My Answer to the Sanders Campaign Forever Forward Email

Here is my final response in a brief email exchange I had with the Bernie Sanders help desk following the “Forever forward" email sent out by the Sanders campaign last week. It summarizes my position on supporting Bernie as we approach the convention next week.

Help Desk Director,

Thank you for responding to my note, but your response really does not address my concerns. As a strong supporter of and volunteer for Bernie’s campaign I will continue to support initiatives like the Sanders Institute or Our Revolution, and will support individual down ballot progressive candidates that echo my positions, on an ad hoc basis.

However, please do not waste my time and insult my intelligence, by prattling on about the meaningless Democratic Party platform that Hillary will ignore as soon as she is elected to the office. Equally of no concern to me are any changes coming from the Democratic Rules committee. The Democratic party is a corrupt criminal organization of elites in the rigged system Bernie talked so much about during the campaign. It must be destroyed and a new party put in it’s place, especially after the theft of the primary that occurred in this election cycle. Bernie has spent his entire career as an Independent, and should know that the solution can not come from the Dems, because they are the problem. It is unfortunate that he has ruled out a Third Party run, which I believe he could win in a four way race, as it is shaping up to be.

From the moment that he endorsed the corrupt Clinton campaign and disingenuously claimed she would make an excellent President, Bernie lost me. I have voted Democratic for almost 45 years, but I will no longer vote the lesser of two evils. Hillary Clinton is a war mongering neoliberal, bought and paid for by WallStreet, Big Pharma, and the rest of the Corporate Oligarchy that is ruining our country and our planet. I am convinced that a Clinton White House will mean increased war and economic misery for the US and the rest of the world. She would be an absolute disaster for the 99%. 

Consequently I will be devoting the majority of my resources, both volunteer time and financial contributions to the Jill 2016 campaign through November. Jill Stein is a proud progressive with a platform that I can believe in, and know she would fight for, if elected. So she will have my support, and for the first time in my life I will be voting FOR a candidate in the General Election, not against a straw man candidate like Drumpf.

I regret that Bernie will not be the candidate I can support this Fall, and understand that he must do what he must do. But I must also must do what I must do. I will support him where I can, and while my heart is with Bernie, my vote goes to Jill.

In Solidarity,

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lunachickie's picture

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WaterLily's picture

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WindDancer13's picture

It really lays everything right out. Thank you for the link!

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

CaptainPoptart's picture

He has effectively handed them a time bomb, one that will lead to either a progressive takeover of the party in the near future, or a mass exodus – depending on when it explodes.

I don't however think there is any chance the SDs will change their minds at this point as compelling as the arguments are. I'm betting on the mass exodus.

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I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance. - e.e.cummings

WaterLily's picture

And I'll count our wins where we can, even though I'd much prefer the former.

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Another aspect of Hilary's #s & Bernie's being a better candidate against Trump is how many people are now feeling voter's remorse for having voted Hilary. This includes all the people I know personally who voted for her, and i suspect many of the minorities who voted early. This would make an interesting poll, especially with current polls reporting wildly varying #s of people who voted for Bernie & are now reporting they will vote for H.

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“You Can Have Your Weak Nominee If You Wish” – the Sanders Endorsement Backfires on Hillary Clinton, Empowers Sanders in One Masterstroke
Ultimately, what the Sanders endorsement has proved is what the candidate was arguing from the beginning – that it was not Sanders and his campaign that was holding Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers back. By ceasing to lobby for the nomination and supporting Hillary Clinton, with terrible poll numbers for the former Secretary of State, and the pressure of a Green Party upsurge, Bernie Sanders has made his case for the Democratic candidacy even stronger.

It is indeed a great article, and I would urge all of us disheartened Bernie supporters to give it a read. I don't know if the was planned or just one of many possible results of his Hillary endorsement, but it sure makes a lot of sense. One way or another, the Democrats are going to lose even if Hillary wins.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Thanks for not only the link but the fabulous site, which I know I've been on before but with my sleep disorder, had forgotten about, what with dodging about to other places and RL stuff.

Your link to that article led me to this:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/law-professors-epic-response-to-b...

Law Professor's Epic Response to Black Lives Matter Shirt Complaint

By Social Design Notes / backspace.com

A first year law school student wrote a complaint about her professor having worn a Black Lives Matter T-shirt during class. The professor’s response is priceless. ...

And it certainly was! Not to mention far more restrained than my muttered and profane commentary while reading it, but this amazingly appropriate and hilarious Calvin/Donald and Hobbes cartoon series below lowered my blood pressure enough:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/donald-and-hobbes-is-genius/

That I was able to go to these, although not up to watching the whole video at the next one, the premise of which is appallingly obvious anyway:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/race-baiting-101/

We're Living in a Racial Caste System Designed to Divide Us, Benefiting No One But the 1%

http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-s...

