Aaaaaannnnnd…. the seemingly never-ending hot and cold relationship between Democrats and Bernie continues:
As recently as 10 days ago, it appeared the party was angling further down the long road to post-2016 reconciliation. When Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced his new "Medicare for all" bill on Capitol Hill
on September 13, he was flanked by a collection of the party's most promising 2020 prospects. A third of the Senate Democratic caucus had signed on, and the detente
forged by the battle to protect Obamacare was looking increasingly durable.
But that brief era of good feelings quickly cracked up under pressure from Republicans. When the majority began plowing ahead with the Graham-Cassidy bill, another controversial plan to radically overhaul the American health care system, Democrats began to lash out -- first and primarily at the GOP, but then, as its momentum grew, one another.
Maybe McCain’s “no” vote on the Trumpcare bill will help smooth over the latest flare up, but either way, I have a proposal. As a liberal, I have a deal for Democratic lawmakers, and it’s simple:
If you hold your nose, shut up about Bernie, and support him pretty much unilaterally… I’ll continue to do the same for you.
Let’s face it. I don’t know if there has ever been a popular mainstream politician who's been liberal enough for me. Bernie Sanders might be the closest thing to the type of politician that I’ve been waiting for my entire life, a far left liberal that somehow managed to be extremely popular nationwide.
And look, I get it. I totally get the way unions work and the way membership in the big D Democratic Party works and the rightful benefits that come with it. And I support that for the most part. That’s why come what may, when it comes to criticizing Democrats in public… I largely refrain, for the good of world peace and human rights. Beating up on our own team seems to only lose us elections.
And I have no ill feelings towards Democratic voters who aren’t convinced by Bernie Sanders. That’s civics. That’s life.
The only thing I would however ask is that Democratic lawmakers and those who work for them on a salary basis (not Democratic voters, activists, organizers, etc.) treat Bernie Sanders in public the way I am expected treat Democratic lawmakers in public: with restraint, respect, and yes… nearly unconditional support.
I have a dirty secret. I don’t actually support the candidacy of most Democrats. They’re not the type of people I would vote for if I had better more liberal options. But I don’t. So I do the smart thing and I support the best Democratic candidates that can win their elections.
I hold my my nose. I bite my tongue. And my blood pressure pays the price.
So please. I ask all Democratic lawmakers and their paid operatives to stop the war. Stop the bickering. Stop the public undermining of Bernie Sanders.
Average people can say what they want. All I ask is that Democratic lawmakers engage in the same kind of restraint that they expect from liberals like me.
That’s fair.
Unless Democrats want liberals like myself to start being totally honest in public about what we think of them, unless they can demonstrate the same loyalty to liberals like Bernie that liberals like me show them… I just can’t honestly say that Democratic lawmakers are as concerned about our Progressive movement as they should be.
If anyone should be able to show restraint in public, it’s the people in office. We elect them to do just that. It’s not right that average liberal voters are expected to show the kind of restraint and blind respect that Democratic lawmakers seem unwilling to show on the other hand. And if that balance isn’t rectified, then Democratic lawmakers I suspect are the ones who will inevitably lose out.
And we can’t afford that.
Fairness: Dem Lawmakers, Please Treat Bernie Sanders The Way You Expect Liberal Voters To Treat You. And if you do, I think we’ll be fine.