“It is not the critic who counts…the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…who spends himself in a worthy cause…so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Such were the words that President Theodore Roosevelt spoke in a 1910 speech soon after he left office. These words have lent strength to those fighting uphill struggles and solace to those enduring bitter defeat. Now, over a century after Roosevelt spoke those words to a rapt crowd in Paris, Independent Vermont Senator Bernard “Bernie” Sanders seems to have taken them to heart. Sanders is running against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination – a race he is all but certain to lose by a wide margin. When he inevitably loses, Sanders will quite likely be persona non grata in high-level liberal circles for a time. The Clinton machine, honed by decades of political combat, is as effective as it is retentive of grudges. Not for nothing, there’s an old saying that when you shoot to kill the king (or queen for that matter) you’d better not miss. Bernie Sanders is risking an awful lot on a campaign that experts call a longshot at best.

So is Bernie Sanders scared? Come on, this is a boy from Brooklyn we’re talking about here. Sanders has thrown himself into the fray with a passion that none of the other Democratic contenders can match. His zeal is infectious, and the senator continually draws upwards of 10,000 supporters to his rallies. With a populist fire that has rarely been seen this side of William Jennings Bryan, Sanders certainly walks the walk to back up his “man of the people” image. His campaign proudly boasts that, despite not soliciting donations from billionaires and corporations, they have taken in more individual contributions than any other campaign – Democrat or Republican. Bernie Sanders has a veritable army of young supporters, ready to give it their all to see the Vermont senator secure the Democratic nomination.

Well, then why are most political analysts counting Sanders out? Surely with all the support he has garnered, he will at least be a contender for the Democrats, right? Look, I’m not an expert on American politics, but I can tell you a few things about the way our system seems to work. The first thing you ought to know is that we, for all of the debate over what our government’s role should be in the economy, are not, and will not be for the foreseeable future, a socialist nation. Bernie Sanders is an avowed democratic-socialist. I do not doubt that he can provide convincing arguments for his stances, but he will not convince the majority of voters to elect a man whose conception of government is so different than theirs. We are a nation built on a free market. Whether or not you agree with it, that system is ingrained in the American psyche.

So how to explain those massive crowds? For this argument, I would point to the perennial Republican candidate Ron Paul. For as much as their politics diverge, Paul and Sanders are analogous figures: iconoclasts, passionate speakers, idealists, fringe to their core. The Libertarian Paul attracted similar support among young, mostly college-aged, voters – particularly in the 2012 Republican primary cycle. His message of bucking the Washington establishment in favor of radical and – to his mind at least – necessary change earned him thousands of die-hard followers. And yet, Ron Paul never earned the Republican nomination – never even came close. The fact of the matter is, most primary voters will prefer Clinton to Sanders, just as they preferred Romney and McCain to Paul. Primary voters like to pick candidates they believe can win in the general election, and most are smart enough to see that Sanders just isn’t the man for that job.

I could spend more time casting doubt on Sanders’ campaign. I could counter the inevitable bringing up of the Boston-Herald poll that shows him trouncing Clinton in New Hampshire by underlining its glaring failings. (A 4.7% margin of error? Seriously?) I could point out his failure to reach out to African-Americans, particularly when the Black Lives Matter campaign hijacked a rally of his in Seattle. I could go on to list a dozen more shortcomings of the Sanders campaign.

But why should I give Clinton any help? Bernie Sanders is stepping up to the plate and swinging for the fences. He is a smart man, he probably realizes how slim his chances are. But he’s still out there going for it. He won’t give an inch without making his opponents earn every bit of it. I may disagree with his politics, but Bernie Sanders is a fighter. And that I can respect.