"I would vote for Candidate X but I just don't think (s)he can win a general election."

That is the favorite quote of many people during a primary campaign. Voters love to say that about any candidate seeking his/her party's nomination that is just a little bit out of the mainstream, however in reality they usually do not want to vote for that person at all and are just trying to convince that candidate's supporters to give up hope.

A great many Republicans said this about other Republican candidates outside the mainstream in 2016; mostly about Donald Trump.

The Democrats had their fair share of that line in 2016, they said it about Senator Bernie Sanders. And about candidates throughout the 2018 primaries.

The single greatest threat to left-wing Democrats is establishment Democrats.

Something I've found to be at times shockingly appalling and at other times, simply hilarious, is ardent Hillary Clinton supporters playing the blame game with Bernie Sanders and his supporters. Part of that is because people are desperate to understand how Clinton lost. Clinton supporters seem completely oblivious to the fact that it may be detrimental to "#theResistance" when they point their fingers at members of their own coalition.

It's time to work towards fixing the Democratic Party and reminding people that always shooting for pragmatic solutions is costing the Democrats elections.

First, let's start with the obvious. Saying someone is not electable is really what makes them not electable. If that is pushed often enough about someone, voters will believe it.

Furthermore, it really doesn't make sense to call someone unelectable, especially when that candidate is good at motivating potential voters who would not have voted otherwise.

And we will never know if a candidate is unelectable unless we vote for them. Claiming you agree with a candidate but not voting for them isn't pragmatic it is self-destructive.

This is doubly true of candidates on the left because the majority of Americans favor left-wing politics. Republicans do well because they capitalize on anxiety and social issues. If the sole focus was economics, Democrats, particularly democratic socialists, would win every time.

One need only look at Missouri, a state totally controlled by the GOP, that recently had a referendum on the ballot about "Right to Work" laws. People who vote Republican overwhelmingly took the side of unions and workers' rights.

The most obvious point I can make, is that it is completely ridiculous to write a candidate off when in terms of American politics, it seems like anything is possible.

In 1960, many people believed John F. Kennedy couldn't win because he was a Catholic.

In 2008, people believed America was simply too racist to elect a black president and I'm sure countless others believed he would not be able to serve two full terms without being assassinated.

In 2017, a state from the deep south that still has ties to segregation and racism, that still tries to suppress black voters, that elected Jeff Sessions for Christ's sake, elected a Democrat who prosecuted members of the KKK to the U.S. Senate.

And I'm sure in 2016, people voted against Hillary Clinton because they didn't think a woman could win a general election. And some voted against Bernie for being a socialist and possibly because he's Jewish.

However, let's not forget 2016 was the year of political impossibilities. Donald Trump won the presidency and nobody thought it was possible.

The media and the public alike dismissed Trump from the beginning of his campaign simply because we have accepted that he was outside the realm of possible presidents. That's likely why so few people voted. They didn't see Trumpism as a real threat because he just wasn't gonna win. And he did win because it was possible the whole time.

The possibilities in American politics are shockingly large.

And the greatest prevention of left-wingers prevailing is the moderates who say it can't happen. Trump should have proved that we simply do not know what is possible and impossible. That's why I find it so disheartening that Hillary once said single-payer healthcare will "never ever happen."

When you have certain facts such as Americans typically support centre-left policies like single-payer healthcare, you can see why it might behoove the Democratic Party to stop silencing the left.