My interest in the teabaggers began to wane last summer, however. I was excited about our own movement on the left. I looked forward to hearing about the candidates who wanted to follow My President and their ideas. I was anxious for Secretary Clinton to announce and was also very excited about Bernie Sanders. When he entered the race I was sincerley energized because someone so far left was entering the arena. I encouraged my readers to learn more about him and spread the word.
I believed in everything Sanders talked about. Passionately. I soon realized that Bernie Sanders did not believe in everything I believe in, however. He gave the same speech every time he spoke. He hit the same notes every time. And then when he was asked questions about issues beyond his narrow purview, his answers went back to the same thing: billionaires. Don't get me wrong, money, power and influence are an obvious obstacle in our present democracy. But I understand human elements to the issues my progressive heart is passionate about. It does not seem that Sanders has any connection with the human element whatsoever, beyond its direct tie to his agenda.
Any response to the Black Lives Matter movement should not mention Wall Street. The answer to gun violence is not Wall Street. The answer to the Equal Rights Amendment is not Wall Street. The answer to our environmental crisis is not Wall Street. The answer to women's autonomy in health care is not Wall Street. The answer to immigration reform is not Wall Street. The answer to LGBTQ rights and marriage equality is not Wall Street. The answer to education is not Wall Street. The answer to veterans care is not Wall Street. The answer to voting rights is not Wall Street. The answer to national security is not Wall Street. The answer to energy independence is not Wall Street.
Somehow Sanders manages to bring every conversation back to the evils of money. Human beings don't even seem to get a secondary nod in his equation. Having studied the Tea Party movement, I noticed the commonalities of the messages: Good v. Evil, Right v. Wrong, Love v. Hate. Each very skewed conversation has the same foe and, more importantly, the same champion. I feel ugly typing the next sentence, so I won't. But I feel confident the bulk of my readers know where and when this technique was mastered. I will leave it right there.
Because of his inability to connect to progressive issues on a personal level, I was unable to connect to him on a personal level. Because I have known Secretary Clinton (not personally, of course) for decades now and cheered her myriad goals and accomplishments for progressive ideals, I connect with her on a personal level. It is sincerely personal to her. As it is to me.
In the beginning of the campaign there were pro-Hillary and pro-Sanders supporters who followed my writing and cheered me on because, for the most part, my pieces celebrated Progressivism. In November, however, I wrote a piece (read here) compelling the left to remain a united front against the right. I didn't say which group were being bullies but I insisted that we all be more mindful about where we direct our rage. I got a lot of shit for it. I ended up researching it more in December and found that one of the groups so many of my brothers and sisters from the left were joining was actually a right wing group. Yep. You read that right. They were taking their talking points and their (mis)information from people who would really rather have the left fighting among themselves than direct America toward an awakening about what was going on in the Regressive Party. Of course, I took quite a lot of shit for that piece, too (read here).
Here we are these many months later and it really seems to have been getting worse every week. Last week, however, was my final straw. I really wanted to keep my mouth shut (a Herculean feat, to be sure) and try to offer rational, conciliatory dialogue when we made it down to one candidate. I wanted to welcome those who had lost their chosen candidate and remind them of the reasons to celebrate the candidate we would need to support for the general. Sanders' campaign, however, has made that an impossibility for me.
The tragedy of the Sanders campaign is that he is taking the youth of the left and turning them against the only hope they will have for a true revolution. He is telling them that both sides are corrupt. Only he can take them to the promised land. Its kind of funny, really. Right? Here in our democracy, his "Not Me. Us" is embraced by those who seem to have no idea about the 'us' in that equation. The 'us' need to vote for many like-minded representatives so "Not Me" can be united with them working toward progressive goals. That "Not Me" is presently dismissing attempts to raise money for the other people from the left who might follow him to DC to pass laws and confirm judges to direct the nation to the left. Quite plainly, his message is "Just Me. Thanks." Even more plainly, this is not a dictatorship. And this is where his idealized version of Democratic Socialism gets really, really uncomfortable...
Socialism has a bad name. The ideology is lovely, to be sure. Its practice never has been, though. Ever. Socialism is offered to high-minded people with big hearts who want equality to prevail. Once the overwhelming power and money are given to the few who are meant to lead with it, however, the principled folk with the high ideals are fucked. Period.
A couple of weeks ago Susan Sarandon was defining Sanders' post-Trump election 'revolution' and Chris Hayes countered with, "You're saying the Leninist model of..." and she interrupted with a dreamy, "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah...". I'm convinced, after having heard her speak on political issues many times, that her response was to her having heard him ask about a "Lennonist model" where all hippies unite and give peace a chance. No thoughtful human being living in a DEMOCRACY would have understood that question to have been referencing Lenin, whose revolution meant to overthrow the State and create a historical clusterfuck, and then fantasize about that pending reality. The fact that Chris Hayes allowed her to go there and then didn't ask her to define the supposed rise after the fall of our State only advances my own belief that he and most at MSNBC have a very short leash when it comes to delivering information to their audience that could actually be useful.
Sanders is well aware of what he is doing. Much in the same way that Trump is presently hijacking the Regressive party (the one already hijacked by the Tea Party), Sanders plopped down onto the D so he could have a seat at the table without having to take the time to build a party of his own. He's had decades to create this movement and promote like-minded candidates across the country who wanted to join and move the country to the idealized (and as yet undefined) Democratic Socialism he seems so attached to. He doesn't care that he is destroying the only chance America has at this pivotal moment where the legacy of President Obama must be continued. He doesn't take into account that the Supreme Court is literally on the line. He doesn't seem remotely bothered by the fact that global diplomacy is a necessity and could end up in the hands of a reality TV star. Nope. His "Just Me. Thanks." movement is more important to him than anything else.
I have been relieved over the last few weeks by the countless Sanders supporters who've confided that they had become disgusted by the Sanders campaign and were moving their support to Secretary Clinton. The fact that most of those revelations came with a sincere plea that I not tell anyone for fear of their being ostracized online sums up his entire movement. I cannot have a rational discussion with his followers about issues. I cannot have a rational discussion about the misogynist tone of the Sanders campaign without having feminism mansplained to me. I cannot counter the lies that his campaign projects with actual facts because, like the Tea Party I grew so tired of battling, they don't want facts. His most fervent supporters are now comfortably settled into a movement with no message beyond short quips and condmenations of the 'others.' He and his surrogates have created and perpetuated narrative meant to disqualify our entire political structure and any who mean to preserve it and advance it to the left. The next generation of the Democratic Party is being poisoned by a petulant man-child in a suit whose only objective is to keep receiving adulation by those he is poisoning and take their money. Twenty seven dollars at a time.
Senator Sanders, my country deserves better. If you hate America so much, move to one of the countries you laud for their socialism. Maybe they'll make you king.
Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive
