I'm a zealot for taking a stand on the Trans Pacific Partnership, so we don't lose potentially millions of good paying middle class manufacturing jobs to literal slave nations to boost corporate profits.
I'm a zealot for taking a stand on the KXL Pipeline, to protect our environment and fight the climate change so many Republicans inexplicably continue to deny.
I'm a zealot for taking a stand on the $15 minimum wage, so workers can earn a livable wage and corporations can stop relying on the taxpayers so their employees can put food on the table.
I'm a zealot for reimposing Glass-Steagall, so no longer will banks be able to engage in speculation with people's federally insured savings, wreak havoc on our economy and make out like bandits while average Americans lose their homes and jobs.
I'm a zealot for expanding Medicare so it's available to everybody, so no longer will tens of thousands of people die every year for lack of health insurance.
I'm a zealot for giving workers paid family leave and vacation time, for the same reasons our progressive forefathers fought for the 8 hour workday.
I'm a zealot for universal public college, and offering loans to students at the same rate the Fed offers them to Wall Street banks because saddling college grads with tens of thousands in debt upon graduation is not only immoral but bad economics considering they have a high propensity to spend and the years spent paying down debt delays purchasing homes and starting families.
I'm a zealot for universal body cameras and fighting the institutional racism and bigotry that has for too long allowed power tripping cops to trample the lives and liberty of POC, and then afterward expecting protection from sympathetic prosecutors with whom they work hand in glove every day.
I'm a zealot for ending the hyperinterventionist neocon mentality that led to the Iraq War, so no longer will blood and treasure be wasted in the sands of the Middle East to force "regime change" in vain pursuit of "democracy" and "pre-emption."
But most of all, I'm a zealot for supporting a candidate who can lay down concrete markers on these issues, instead of offering bromides and platitudes about "holding Wall Street accountable" (How?) and "fighting for the middle class" (How?) and "I support the minimum wage but it depends on the zip code" (How? Also, I'm paraphrasing, to be fair) which my cynical side suspects only allows that candidate to run back to the center after the nomination is secured. Forgive me if I'm deeply cynical about a candidate whose largest donors are Wall Street banks, who won't take a stand on KXL or TPP and whose husband enacted NAFTA, who served on the board of Wal Mart, who voted for the Iraq War and reportedly pushed for more intervention in Libya and Syria, and who uttered "All lives matter," to ultimately fall on the right side of these issues.
Yes I'm a zealot for these very important issues, and it wouldn't matter one iota to me if it were Bernie, or Elizabeth Warren, or Sherrod Brown or, hell, Hillary Clinton speaking for them. (In fact I would prefer that it would be Hillary, due to her impressive credentials, brand and name recognition, but I've given up on that hope.) That person has my support, and given that whoever this is will face a stark fundraising disadvantage, not to mention an apparent disadvantage on the editorial front page of this website, it's incumbent on grassroots supporters like me to spread the message. That means recommending diaries which I find informative and effective, and I would expect nothing less of Hillary supporters if they feel as "zealot"-like about the issues their candidate represents as I do. If they don't perhaps maybe some introspection is in order.
Signed,
Chuck Bodd, Zealot.