Look, guys. I like Bernie Sanders as much as the next young white liberal. I want to make it clear from the very beginning: this is neither a criticism of Bernie Sanders nor an endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
I’m not going to deny that Clinton has flaws, and lots of them. But you know what? So does Sanders. His record on gun control, for example, hasn’t been stellar. And his chances of actually getting his proposed policies through Congress? Slim to none. (Voting for Sanders because you want him to take money from Wall Street and use it to pay everyone’s college tuition? Don’t hold your breath.) And then we have Clinton, with an overly aggressive history with foreign policy and obvious corporatization, who’s not much better. What I’m trying to get at here is that—and it should be obvious—Hillary Clinton is not Satan himself returning to Earth to wreak havoc upon our nation. Bernie Sanders is not the second coming of Christ. They are both human beings with flaws and strengths and different ways of representing their constituency.
And look, I like Sanders. I really do. I’m totally on board with democratic socialism and with the forward-thinking, idealistic movement he’s reflecting. But there’s an odd cultural phenomenon going around in which Bernie Sanders is being painted as some sort of liberal god and Clinton is being characterized as a villain. Sanders doesn’t even need to run a negative campaign. You guys are doing it for him. So here’s the deal. Clinton has flaws, but, especially compared to our Republican frontrunners, she’s not the antichrist. She wants to increase restrictions on gun ownership. She’s defending the Affordable Care Act and women’s rights to safe, legal abortions. Her immigration reform policies are very much liberal, as are her views on education. Her platform emphasizes women’s rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and criminal justice reform.
Before you all get up in arms, I’m not asking you to take the Bernie bumper sticker off of your car. I’m not asking you to stop supporting him. You know what, until the Democratic primaries are over, you can hate on Clinton all you want. But I’m asking you this. If Clinton wins the democratic nomination—and there’s a solid chance she will—you need to suck it up, go to the voting booth, and vote for her. And if you’re still holding on to the hope that, oh, maybe if I don’t show up, we’ll get some nice moderate conservative like Kasich or Rand Paul, I’ve got some bad news for you. The top three candidates, based on the averages of 300+ polls from across the country, are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, in that order. I’ve linked you to their “Issues” pages. (My personal favorite? Ted Cruz on “Life, Marriage, and Family.”) Go wild.
Oh, but in case you just want a brief synopsis—they’re probably not people you want to be running the country.
A party divided will not stand—and I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather not see what happens if Trump gets elected because our young Sanders supporters decided to let their party divisions get in the way of our country’s well-being. So whoever wins the Democratic primary, you all need to haul yourselves to the voting booth and support them.
