[Cross-posted from WayoftheBern]

Back in high school, the father of a close friend worked for Billy Graham. He was close to all of us, played foosball with us, drove us to all the tournaments, and I played a lot of chess against him. He was like our Den Leader. I liked him a lot.

He was also a born again evangelical and would periodically try to 'convert' me, probably because I seemed the most open compared to the rest of the guys. I resisted, but he would press, saying I'm such a good and caring person and I was always eager to be there for others and open to help who and where I could, that he didn't understand why I wouldn't take that final step and "make it official."

And then it came to me. One day when he was pressing I looked at him and said, "When you work behind enemy lines you don't have the luxury of flying your flag." I told him that the people I deal with in my daily life would be less likely to hear my positive message if they thought it was from a place of religion and not just a general humanist thing. I needed to be seen and accepted as one of them (as I was) to have any hope of making an impact. I had no problem with the message Jesus was sending (raised Catholic, Agnostic now), but I wasn't comfortable putting deification ahead of (or in place of) the overall message.

Even back then I was all about somehow changing the world for the better, spreading the Good Word of love thy neighbor and turning the other cheek and Golden Rule and all that, but felt my best efforts in spreading this message would be to work from behind enemy lines, effect change from within.

And he got this, and never pushed again.

And as we get closer to the convention and Bernie's endorsement becomes a bigger deal again, here's where I see Bernie on this issue of "endorsing" Clinton. So many people in my social media feds are freaking out over Bernie's endorsement of Clinton, and I tell all of them "When you're working behind enemy lines you don't have the luxury of flying your flag." It's a tactical approach. One of many available, but the one we knew (should have known) he would be committed to by running for president as a Democrat.

Bernie is trying his best to effect change from within. It's a legitimate tactic. This requires he work behind enemy lines, and as such he doesn't have the luxury of flying his Fuck This Party flag. But that's his message nonetheless. "I'm one of you, now listen..."

Propelling our progressive agenda a big job, made more difficult by what's looking like the top of the ticket, and we'll need people on both the outside and the inside to create the kind of energy needed for the kind of momentum shift we're attempting to pull off.

Democrats are no more our enemy than certain Christians are to Christianity. It's those who have co-opted what it means to be a Democrat who are our enemy, and Bernie is employing an approach that puts him squarely behind enemy lines and in their faces.

It doesn't make him a sell-out, or the enemy. It shows he has honor and brains and a plan,and we need to have his back regardless of short term victories (or the lack thereof).

The Way of the Bern.