Nationally recognized United States Senators can wield enormous influence, especially when they have the loyalty of millions of supporters. Senator Sanders can energize and organize tens of thousands of people around the country for economic and social justice.
He can help bring new, vibrant, progressive voices into Congress, like Lucy Flores, Jamie Raskin and Zephyr Teachout.
He can help progressives take back state house seats and municipal governments, and build a new national movement for left-wing politics from the ground up.
If he can maintain the respect of his colleagues, he can become the next Lion of the Senate.
His potential is nearly limitless.
The only thing he can't do now is become the Democratic nominee for President.
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Alternatively, Senator Sanders could burn his bridges. He could decide, instead of campaigning for change, to continue campaigning against Hillary Clinton. He could choose to keep fighting a lost battle, knowing that he can’t win a majority of pledged delegates, or a majority of primary voters, or a majority of state contests. He could make up his mind to sacrifice the goodwill he’s earned among Democratic voters and insist that ideological purity is more important than progress.
He could force his colleagues to denounce him. He could split the energized progressive base, and create an opportunity for an extremist like Donald Trump or Ted Cruz to sneak into the White House. He could destroy the nation in a hopeless attempt to be its savior.
This is the choice that Bernie Sanders has to make over the next week.
We all have a choice to make as well. Enthusiasm is optional, but it's time to make our peace with this nominee, and it's time for Bernie to do the same. My suggestion to those who aren’t willing to embrace Hillary Clinton is simple: Keep fighting! Keep working to build a movement to make red states purple, purple states blue, and blue states bluer. Keep backing progressive candidates at every level. Don't lose your passion for change or for progress. Keep denouncing the racism, sexism, chauvinism, and materialism that's passing for today’s right wing. If you don't want to work for the top of the ticket, that is absolutely your choice, and a valid one. But don't stand in the way of the people working to elect the first woman President. Don't mistake plodding progress for backwards movement, and definitely don't conflate the two. And, if you are able and willing, do your part to help stop the misogynistic megalomaniac from Manhattan or the talking turd from Texas from doing any more damage to the nation's politics. I don't think Hillary is the best choice the party could have made, and the first time I will ever cast a ballot for her in my life will be this November. But since I can't see a path for anyone else, I am ready to accept that she's won this nomination, and I will absolutely look to her moving forward as our best chance to make the country better.
The choice of a nominee is made. It’s time to elect a president.