As you can see by this headline, I feel very conflicted right now. I don’t see a path for Bernie to realistically win the Democratic nomination, but I wholeheartedly encourage people to keep volunteering and donating. Like the Young Turks pointed out, there’s a lot that can happen, including: criminal charges being filed against Hillary for email security, corruption charges for taking bribes as Secretary of State or encouraging election fraud. She could have another stroke. She could slip up badly somehow and actually lose the popular vote. The transcripts could finally come out and really piss Democrats off.
Additionally, a strong campaign now paves the way for a strong third party run in the general election. I think Bernie would have an excellent chance at winning as a third party candidate since 40% of voters are registered as independents and he would get most of those, plus nearly ½ of Democrats and some Republicans. Many polls support the reasoning behind hypothesis, though none directly ask the question. But up until now, he has said he won’t do it. I think he should only because Hillary has not been playing fair or even legal. The whole DNC and primary election process is rigged and we can’t keep up with all the legal issues as the primary process rolls on. So it’s fair game if he changes his mind.
And, if I am honest with myself, I am very disappointed that after putting a ton of volunteer hours and money into the campaign, he has said he won’t consider it. I am still rooting for the third party option. I’ve heard rumors Jill Stein has offered to step aside and run under Bernie for President as VP on the Green Party ticket. Writing Bernie in feels good, but in some states you legally can’t do it, and if he isn’t running as an independent at least, there’s no chance he will win. I think we should protest the Democratic National Convention, but it’s not going to change much unless we focus on alternative convention and plan.
Make no mistake here, I am still strongly rooting for Bernie. To me it’s Bernie or Die and here’s why:
- A Bernie presidency may be our last chance to save our democracy from overwhelming corruption in government that is only getting stronger day by day as politicians, lobbyists and corporations accumulate more wealth and power in government — a vicious cycle.
- Millions of lives are on the line with private health insurance controlling whether or not patients’ conditions and treatments are covered and whether their premiums, deductibles, and copays are actually affordable. This will not change under Obamacare with private insurance still calling the shots. Bernie is the only candidate that has committed to public health insurance.
- Climate change is on the cusp of causing mass, irreversible extinctions and catastrophic human suffering. Bernie is the only candidate that gets it and is committed to drastic action to reverse or at least try to reduce climate change.
- There’s only one candidate who has actually championed raising the minimum wage and expanding social security to both boost our economy and alleviate widespread poverty. The status quo is that wealth flows more and more to the wealthy while the middle class and poor get poorer and corporations find ways to not pay their fair share of taxes. Bernie is the only candidate (beside Stein) that has made wealth inequality a serious policy priority.
Number 1 and 2 are very personal reasons for me.
When I worked in policy with the Texas State Legislature and San Francisco city government, I saw how money influenced legislators so strongly, that you can’t even begin to imagine until you are in it. Even most supposed progressives were bought off through the campaign finance system and the revolving door. I was so disgusted that I left politics. I didn’t want to be a part of corrupt system. That was a big mistake. Now it’s much worse under Citizens United. Hence, this is my number one issue that determines who I will vote for.
I also am very concerned about health insurance. I was one of those unfortunate souls who almost lost their life, because my insurance decided not to cover my condition, Lyme disease. Previously completely healthy, I fell hard with Lyme. I was in and out of the hospital including several ICU stays for years because I couldn’t afford the right medicine that the insurance wouldn’t cover. I was disabled for almost 5 years and couldn’t work. I went through my savings and credit and went bankrupt when my insurance failed to cover my treatments. I was denied federal disability, though fortunately for a year I got CA state disability. I ended up semi-homeless and had to beg for money. Then I met my husband and got better health insurance through his company. Up until a few months ago I spent over half my monthly income on health expenses...for ten years, including under Obamacare. I am finally getting better.
Some people at this point in my story say it’s my fault for not being more prepared. When I got sick at age 31, I was working full-time as a college program coordinator and adjunct professor and I had company health insurance. I had no debt and $50,000 saved up. I owned my car and lived low. I don’t think I could have been more responsible. But I didn’t have a family (orphaned) or husband to support me in the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario happens more than you’d think. People get sick and they die from treatable illnesses because health insurance companies care more about their quarterly profits.
Anyway, this isn’t a plea for sympathy. I am one of tens of thousands of people each year who might die because of unaffordable health care. Mine is not a unique story. Obama’s own doctor, Dr. Scheiner, was very opposed to the Obamacare legislation. He was strongly in favor of Medicare for all because he saw firsthand how patients were treated unfairly by for private health insurance companies. He believed the health system couldn’t be fixed until we got profit out of health care, like almost all modernized countries do.
