Like I said in the title, I’m backing Bernie, but I expect Biden to win. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy against Bernie. I think Biden just has broader appeal. But I’m still going to back Bernie — likely all the way to the convention.
Why would I back someone I expect to lose? There are several answers to that question.
First, I’m going to do it because that’s what primaries are for. Now is when we throw out all the ideas and mix them up and try to reach a consensus about what we’re running on. A couple of months ago, that was a bewildering mish-mash of everything imaginable. Today, we’re down to stability and incremental change vs. revolution and massive change. The truth is, in practice, those two seeming opposites won’t be all that different. There’s what candidates promise and what they can achieve. No candidate manages to enact everything they talk about on the campaign trail. Even Franklin Roosevelt couldn’t get everything he promised done.
So, yes, I accept that Bernie probably wouldn’t be able to enact Medicare For All during his time in office. But if he tried, we would move another step closer. Big changes only happen after people have been talking about them for a while. When I was a child, same-sex marriage wasn’t even on the radar. When I was in my 30s and 40s, people started talking about it — and there was massive resistance. In my 50s, it became legal nationwide.
So, here’s my reason for staying with Bernie and insisting that he stay in until the convention — no matter how far back he lags in the delegate count. I want people to keep talking about Medicare For All. That’s how we get it — not by electing one politician today who focuses on it. We win it by continuing to call for it at every possible opportunity.
Bernie Sanders is this year’s opportunity.
Back at the beginning, I hoped Bernie would sit this cycle out. I had Elizabeth Warren to carry the banner for Medicare For All. She presented a more coherent vision of how it would work and how we could get there. I acknowledge, however, that had she been the one to prevail, she probably still couldn’t have got it done in one or two terms. A little better chance than Bernie, but still likely not enough. But, once again, we would have spent another few years talking about it. And as we talk about it, people get more comfortable with it.
The way things have gone, though, I’m glad I still have Bernie to keep my concerns front and center.
There is not a grain of doubt in my mind that I’ll vote for Joe Biden if he wins the nomination. But if I go to his side right now, I’m abandoning my principals. During the primaries, we’re all free to support who we want to. As long as we can delay the final coming together, we can keep injecting our own wants and needs into the process.
I believe that Medicare For All is going to happen someday. Not today. Likely not this year or next or the one after that. But it’s going to come — if, and only if, we keep fighting for it.