Hey there. I’m a Democrat. Proudly so. My first vote was for Jimmy Carter in 1976. I canvassed for him in 1980 because, as a Californian, I’d experienced Ronald Reagan first hand and feared what he’d do on the national stage. My best buddy and I got profoundly drunk on election night 1980, predicting all sorts of horrific consequences from the country falling for the actor’s benign act.
We were wrong.
It was much worse than we predicted.
So I disappeared, politically, into graduate school. Everything got worse. Eventually I got employment and pulled my head out of the sand. I got involved in politics again. There was this thing called the internet. Then there was DailyKos, and Democratic Underground, and so on and so on.
2004: GW Bush. What a shit show. Anything to get rid of him: I had been inspired by John Kerry in the days when he’d tossed his medals, so I supported him (gave money to Howard Dean as well). Thought he could play the military hero angle against the fakir from “Texas” via Connecticut.
All through the campaign I thought DailyKos exhilarating, though not all that friendly to people like me who were supporting the establishment candidate.
But I stayed around. As the campaign unfolded we found common ground, came together, worked for Kerry, and… we all know how that turned out.
2008: Hilary. Obama. I was with Obama, didn’t post much, didn’t engage much… I will gladly fight with Republicans (most of my family) but would rather find common ground with fellow Dems. Still, that fight seemed dangerous to me. I was wrong. People here fought like cats, but then rallied round for the general election.
And I think, in the end, it was good for the country to have an extended exposure to two candidates who were vastly better than anything the “grownup” party had to offer.
I think that will happen again.
As I wrote above: I’m a Democrat. Come November I’m supporting/donating/working for our candidate. I lived through Reagan (and… don’t get me started, Nixon). Either of our candidates is better beyond measure than their best one (do that have one that would fill that category?) is.
Sorry, I’m getting long winded here. As we say in drama: cut to the chase. I’m a Bernie supporter, Bernie Bro, whatever.
I honestly think he’s both the better candidate versus the GOP, and, more importantly for me, closer to my own view of how this country should be run.
BUT: Secretary Clinton is, as someone in a position to know has said, “whip smart,” reality based, experienced in all the right ways, and in the end, will make decisions more in line with my values than, say, Ted Cruz.
I think she’s going to win the nomination. But then I thought John Kerry was going to win in November 2004, so my thinking doesn’t mean much. Either way, I’m a Democrat. We’re better for the country than they are, and we will make progress, if we work together.
Let me say this to my fellow Democrats who support Secretary Clinton: yeah, we’re going to keep fighting, because we believe in what our candidate is promoting. We are passionate. We work hard.
And yes, if and when Secretary Clinton wins the nomination, you will get all our energy and passion behind your candidate. Just as, as a Kerry supporter, I found the Dean supporters pouring their energy into the Kerry campaign. It was moving and powerful and an example of what collective purpose can produce.
But we lost.
And yet the Kerry loss led to the Obama win.
So: as an old guy, just let me say this: keep fighting out in the world for your candidate. In here: fight as hard as you must. But as my old man used to say: “argue like hell, but argue about the idea, not about the person you’re arguing with. They’re just as dumb as you are.” He was a great man, but I digress...
We have a larger goal ahead:
Let’s win, Kossacks. And then keep moving forward.
We Bernie Bros are going to be around in 2018, and 2020, … (though I’m probably way too old to be a “bro”… )
Let’s keep arguing, but in the right way: about how to advance progressive policies, no matter who the messenger.
My very best wishes to both Clinton and Sanders supporters!
Calprof
