A Message for Bernie Sanders Supporters
The long and sometimes bitter Democratic nomination process has lately seen both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders exchanging barbs and questioning each other’s qualifications to be President. However, in comparison the clashes of their supporters on-line have made Hillary and Bernie look like a loving couple who are having occasional spats. The lengths to which Sanders supporters have gone on line to discredit Hillary Clinton and her supporters have been remarkable. Sometimes Hillary supporters have replied in kind. Now Sanders’ most enthusiastic supporters are being forced to watch as their beloved candidate, St. Bernie, slips into a death spiral which can only culminate in a fiery crash. To say that they are unhappy is a huge understatement.
The question is, with Sanders in the process of being retired to the sidelines, what will his supporters do? One would think that their only logical course, given the disaster that either a Trump or Cruz Presidency would bring, would be to support the Democrat nominee. However, for many of Sanders’ most zealous supporters, that’s not an easy thing to do. Will the “Berniebots” who convinced themselves that Hillary Clinton is everything from corrupt politician to a corporate whore ever be able to bring themselves to vote for her in the general election? Some, lead by the “Bernie or Bust” crowd, say that they cannot.
Many of these are passionate young people who are new the political game and are not yet able to separate political reality from utopian liberal dreams. Joining them are older far left liberals who have waited their entire lives to support one of their own in a Presidential bid and feel cheated that Sanders did so well, but still fell short. In the course of the campaign both types have convinced themselves that Hillary is evil incarnate. They consider themselves ideologically pure and believe that would be hypocritical for them to vote for such an imperfect candidate. There is a good likelihood that these people will vote third party or simply chose not to vote at all.
If I could, here is what I would tell them:
Rest of article here: A Message for Bernie Sanders Supporters
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