Edwin Lyngar is a Sunday columnist for the Reno Gazette Journal, former essayist for Salon and teaches English at Truckee Meadows Community College. Follow him on twitter @Edwin_Lyngar . The views expressed here are his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) The Nevada caucus is wide open, with Bernie Sanders best positioned to take advantage of a fragmented field and the deep passion of his base. This is setting off rounds of hand-wringing as establishment types in the state and nationally (again) misjudge the mood of an angry electorate.

Nevada is a critical benchmark, a diverse and blueing state that has often embraced unconventional politics and people. I've seen many sides of Nevada's political swings, as a delegate to the 2008 GOP state convention for presidential candidate Ron Paul, and eight years later when I caucused for Bernie Sanders in 2016.

It might sound odd to support a libertarian like Paul and then go for Bernie just a decade later, but it's much easier than it seems. True libertarians are supportive of LGBTQ rights, drug legalization, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights and a host of progressive social issues. The anti-government side of the libertarian wing is more problematic, and I spent much of my youth bleating about "freedom" while holding rabidly anti-government views, a common stanceor naïve white kids.

I didn't realize then that government is the only tool available to level the playing field, and by succumbing to the decades-long GOP crusade to vilify our own government and institutions, we end up powerless against business interests, polluters and hucksters determined to loot the country.

I grew up in a working-class family in rural Nevada. My father made a living in mining, and we embraced the libertarian ethic of freedom, littering and an overinflated identity of real America. Despite hating the government, I joined the US Coast Guard, earning GI Bill money to pay for college, before making Reno my home.

I got another job where many anti-government zealots go, right back into government, at the state wildlife department. Government at every level enabled my middle-class existence, but I might have never seen the hypocrisy of government bashing — a central feature of Trumpism — had Nevada not been brought to its knees in the Great Recession.

You cannot understand Nevada without examining the profound trauma of the 2008 recession and housing collapse: it was our Great Depression. My house in Reno lost two-thirds of its value. Jobs evaporated and paychecks plummeted. I didn't speculate in real estate, nor did I own anything beyond my means, but I was caught up in it. Our community was devastated, but individuals were told to pick up the pieces because it was "our fault."

With both my net worth and community reeling, the government finally stepped up, offering unlimited funds not to help us , but to save ... Wall Street? T he Fed pumped billions in emergency liquidity into banks and markets while Main Street was shuttered off to libertarian hell. After a life of feeling superior because "I always paid my bills," I witnessed profound suffering of regular people because of an unjust and greedy system.

That recession proved to me that we live in the most socialist society on earth, but it's only available to the very rich. The rest of us are free to die early if we don't like it. "Rugged individuality" is a con used to divide and exploit us so we are unable to fight back together. I came to believe that there is no freedom without economic justice and fairness, and I pushed my support to Sanders in 2016.

A funny thing happened as my personal politics moved left. So did the state of Nevada, bucking Trump for Clinton in 2016 and electing a Democratic governor in 2018 for the first time in decades. When I grew up here, Nevada had less than a million people. Today we are around 3 million , ever more diverse, urban and liberal. Nevada's drift matches demographic expectations, leaving only the unanswered question of how far and fast we will go. It's the same question animating the Democratic presidential contest where, at least in Nevada, we should finally get some answers at the caucus.

I've felt unusual agony about who i should caucus with this time. I've leaned toward several candidates, including Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and, especially, Elizabeth Warren. But as the date approaches, I find myself drawn back to Sanders. Yes, I love his politics, honesty and consistency. I'm also infuriated by lectures from "moderates" who claim they can predict the future, despite often being flat wrong. They say Sanders "can't win," but said the same about Trump while insisting Clinton was the "safe" choice. Despite ample time to feast on crow, they've learned nothing. Safe is far from exciting, as a plummeting Biden campaign demonstrates.

We should look for a leader with a passion, principles and honesty, and the best policies will follow. People like to complain about "ideologues," but at least an ideologue has a moral center, which is why I once liked Paul and now admire Sanders. Both men believe in ideas. But where Paul's laissez faire economics nearly destroyed America in 2008, Sanders cares about people and economic justice.

The best presidents inspire us. At the same time, debates over specific policies and approaches, like Medicare for all, have become unmoored from reality, focused on hypothetical questions and minutia. It's a poor way to judge leadership. We need to focus on the inspiration, honesty and humanity of our candidates.

Get our free weekly newsletter Sign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook

I would support any Democratic candidate, some with enthusiasm and one or two with woeful resignation. Yet I don't think Democrats can beat Trump's growing fascism, racism and propaganda-driven lies with a theme of restoration or half measures. Like so many Nevadans, I want to be inspired and challenged to create a better America. I won't be surprised to find a whole lot of Nevadans who feel the same way when I check in to my caucus site on Saturday.