’t want to in the primary. By all means, vote for Bernie Sanders if that’s what you feel is right. But at the same time, think about who you are. Think about who we are. Think about what we know to be real, to be true: We all know that Sanders is a good man but he is not Superman but only a Superman could do what too many of you are claiming that he can accomplish. Remember when some of you felt the same way about Obama? Because all you’re doing is setting yourself up for another crushing disappointment.

( end rant)