We Bernie supporters have often been asked, “Why support Bernie?” or even “Why support someone who can’t win?” (Often by Hillary-supporters and with such a tone as if it’s a crime to even try to run against Hillary. Because I guess her supporters would prefer she ran unopposed?)
Well, there’s the long answer:
1) Because his ultimate goal is to do what should have been done years ago ever since the Great Recession of 2007 and that’s to break up the big banks and Wall Street and coerce them into rebuilding what they helped nearly destroy- the middle class. And although he’s been accused of being a “single-issue candidate,” our middle class crisis is one of the most important and urgent issues facing our generation today! According to this article from Dec. 2015 originally from Pew Research, one in five adults live in or near to poverty! If the middle class is disappearing, how are we supposed to pay for our houses, food, and transportation?! Let alone paying for college, healthcare, and retirement? And let alone trying to fight Big Oil or other climate change issues? And other issues such as racial/civil rights, women’s rights, veterans rights, seniors rights, student rights, voting rights also all stem from or are directly related to how strong of a middle class we have. Without a thriving middle class, the average American wouldn’t have much power to make a difference in any other issue either. So that’s the issue most of us should be concerned with right now.
2) Because he actually does have solid, viable, and realistic plans for the many middle class-strengthening proposals he’s put forward which include how he’s going to pay for them and over how many years each proposal would take. (The majority of which simply include closing some of the many loopholes Wall Street billionaires have unfairly taken advantage of.)
3) Because while not having the White House experience of Hillary (first courtesy of her husband and then thanks to her being Secretary of State), he does have a considerable 35 years or more in political and governing experience, beginning with his election as mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981 to House Representative in 1990 and finally a Senator in 2007.
4) Because not only is he open to working with Republicans when he needs to in order to get things done, but he actually has in the past during his years in Congress to push through a total of 12 amendments. And while some might claim that “amendments are not the same as getting bills passed into laws,” Hillary herself only managed to get three bills passed into laws out of the 409 bills she was the lead sponsor. And even those three laws were not that impressive: renaming a post office, naming a highway and establishing a national historic site in Troy, NY. Hardly what I call game-changers. And the fact that the GOP wasted millions of taxpayer money for a committee to grill Clinton for 11 hours over her involvement in Benghazi (although they found no evidence of wrong-doing) and that many of them wanted to see her charged with her supposed "email scandal," are hardly evidence of her “working well with Republicans.” And in the off chance that she does compromise or concede to them, it can be seen by other Democrats as “selling out.” So I doubt the GOP will roll out the red carpet for any Democrat that might win the Presidency, whether it’s Hillary or Bernie. So that whole argument that he can’t “work with Republicans” or “get things done” is hardly viable. Luckily, there’s one way to defeat the GOP controlled Congress...vote them out! A total of 469 seats in Congress are up for election this November (34 Senate seats and all 435 House seats)!
5) Because despite what many of the more stubborn Hillary-supporters have thought was possible, Bernie has essentially tied her in Iowa, soundly beat her by 21 points in New Hampshire, and only lost to her by 5.3% in Nevada. He’s also been beating her in a national poll and as of Feb. 23 is 41.7% vs. Clinton's 35.5%. And perhaps most shocking and unexpected, is the fact that Bernie is actually attracting conservatives, and even beats her in surveys where they're matched against the GOP candidates! So clearly he’s proven to be just as “electable” if not more so than Hillary is.
6) Because he wouldn’t be our first “socialist” president. We had many other presidents who were just as if not more “socialist” than Bernie, if not in name than in practice. These presidents include:
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Theodore Roosevelt (Term: 1901-1909) who created the first National Parks, the Meat Inspection Act and the FDA, among others (though as a Hispanic myself, I hated his imperialistic attitude towards Latin America and his immoral war with Spain but that’s another issue).
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Woodrow Wilson (Term: 1913-1921) who established the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 as well as the income tax as authorized by the 16th Amendment, among other things.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt (Term: 1933-1945) who established many government programs to help people during the Great Depression and he passed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1933 which helped rein in the banks’ recklessness (and which another President, Bill Clinton later repealed!) the National Industrial Recovery Act (which included the Public Works Administration and public buildings such as La Guardia Airport in NY and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco were built), he passed the Wagner-Connery National Labor Relations Act which gave labor unions the right to organize and bargain collectively, and of course...Social Security!
