I keep reading here that I’m naive and unrealistic because I support Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.
Pardon my French, but … BULLSHIT.
I support Sanders because he speaks for the things I want to see. Single-payer health care, income equality, breaking up the too-big-too-fail banks, social justice and much more.
I know that some people think that wanting these things is unrealistic. It’s not. There is no way to achieve these things if you don’t fight for them. So I’m not going to say, “Getting single-payer health care is impossible so I’ll just forget about it.”
Getting a law establishing universal, single-payer health care through Congress right now is impossible. You’re right about that. But that will change if we keep fighting the obstructionists.
If Sanders wins the nomination, he will draw more people who are disgusted by our current Congress to the polls. Every single seat in the U.S. House of Representatives will be on the ballot this November (like it is every even numbered year). If we’re going to improve the House, we need a standard bearer like Sanders. Will we flip the House? It could happen, but I’m not counting on it. Can we eat away at the Republican majority? You betcha.
If we did flip the House, would we be able to pass single-payer health care? Probably not. It’s going to take time and effort.
But I can’t choose the candidate who says “single-payer is unrealistic so I’m not going to talk about it,” over the candidate who says, “we’re going to fight for single-payer.” To do so would be to betray my own hopes and dreams.
Make no mistake. If Hillary Clinton is the eventual nominee, I will support her. I’m not willing to destroy the United States of America with a Cruz, Trump or even Bush presidency to spite the Clintonites who were mean to me. I will support the Democratic candidate when we get to the general election. (Note: I’m not accusing any individual here of being mean to me specifically, I’m talking about the contempt flowing from the Clinton camp toward the Sanders camp. Contempt demonstrated by things like references to unicorns and rainbows.)
But right here and now, and until the day, if it ever comes, that Sanders withdraws, I’m supporting Sanders.
It’s not a quixotic pursuit. Sanders is forcing discussion of things that would be off the table and not mentioned again if he wasn’t talking about them. He is moving the Overton window. The things that are impossible today are moving closer to possible because he keeps calling for them. That’s how politics works.
If Sanders wins the nomination, we can make him president. The Republican options are much to unsavory to be unbeatable.
If Sanders becomes president, we won’t get everything he promises. No candidate has ever delivered on every single campaign promise. Not JFK. Not FDR. Not Abraham Lincoln. The greatest presidents do what they can. They achieve more than the average because they fight harder and smarter.
What I get with Sanders is the conviction that if he is elected, he will fight for the things I care about. Will he win? Nobody knows how much he’ll achieve until it happens.
I would be a fool to think that single-payer will materialize right after his inauguration.
But backing Sanders expands the possible. That’s what Sanders supporters are fighting for.