By now, you probably assume this means I support Bernie Sanders. If you’re familiar with me, you’re already aware. I do. The way he handles The Great Orange Threat is part of the reason I am most definitely behind Sanders rather than Clinton.

Bernie Sanders does not act as though Trump is not a threat. His stump speech has a section dedicated entirely to Donald Trump, but there’s a big difference between Hillary Clinton talking about him. When Bernie Sanders is talking about Donald Trump, it’s not about Bernie Sanders. It’s about the idea that the American people will not stand for the things Donald Trump is putting out there. Yes, there are people who agree with Trump. Yes, they are loud. Yes, we see them 24/7 because the news loves this shit. But we exist in much greater numbers than those folks. We care. We will overcome Trump and his bigoted supporters and their tiny hands. We will not allow the outright lies that constantly come out of Trump’s mouth to become our national rhetoric.

“We will not tolerate Trump.” Not “you need me to stop him.”

That’s an important distinction. For me, it’s one that matters a great deal. People who are voting out of fear are not voting for the betterment of people, they’re voting because something bad could happen. Here’s a piece of news that’s important: something bad is always going to happen. There’s never going to be a time when everything is perfect. There’s a big difference between how bad things affect us when all we are doing is concentrating on bad things and when we are concentrating on bettering the overall situation.

Even worse, if we are depending on a person to stop all the bad things — not empowering ourselves — we are essentially accepting whatever conditions that person puts forward to be our protector. This is, not coincidentally, why I don’t really like Batman or Superman if I really think about them. Sure, they are fun but ultimately they nurture a dependence that villains then build plans around. Eventually, the one link in the chain that you keep hitting over and over breaks. We may not know how ahead of time, but it’s the point.

Bernie Sanders is not attempting to create dependence on Bernie Sanders. In fact, he talks about how many of the changes he hopes to bring about require the American public’s continued participation and involvement. I’d dare say that’s even the point of his candidacy: to re-involve the American people in politics. Ultimately they are representing us and shouldn’t be making decisions without our backing — and that doesn’t mean “with financial backing from people who have significantly more than anyone else.”

In his speeches, Bernie Sanders does point out that he has a better chance of beating Trump (backed up with poll after poll), however he does that without making his election seem like a condition to beat Trump. In fact, the section of Sanders’ speeches on Trump is one of the more uplifting parts. It reminds us that it is us — and only us — that have the power to beat Donald Trump.

The point is to remind us that we are the only people who can put wind in Trump’s sails, while Clinton’s speeches attempt to position herself as the only candidate with more wind. That doesn’t strip power from Trump — it attempts to assert power for Clinton.

The problem is, we’re kind of sick of power.