There’s a near constant meme that is being presented in the corporate media with respect to the upcoming 2016 election. That meme is so incessant that even people who should know better succumb to it with ease. But it doesn’t end there. I’ve talked to a great number of Bernie supporters who have clearly been infected by the same meme. In fact, even Bernie himself is not completely immune.

To be clear, the meme I’m referring to is not that “Bernie can’t win.” The meme I’m referring to is the notion that “winning” is synonymous with being elected President of the United States of America.

Because of this meme, I’m often tasked with enduring even my fellow Berners telling me how important it will be to support Hillary if Bernie doesn’t become the nominee. In some cases, there is no better way to earn the vitriol of a Sanders supporter than to tell them you are part of the Bernie or Bust movement. So, why can’t I and many other members of the genuine left and progressive movements heed their call?

Because Hillary can’t win.

Members of the progressive and socialist left have understood this for decades. Every year hundreds of thousands of Green party members avoid wasting their votes on candidates who, although may be able to be elected president, simply cannot win. They, along with their socialist counterparts, work instead to mobilize mass movements at the local, state, and ultimately the national level. Representing labor, student, and social movements alike, these forces have amassed countless victories realized in the concessions (not the initiatives) of the elected body politic.

Losing sight of this monumental struggle is easy. What was once hard fought begins to be taken for granted while, simultaneously, the political arm of the capitalist class attempts to stay the needle on the record of history. Furthermore, it is of little daily consequence if we cannot distinguish between the platforms of past presidents and the movements which drove them to political expediency. It is, however, of grave political importance.

Whether we’re talking about the eight hour work day, ending legal segregation, or the right to marry someone of the same sex, no such victories arose from the mere benevolence of a sitting president or congress. In all such cases, it is the never-ending tide of populist revolt against the status quo which forces the hands of our elected officials.

In this upcoming 2016 election, there is only one candidate in the two major parties who fully grasps this notion, and that candidate is Bernie Sanders. Time and time again he has explained that no president, no matter how politically skilled, is capable of enacting the changes we need as a country without the masses behind them. When Bernie argues that he is best equipped to take on Wall Street, republican opposition, and the political oligarchs it is not a statement with respect to his own political prowess, but with respect to the power of movement politics.

Embracing those movements is what is needed to win lasting victories.

As the deadline for fourth quarter political contributions comes to a close, we have witnessed the strength and resolve of Bernie’s supporters. Had this been any other year, we would have been told repeatedly by the corporate press of the reliance on big donors and the correlation between money and victory. Yet today, that narrative falls silent as Bernie has nearly matched Hillary in terms of fundraising for the last two quarters.

Mired by their own myopic tendency, the Clinton campaign recently e-mailed her supporters with the following line:

I don’t know how else to say it except by saying it: We could lose the nomination.

But what about all the nominations we’d won before? Were we not sold the same promise by her own husband and the current sitting president? Yet where do we find ourselves? For all the “winning” we did in the past 23 years, what have we to show for it?

The highest income inequality since the great depression.

Continuing war in the middle east and increased domestic surveillance.

Disastrous environmental policy plunging us into some of the most severe weather patterns we’ve ever recorded.

Widespread disenfranchisement of minority voters and a political system that operates on more money than the total GDP of entire countries.

We are losing. We’ve been losing. And if we elect Hillary Clinton as President of the United States of America, we will lose again.

In contrast, it is the candidacy of Bernie Sanders himself which is the demonstration of his ability to win. While his current national average may still hover at an average of 25 points less than Clinton’s, the overwhelming majority of his supporters are aiming to stand up and fight.

We will fight; not just for him but with him.