I have seen a lot of "I'm leaving" diaries today. Here is why I am staying.
I understand that people are very upset about Markos’ post announcing his intent to limit primary battle stories after March 15, or whenever the primary mathematics predicts the nomination will go to one or the other candidate. Some folks feel betrayed, believing that Kos’ apparent preference for Clinton means Sanders was never given a chance. Considering that I have not been able to open a Daily Kos main web page for the past two months without reading “Feel the Bern” or “Clinton is inevitable” or “Clinton is a corporatist stooge” or “Bernie is a Socialist who can’t win”, most of which is now just annoying, I would say that Daily Kos has been a fertile ground for open and rough Democratic politics. (Though I find constant exposure to lies, bad hair, lies, bluster, lies, and fascist remarks from the GOP side much more likely to cause an ulcer and raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels.)
Some folks are saying things like “But I thought this was a Progressive site!” While it mostly is a progressive leaning site, it’s mainly a Democratic site. I am a Democrat. I started out mostly a Democrat, but I voted once or twice at the local level for what I thought were moderate Republicans. I live in a mostly GOP-dominated county, and I thought there were one or two sane ones. Boy was I ever wrong, and it’s only gotten worse over the years.
(Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I voted for one Republican and one Independent. I received two Hail Mary’s, pot-holed filled roads, sale/theft of county assets, no local competition for internet, and bad municipal water for my penance.)
I have realized that a cross-over vote for even a moderate-appearing Republican enables the very worst ones to gain a majority. It does not matter if the majority is at the local, county, state, or federal level. Even the very best, most well-meaning Republican gives power to the very worst, most insane idiot imaginable. So-called moderates at the local level will vote for tax cuts, tax cuts, sweet-heart deals with developers and did I mention tax cuts?, directly leading to defunding schools, cutting teacher salaries and pensions, moldy buildings, cold or sweltering classrooms with splintered tables and no textbooks. (I’ve volunteered at several local schools.) So-called moderates at the state level will vote for tax cuts, tax cuts, and did I mention tax cuts?, directly leading to more sweet-heart deals with developers, pot-holed filled roads, and no funds for social programs. You know what a joy we have had at the federal level, with sequestration and government shut-downs. So no more votes for Republicans, no more protest votes for Independents who have no chance to win, and no more missing a chance to vote at *any* level because of a mediocre Democratic candidate. Any toe hold towards power the Republicans get they will use and mis-use. A slim majority becomes a right wing “mandate”. A tiny chance to go to court to dispute a county vote overturns an election.
My entire life experience has shown me that the GOP has gone from criminals and racists like Nixon to criminals and traitors and racists like Reagan and his crowd of amnesiac weapons traders, to war profiteering and war criminals like Cheney and smirking Bush the Lesser. I’ve seen a dangerous moron like Bush2 get elected twice, seen the effect of his mis-administration up close and personal, with cuts to my workplace, loss of salary, and departing coworkers. If you think you can convince me that Clinton is somehow a criminal in that mold, without using right wing smears and lies and Fox talking points, good freaking luck. While I dislike her corporate ties, she’s no right winger as some of the “Bernie or Bust” purists imply. You trolls who’ve said you’ll vote for Trump in protest if Bernie doesn’t get the Democratic nomination are invited to just go straight to hell, but not take the rest of the country with you, thanks very much. I’ve seen the damage the GOP has done to my country and my friends over the past 45+ years, so I will vote Democratic until they prove they do not deserve it. I voted for Obama twice, even after he tried to compromise with the GOP. The alternative isn’t just hurt feelings or loss of voting purity. The GOP alternative has proven to be death by war, death by slow starvation, death by lack of access to medical care, and that’s just to Americans. So go ahead, stick the flounce and go where you can ‘feel the Bern’, talk about investigations of e-mail servers, and hate ‘Killary’. Vote third party in protest. Do whatever the hell makes you feel like a special snowflake, but don’t tell me that you’re making the country better by doing so. I’m going to stay here, to push for Better *and* More Democrats, progressives if I can realistically elect them, but Democrats all the same.