I have a little ritual every night when I lie in bed, before I go to sleep. Ew...no, not that.
I get under the covers, look up at my dorm room's concrete ceiling and I worry.
My worrying doesn't discriminate or prioritize by topic. Nuclear war, whether I'm going to fail my Graphic Design quiz, and why Ben Feldman isn't being offered more movie roles all take up equal space in the Anxiety Parthenon of my mind. Lately though, something bigger has been pushing them out.
What if Bernie Sanders' supporters are so bitter he doesn't win the nomination that they don't even vote in the general election?
It's no secret the Sanders campaign, while drawing tremendous support online, has faltered slightly in reality, after losing the majority of Super Tuesday primaries to Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton. Now I'm no Nate Silver, but numbers don't lie — the bulk of registered Dems think Clinton is our best chance to keep the White House blue. But you wouldn't know it reading the millennial reaction online.
"If Hillary gets the nomination I'm going to vote for Ralph Nader or someone!" I saw someone brag on my Facebook feed. It was almost smug, like they were pulling one over on "the establishment" when in fact, they're only screwing themselves. It's time to face facts: H and B are the only two legitimate Democratic candidates running, and by voting for some rando, they're basically throwing away their vote on someone with no chance. And that's one vote the Republican frontrunner will outpace us by.
The idea made me so sick to my stomach that I had to switch to worrying about "Superstore" getting renewed for a second season for a few minutes.
There is an ugly undercurrent of sexism running through our party this election. Tumblr loves when Bernie wears sunglasses but crucifies Hillary for making an awkward Vine video. When Bernie wags his finger and yells it's adorable and ground breaking. When Hillary does it, it's shrill and elitist.
Look, they're both old people clueless about technology. They both have a less than spotless voting record. They're both career politicians. (To quote writer and CNN contributor Liz Belsky, "The greatest trick Bernie Sanders ever pulled was convincing people that someone who has been in Congress for 25 years isn't part of the establishment.") The unspoken elephant (or donkey) in the room is that Hills wouldn't be receiving such virulent hate over these little things if she were a man. And hate over little things adds up. And before you know it, there's a 20% voter turnout for the Democrats who are crushed that Sanders didn't get the nomination, and Trump is building walls and kicking out innocent Muslims.
So to all those bitter Berniebros out there, before you leave a paragraph of hate on this article in which you call me a lesbian racist who probably eats children, consider this: This is looking more and more like Hillary's year. She supports many of the same things Bernie does, such as free college tuition, gay rights, abortion rights and less discriminatory immigration policies.
On the off chance Bernie gets the nomination, I will vote for him, because choosing the presidential candidate is rarely an all-or-nothing endorsement of their choices; it's about picking the most realistic option.
If you vote for Nadar or Jill Stein or Batman, you're just paving the way for President Trump. Is that really worth proving your loyalty to Bernie? Or are you just using how "untrustworthy" Hillary is as an excuse to be sexist?
Superstore did get renewed, by the way. So at least that's one less thing to keep me up in these troubling times.