Climate change is the issue that trumps all issues, aside from campaign finance which also strongly affects climate change via fossil fuel campaign contributions. We don’t have a functioning Earth to live off of if climate change spirals out of control, as many top scientists now predict. If we don’t have a functioning ecosystem, we don’t have an economic, health or education system anymore. All bets are off and we are in some deep trouble, not to mention the rest of the less adaptable species on Earth.
Neither Hillary nor Trump go nearly far enough on any of my top 4 issues. Plus I despise them both. I think they are both sociopathic, lying, manipulative narcissists. But if Bernie won’t run outside the two parties, I can’t elect a candidate in the general election that cares about my issues and that isn’t a sociopath. It really sucks, but at this point I begin to think strategy. And when I think strategy, I start thinking of voting for Trump.
That’s the last thing that I want to do, but like 33-50% of Bernie supporters polled, I just might. Jill Stein, yes is great, but will never win without Bernie on the ticket. Few people know her and many falsely believe the Green Party is just for white, middle class environmentalists, because they’ve never taken a second to look up their awesome and comprehensive Green Party Platform. It’s far more principled and progressive than the Democratic Party, but almost no one knows it. There’s a good chance I will be writing Bernie in, but anything is game at this point in such a crazy race. I haven’t made my plan B yet. It might be Jill, write in Bernie or Trump, but never Hillary. Thank you in advance for your hate mail comments below.
Trump and Bernie share something I really like: they aren’t bought and they don’t want to be beholden to anything but voters and their own conscience. I don’t know if Trump would help overturn Citizen United, but based on how he’s funded and run his campaign so far, voting for Trump is a big FU to corrupt establishment politics. That’s one major reason the Republican establishment loathes him and is considering blocking him undemocratically from the nomination. Similar to Bernie, Trump doesn’t take big money with strings, although the difference is Trump is self-funded and Bernie is grassroots funded. That’s an important difference but not as big as between being super-corporate funded and not. In sum, they both think the system is rigged in favor of the corrupt establishment. And having worked in policy, I completely agree.
I don’t have any delusions that things would be better under Trump than Obama, but I see Trump and Hillary as equals in policy, some good some really bad. For people of color it will be better in this country but worse if you are a person of color in another country that Hillary wants to attack. Trump is a bigot, but he’s not on the kill, militarily speaking. Strategically, I like the message that a Bernie, or God forbid Trump, winning the presidency sends to corrupt politicians and the two parties that we won’t accept the sale of our democracy to the highest bidder anymore.
There is no single issue of greater importance than campaign finance corruption. It hugely influences every other issue progressives care about. Money calls the shots, from climate change to healthcare, to Wall Street fraud and housing bubbles. You name the issue, it’s already been bought and paid for by lobbyists, corporations and their employees. If you don’t agree with me on this point, you know far too little about our political system and you shouldn’t vote this election. Sorry.
Hillary is the the epitomy of this corruption and was named the most corrupt politician of 2015 by a nonpartisan watchdog group, called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT). We all know it, some just choose to swallow it as a bitter pill and cough it up as an excuse that she needs to take money to be an effective candidate and leader, particularly a female leader. I think she is everything that is wrong with government, and little good and much harm will likely happen under her watch.
I know Bernie said he would get behind Hillary if he didn’t win. Bernie may be the current leader of this political revolution but he doesn’t own it. Every progressive that cares about the future of this country’s democracy gets to help decide Plan B...if we come to that. Every volunteer and donor for Bernie’s campaign gets to decide. Turning our movement for democracy into an embodied democracy would be a great first step.
I doubt the majority of us in this political revolution will decide to get behind Hillary. It would be psychologically too defeating, savage internal dissonance, and might be the end of our movement if we did. I am not sure we could bounce back. It would mean voting against everything we so passionately support in Bernie’s messaging, platform and in his very being. That’s not a bitter pill I will swallow, even if it means hard times until the rest of this country finally wakes up to a democracy that is on life support. It’s not because I am privileged that I take this hard stance, far from it, or that I am a sore loser, it’s because I am in it for the long game...Bernie or no Bernie.
That said, if we have a strong Plan B long game, I am open to almost anything...anything we create together that nourishes a real democracy, no matter what our next step might be.