This site appears to be extremely useful as an info source and I'm very grateful for your pointing us there, even beyond the article supplied. I just need to get emotionally bolstered and a little physically livelier before returning there, lol.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Alligator Ed's picture

From the Law Professor's essay:

Law has no meaning or relevance outside of society. It both shapes and is shaped by the society in which it functions. Law is made by humans. It protects, controls, burdens, and liberates humans, non-human animals, nature, and inanimate physical objects. Like the humans who make it, Law is biased, noble, aspirational, short-sighted, flawed, messy, unclear, brilliant, and constantly changing.

Yes, it is all of that. But a specific point in time and relative to a specific event (take your pick of which election "irregularity" you may choose), there usually are laws dealing with that situation. That the applicable laws have not been applied to one individual, despite all the blatantly obvious existence of those illegalities, is in itself a destroyer of law. Laws unequally applied are not laws but coercion of the weak. The Law matters. Black lives matter.

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Great piece, and while noodling around some links i caught Dems freaking out about poll numbers

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I believe Bernie is convinced he would have been a spoiler in a 3rd party run and refuses to do so because of this. He has said this since last year. We may agree or disagree with him personally on this issue, but I believe that Bernie thinks the best way forward for our nation is to take over the Democratic Party from within, whether it happens in one election cycle or not. While the party platform may not be binding in any way, it helps send a message about what the party stands for. It can help motivate up and coming progressives to run for office on those planks.

For me personally, I will support Democrats that have a true progressive agenda and run a progressive campaign. I will never cast a blanket vote for any candidate. I believe this is the only way we can send a message from within the party, and in the meantime if we can get progressive candidates from outside the party we should do so as well. The two efforts are not mutually exclusive. The fact is both parties in the duopoly have stacked the deck against 3rd party efforts and you lose a lot of your voice in our political system if you ignore the existing parties entirely.

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CaptainPoptart's picture

in Bernie and his campaign. I just disagree with him over the short term outcomes of trying to work within the Democratic Party. It is important that we show $hill and especially the elected SDs that there is danger in ignoring the progressive wing of the party. I believe that the best way to demonstrate this is through a strong showing of support for Jill and the Greens.

Additionally, I will personally not vote for any elected Superdelegate that supports her heinous and is up for re-election. I would encourage others to do the same. At the same time I will support Bernie's efforts to build a movement through organizations like the sanders institute. IMHO we have to use all avenues available to us.

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I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance. - e.e.cummings

The Party Platform is supposed to be what each political party stands for and runs on, so that people know what to vote for.

The fact that it's thought OK for this not to matter demonstrates the distance between the reality of democracy and the acceptance by the American people of an unreality-based viewpoint due to the propaganda created by the pathological corporate culture which has captured not only the political system but the perceptions and expectations of many of the American people. Of the passive acceptance of the false coating over the continual betrayal they have been conned into accepting from their public servants - and are only now coming to reject, at perhaps the last moment where this is still pacifically possible.

The People should expect that everyone's Constitutional rights should be protected across America, as stated in their Constitution; that these rights cannot be overridden by public servants in any State, and that the Federal Justice system will promptly step in in every case to ensure that injustice is never left to stand and become 'normalized', as has been happening for so long.

The People should expect that any hint of unfairness in any election, whether by accident or design, should be promptly addressed and, in the case of any doubt, that election should be re-done under careful independent supervision.

If the system hadn't captured by the Greeds, so that virtually all of the money and rights drained upward to themselves from The People, there would be plenty of money in 'the richest country in history' for running an actual democracy in a civilized fashion.

In a democracy, nobody is above the law. If this were actually the case, corruption wouldn't have festered right through both Parties, each having the people's 'choice' of Presidential and other candidates under private control, as well as that of who gets to vote for which Party offering, and effectively blocking 3rd Party runs - except where, as now - in the unanticipated internet days - the people get together to pay their often unaffordable mite to put in the money for a run. Money should not be the base of politics and of political choice for The People - and The People should expect properly run nominations and elections, publicly funded and accessible - and accountable - to all citizens, with no self-interest involvement. The fact that they don't actually expect democracy in their system reflects the amount of propaganda to which they've been subjected.

Lol, going to shut up now before I go on forever - this just all seems so freaking insane to me... Thank goodness more of The People are beginning to address this, start peeling the bananas out of the Republic!

Blast, lost internet, but it's back now, lol.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

CaptainPoptart's picture

Best to hold on to your last sentence; more of the People are beginning to address this. And remember that it starts with you and each of us. Call your superdelegates and let them know you'll vote them out of office. Hold your Congresscritters accountable by threatening their gravy train. If each of us does this regularly things will start to change. It is a government of We the People, and we've let things slip because we're occupied with other things in life. Don't give up, don't ever give up.

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I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance. - e.e.cummings

Lenzabi's picture

Well said! the essay/reply to the Sanders help desk I hope will be read back to him, maybe they can share it with the Dems so they understand just how low they re in the hearts of many of us. I doubt those black hearted types that want Hellery as Pres will care, but it may make them think harder about their decision making process(one can hope, right?)

Jill Stein needs more exposure so that folks out there will know there is another like Bernie who will stick to her guns.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish