Waiting for Bernie

So you say the Democratic Party is corrupt and the system is broken. You tell me it’s the institution and the establishment and the 1% and that the Democratic Party is filled with shills and the system is rigged. Then on February 1st you come marching into the Iowa caucus with your rag tag little band and your Bernie gear and you think you’re here to start a revolution. You know nothing about how a caucus works because you didn’t take the time to educate yourselves and you treat our good Democratic Party caucus chairs who have been working elections honorably since before you were born with disrespect and suspicion as if they are there to “rig” the caucus.

Then when it’s all over, you take to the web and start making accusations of voter fraud and demanding recounts. You pretend that flipping a coin to decide something at the caucus is some nefarious Clinton scheme to rob Bernie Sanders because again you never took the time to educate yourselves so you would know that the coin toss is nothing new or nefarious. Then you are silent when it turns out that the real beneficiary of the evil coin toss was Bernie Sanders.

You post videos all over the net and attack a precinct captain in Polk County for following the rules of the caucus and calling for a vote and then abiding by that vote. You are all over the place telling us that you are what democracy looks like, but when you see democracy in action and it doesn’t give you the result you want you denounce it and tell us that is why we need a revolution.

You say you want a revolution? Well, I would ask you where you were when Christie Vilsack was defeated in her bid to defeat Congressman Steve King in 2012? Steve King who is now standing next to Ted Cruz and who may well be the candidate for VP if Cruz gets the nomination. Where were you when Bruce Braley was defeated by Joni Ernst for Senate? Joni Ernst who is the darling of the far right and could also be a pick to stand beside Cruz or Trump or Rubio. Where were you when Jack Hatch was defeated by Terry Branstadt? Yes, Terry Branstadt who is now overseeing the privatization of Medicaid in Iowa, turning the health care of our poor and disabled citizens over to the private insurance companies.

Yes, where was your revolution? Where was Reddit and where were the bros? Where were the donations? The phone bankers? The canvassers? The volunteers packing up and traveling to Iowa on a whim? Were you creating a light brigade for Vilsack? Did you rage at anyone who dared to support Brandstad or Ernst or King? Or did you just sit home and complain that the Democratic Party is corrupt and the system is rigged against you?

Now here it is 2016 and you march into the caucus in large numbers because you think Hillary Clinton is a threat to democracy. You created a movement because the thought of Hillary Clinton as President is more terrifying to you than Steve King or Joni Ernst or Terry Branstadt? I’d have to say a lot of bros are voting their male privilege in 2016 and selling it with Karl Rove’s loving assistance.

I think John Lennon was a visionary and he saw you coming.

You say you have a real solution. Well you know, we’d all love to see the plan. You ask me for a contribution. Well, you know, we’re all doing what we can. But if you want money for people with minds that hate, all I can tell you is BRO you are going to wait.