Hillary's Supporters Must Save Progress!

© Mirceani | Dreamstime.com - Hillary Clinton Photo

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The future of progress is in the hands of Hillary Clinton’s supporters.

Most of Clinton's supporters have no qualms about voting for Bernie Sanders in the event he wins the Democratic nomination. For Clinton’s supporters, the difference between the two Democratic nominees is minute compared to the difference between the Democratic and the Republican candidates. However, it seems many of Sanders's supporters don't come to the same conclusion. They see Clinton as being no different from Cruz or Trump. Taking their view to its logical conclusion, if Clinton becomes president, we should expect to see the same results that a Ted Cruz or Donald Trump administration would execute. 

Clashing on the Left
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​The perception that Clinton is in cahoots with the one percent is festering within Sanders’s camp. Clinton’s club and those feeling the Bern are heading towards an impasse. To be quite honest about the matter, the impasse is largely the result of the #BernieOrBust zealotry.

Sanders has not indicated that he's at all a part of that particular sect of his. But his rhetoric did light the ideological fire with which his followers seek to purge any and everyone who is not as politically sanctified as he is.

Sanders's political countenance resembles a once-in-a-life-time champion for the everyday American. He doesn't make as much money as Clinton, whose speaking fees equate to what Sanders makes in a year. He did not vote for the Iraq War, while she did. He has the perfect excuse for voting for the infamous 1994 Crime Bill, and has no need to admit contributing to its passing and the negative effects, whereas Clinton advocated the Bill as first lady. Also, he has a few pictures of being involved in the Civil Rights Movement, when Clinton was a Barry Goldwater teenager.

There is a lot more to "bern" Clinton with. But that is enough to understand why many on the Left don't like or trust Clinton. To them she is a self-serving, power-hungry, money-making, undercover Republican.

Again, Sanders's official indictment does not go so far. Apart from questioning her judgement, he indicts Clinton's speaking fees. And his main concern is that she will not, and cannot if she even wanted to, break up the big banks and make them pay their fair share. Taking Sanders's speculations to their logical conclusion, if Clinton becomes president, we should expect her to completely dismantle Dodd-Frank, one of the toughest measures to reform Wall Street, which she supported, helped to build and protect.

So, the next best candidate would be Trump I suppose.

What is at Stake? The Political Revolution

Unfortunately, many citizens on the left think Sanders’s campaign is revolutionary. It’s not. But I admit that it is fiery, impassioned, and has good intentions.

The "political revolution" which is ascribed to Sanders began with the election of President Barack Obama. And it is in danger of being sabotage.

Many of Sanders’s supporters do not fully appreciate the significance of Obama’s presidency from 2009 to date. Worse, they deny that Obama is really a liberal or progressive. (I will discuss Obama and the real “political revolution” in my next post.)

However, I would say here that it’s interesting that critics of liberalism and progressivism are well aware of and threatened by Obama’s success. For example, renowned conservative political scientist Charles R. Kesler, writes: "Tempting as it might be to write President Obama off, it would be a big mistake. Whatever else he may accomplish, his staggering victory on health care reform has earned him a future place on the Mount Rushmore of liberalism, alongside those other supreme hero-statesmen of the creed, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson.” (I Am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism)

But the de facto ultimatum given by the #BernieOrBust crew threatens to abandon the inroads that the Right are set out to destroy. Because if Sanders is the Democratic presidential nominee, they will not support Clinton in the general elections.

And this is what I am concerned about. (Let me be clear, Sanders has not waged this threat himself, although I feel he's partly responsible for how his supporters feel, as Trump is for his troop).

Most Democrats know that they don't have the luxury to not vote for what some sarcastically refer to as the “lesser evil.” Experiencing a systemic disadvantage for decades if not centuries, they are cognizant of the ground they have covered and are unwilling to let so much hard work and sacrifice go to waste. If anyone knows what I’m talking about, it's the LGBT community, women, African American Community, immigrants, low-income workers . . . We can go on and on. Had these groups quit voting every time their favorite president wasn’t elected, they would not have accumulated political capital.

In other words, the political show must always go on even if one’s ideal politician isn’t in the White House.

The Burden of Team Hillary

Be that as it may, this is why the majority of Clinton’s supporters and Clinton herself are willing to vote for Sanders if he wins the nomination, even though they may feel he will not be capable of making any substantial progress. In fact, they fear that Sanders might undue the progress gained during the past seven years, because of his overreaching.

Nonetheless, they are still willing to vote for their long-term interests to prevent everything they’ve accomplished from being undone. Indeed, for all the candor and honesty Sanders professes, it is possible, if not guaranteed, that he will face a bulwark just as formidable as the one Obama wrestled.

For this reason, it seems that Clinton's voters are going to be the ones who will save the day. If Sanders's is nominated, they will support him in large numbers in the general election.

On the other hand, because of the #BernieOrBust sect, if Clinton wins the primary, her supporters must show up one hundred percent at the general election, in order to make up for the ground that Sanders's supporters are willing to abandon if he loses.

This is why Clinton’s supporters are the guardians of progress.