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Harry Truman (Term: 1945-1953) who enacted the Marshall Plan which helped rebuild Europe after WWII and the United Nations (originally conceived by FDR), and helped create NATO. He also tried to expand Social Security, raise minimum wages and even create a national healthcare system!
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Dwight Eisenhower (Term: 1953-1961) who created the Interstate Highway Program in 1956, expanded Social Security, increased the minimum wage, created the Departments of Health, Education and Welfare, and increased the income tax rate for the most wealthy to 91%! (Compare this to Bernie’s reformed proposals of taxing 37% on income between $250,000 to $500,000; 43% on income between $500,000 to $2 million; 48% on income between $2 million and $10 million; and 52% on income of $10 million and above. This seems extremely reasonable to me). Oh, and this guy was a Republican...Yeah. Take a lesson from him, GOP!
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John F. Kennedy (Term: 1961-1963) who increased the minimum wage, lowered taxes, protected the unemployed, created the Peace Corp. and increased funding for NASA.
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Lyndon B. Johnson (Term: 1963-1969) who enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which reformed the earlier immigration “quota system” which excluded Asians, Africans and some Latin Americans, he established a National Endowment for the Arts and a National Endowment for the Humanities, a Highway Safety Act, Public Broadcasting Act, significantly funded colleges, enacted enviromental protection laws and protected consumers. And of course...he created Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor in 1965!
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Richard Nixon (Term: 1969-1974) who despite the whole “Watergate scandal” thing, actually “imposed new regulation on the economy than any other president since the New Deal.” He created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1970 as well as the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), he signed amendments to the 1967 Clean Air Act, and enacted the 1972 Noise Control Act, the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, the 1973 Endangered Species Act, and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act. He also proposed the National Health Insurance Partnership Program which promoted HMOs, a reformation of the welfare system with a “negative income tax to provide a safety net for the poor as well as an incentive to work.” He proposed expanding Food Stamps and passed the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) which provides a steady income for the elderly and disabled. He also increased Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. He was also the president during the victory of a woman’s right to choose in the Supreme Court case of Roe vs Wade in 1973.
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Jimmy Carter (to some extent anyway) (Term: 1977-1981) He proposed a consumer-protection bill and labor reform package before Congress shot it down. He supported rasing the minimum wage, passed the Emergency Natural Gas Act and created the Department of Energy. He passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and by 1980, imposed the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax.
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Barack Obama (Term: 2009-present) He passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which was an $800 billion stimulus package to relieve the damage caused by the 2007 recession and “about one third went involved grants to state governments to keep them from laying off public employees or reducing unemployment compensation; about one-third went for bridges, highways, sewage treatment facilities, and other infrastructure projects; and the remaining third was for middle-class tax cuts.” And of course, he was the only president since LBJ who succeeded in reforming our healthcare system and in 2010, he passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) which prohibited insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions, allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance until they turned 26 and provided affordable insurance coverage for those previously uncovered.
6) Because he’s proven that you don’t necessarily have to “sell out” or play into the Big Money game by accepting excessive donations from Wall Street or Super PACs to run an effective presidential campaign, especially if you seek to eventually dismantle such a corrupt system. Grass-roots donations could be enough. And yes, I know about the so-called “Super PAC”, National Nurses United for Patient Protection, but the difference is that they raised that $2.3 million last year most likely from the member dues of the union itself. But unlike most other Super PACs, they didn’t just cut a check for that amount of money so I think it’s hardly comparable. In comparison, the same Federal Election Commission from July 15, 2015 had Bernie at the bottom of the list of those presidential candidates accepting donations from Super PACs as being the only other candidate along with Trump who didn’t have any affiliated Super PACs and only two unaffiliated Super PACs called Collective Actions PAC and BillionairesForBernie both of which gave just $8,795.
7) Because the only thing Bernie and Trump have in common is that their significant support demonstrates the anger and unhappiness the majority of Democrats and Republicans feel towards their respective parties. Thankfully, the Republicans have three more candidates than us to choose from, so they seem to be more divided than we are. But if the Democratic party doesn’t start taking its socialists, independents, and college-age voters seriously and at least try to compromise or reform some of its views and policies to fit theirs, than their party won’t be viable in the long-term. If anything, Bernie is proving that judging by the caucuses, the majority of Democrats are more left-leaning than center. And if Bernie doesn’t win, Hillary better be able to deliver or else unfortunately many Democrats just won’t vote. (Not me though, I do like Hillary and I hate the GOP too much to give them a chance to win the White House).
8) Because I prefer to support a candidate who’s historically more center-left than center-right (which Hillary once referred to herself as).
9) Because he supports all the issues I care about: closing the gap in income inequality, making college tuition and debt free, campaign finance reform, raising the minimum wage, combating climate change, civil rights (including women’s, racial, LGBT, disabled, and veterans), reforming Wall Street, war as a last option, and of course...affordable or even free healthcare/Medicare for all! And as I’ve stated in number 2, he does have a plan to pay for all his proposals.
10) Because he’s fighting for a cause and the “political revolution” most of us have been wanting and asking for, even though too many of those who initially wanted it are now too afraid to actually act on it. Change isn’t going to just happen by itself and Wall Street, big corporations and the super-rich aren’t suddenly going to grow consciences and “do the right thing” for the middle class unless we the people organize, vote and DEMAND it. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to happen tomorrow. We already knew that! And Bernie himself has never claimed any different! But it will eventually happen if the rest of us do OUR part and support him in his proposals. Sooner or later, the middle class crisis has to be addressed and solved and sooner or later, Wall Street, the big banks and corporations have to reined in and prevented from making such reckless actions in the future. So if not this “political revolution,” then which one are you waiting for?! If not this year, then when?! And if not Bernie, then WHO?! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have the time, money or patience to just “wait” another 4-8 years for another presidential election for someone else to finally address the changes I want to see happen and then wait another 2-4 years to actually enact them!
The short answer?
Because while I still do like and admire Hillary (I honestly believe she did the best she could with the circumstances and obstacles presented to her...although I also understand why so many don’t like her), I like Bernie MORE.
Hillary is good and I’m sure she’d make a great 2nd choice for many of us. But I don’t like or appreciate her campaign strategy by making us Bernie supporters seem “idealistic” or almost “guilting” us into voting for her just because she’s the one everyone expects to eventually win and if we don’t vote for her, we “might as well be voting for the GOP.” Everything once started as an idea or an ideal. Slavery was once a thing in this country and women were only given the right to vote in 1920! Where we would be without “idealists?!” The trick is to first get the support and then the votes and proposals to eventually turn them into laws.
And while some of us can remember and appreciate the fact that Hillary herself tried to push for healthcare reform (including universal healthcare) back in 1993 and several years since, it must also be remembered and noted that the values and demographics of 1993 were quite different compared to today in 2016. A lot has changed since then. There is significant support now that for whatever reason, wasn’t there before. And if anything she should be glad, that now there’s a chance of actually enacting a proposal she once believed in.
So can you Hillary-supporters please leave us alone now? I think I answered most of your questions. We’ll support Bernie as far as he’ll go. And while I can’t make any promises for anyone else, I’ll support Hillary if she wins the nomination. But if she eventually wants more of Bernie’s supporters to vote for her in the future, she needs to stop acting as if we’re “idealistic children”. Because we’re “idealistic children” with significant voting power. And if the Democratic party owes no loyalty to a former independent like Bernie, then the socialists, independents and “undecideds” that he attracts also don’t owe any loyalty to the Democratic Party. Support goes both ways. So if the Democratic party want us Bernie supporters to eventually support their nominee, they have got to prove that they’re supporting us, too.
So we’re not expecting miracles. We know our wishes are going to take a LOT of time, effort, patience, hard work and that they’ll probably be met with many obstacles. And we know deep down that it’s unlikely Bernie will be able to pass ALL of his proposals even if elected president. But then again, which president ever has fulfilled every promise? However, we will at least TRY to vote and enact the changes we wish to see. And we ask our candidates to do the same. Bernie seems to be the one up for the challenge. And I for one am more than willing to fight and work for those changes I wish to see enacted! Are you?