For many of us Berniecrats, Berniacs, and Berners, hearing about the “math” and how our candidate has no chance to win the nomination has become standard. We’ve been hectored 6 ways from Sunday since the first Super Tuesday, and it increased after March 15th and has now become an everlasting refrain in most of the interactions had with Hillary supporters. That is, when they are not telling us how bad a person he is, how bad a candidate he is, or how “he just stepped in it” – that’s been done ad infinitum now too.

There is much “fall in line” chastising going on which has led to the inevitable constant brow beating of Bernie supporters and it seems to be having the exact opposite effect on the outcome that those using it hope to accomplish. I know they are frustrated, but they are missing or ignoring a couple of key things in their beat down of Berners.

First and foremost, Hillary is not going to waltz into the presidency. She is the one Dem candidate who can (and likely will) motivate the rank and file GOPers to the polls – they hate her like nothing other, regardless of whether the reasons are grounded in reality or not. She’s not pulling Independents much either, and those folks – even the left leaning ones – aren’t going to be “give mes” to her in November either. Her net favorables are in the toilet and not likely to rise much between now and the general election – she is already known to just about everyone in the country, so there will be no “get to know” bounce for her on the general stage. In short, she’s going to need all the votes she and her supporters can get for her if she wants any chance of winning. All of this makes the tenor and tactic of brow beating the Berners even more puzzling.

This is my 14th election cycle of doing GOTV in some capacity, and if this is the level of GOTV that the Party is going with this time around, they are doomed in November. They apparently have not yet realized that they are going to need as many Bernie voters to come to their side as they can muster, and that includes all the Independents who have been in Bernie’s camp as well as at least a chunk of the new voters. If their truly honest goal is keeping a GOPer out of the White House, they are wildly going about it wrong.

Persuasion is how one gets someone to vote for them or their candidate, and many Hillary supporters seem to me to be using borderline bullying tactics trying to get Berners to support their candidate and shaming them if they don’t roll over immediately and pony up their vote. Using blame and fear and shaming as forms of GOTV *is* bullying. All of the Berners, including those whose votes could be won over are watching this all go down via social media. This is the least effective method of persuasion I’ve witnessed; it’s a turn off and it’s running rampant in conversations everywhere these days.

Those voters Hillary supporters seek to win over – their votes are not spoken for or owed to anyone. If and when their preferred candidate is no longer an option, it is up to anyone wanting their vote to persuade the voter to vote for them/their candidate. The voter has something that the candidate wants — their vote. The best form of GOTV for them, and really for anyone in my experience, at least on the left, is the “flies with honey” approach. The “beatings will continue until morale improves” method has been tried and didn’t work out too well lest anyone forget 2010; the best bet to go with is to stop using it.

The fear mongering is also out in full force, but this nation will not dissolve simply based on who is elected in November. Good Lord, we survived 8 years of Bush/Cheney. If, godforbid, Trump or Cruz makes it to the White House, it will not be the very end of the world. Will they appoint horrible SCOTUS justices? Sure. My advice: the Democrats in the Senate need to grow a spine and stop playing nice. There are parliamentary maneuvers available to them to help thwart bad decisions like that made by the POTUS. This goes for the Democrats in the House too. If you want to co-opt anything of the GOPers, let’s not co-opt their GOTV strategies; let’s co-opt their obstruction strategies – they seem to work fairly well as evidenced over the past 8 years.

I’ve heard the rebuttal of “but this primary is just like 2008”. I disagree. First, that was between 2 candidates that were establishment Democrats, so a lot of the umbrage had to do with simply favoring one or the other. This time around there is a candidate who is running against much of what the system stands for, and many of his supporters have waited a lifetime for a major candidate to run on his policy platform. Bernie’s platform is what’s driving a lot of his voters, and not just simply favoring one candidate over the other.

Second, this really is the first social media election. It was around in 2008, but it was still fairly new and didn’t have the reach that it does now. Now everything is broadcast immediately and has the possibility of going rapidly viral. Every interaction is out there and has the possibility of being seen. In 2008, the “bedside manner” of either candidate’s most vocal supporters was largely limited to interactions on a few key blogs; now it’s all hanging out there for the entire world to see. These are very different times in that respect.

Third, we have a candidate that a movement has formed behind, which brings me to the second major point of this essay. That point was basically put into words by my friend DkMich in a blog comment yesterday that read: “This isn’t over until Bernie says it’s over and then it is only over for him.” Michael Moore also touched on it in a tweet that said: “You're sorely misguided if u think we, the movement behind Bernie, have any intention on letting up. Do u not yet get what we're fighting 4?”

It seems to me a lot of Hillary supporters that I see are missing this point, or ignoring it wholesale. This is about so much more than votes for many of us. This is about what we see as a needed change in direction and putting together a movement to help foment that change. This is a long game and it doesn’t end in November. No matter who ends up in the White House, no change will happen without a strong ground game and a good offense. This is about the system that we see as emblematic of the Two Americas John Edwards spoke of; we’re done with that. We are going to rise up and fight against it in any and every way with all of the strength that we have. Any beating down we get verbally, whether connected with our votes or otherwise, only strengthens our resolve to fight. And those giving that beat down are giving the distinct impression that they are against us, hence all the bristling you see from Bernie supporters.

I can respect that you don’t think it can be done; that’s been said about movements for time immemorial. I can respect that you feel the best way is to play within the system and settle for incremental accomplishment; that’s fine. Neither of these thoughts though has a market on what is right and what is just and what can be; they are only opinions, as are everyone’s. What I cannot respect is denigrating wide swaths of people for the sake one vote in a general election, but that’s what’s happening. I have seen “we don’t want you and your vote then” far too many times over the past month, and that attitude gets us nowhere.

The goal of this movement borne of the Sanders campaign (and Occupy as well) is wholesale change for the betterment of we the people and working toward that change on every level possible, from local to federal. It does not rise and ebb with a single candidate. It does not have a shelf life expiration date. We will be there agitating for change every step of the way no matter who is in power. This is a long game and will last as long as it needs to in order to attain the change we seek. We are “being the change we wish to see”. I suspect that a lot of Hillary supporters would also like to see at least some of the changes we are advocating for and will hopefully join us at some point. Gawd knows we need some relief and a change in trajectory in this country. And if and when you do join us, you will be welcomed.

In short, I know it’s easy to treat us Berniecrats, Berniacs, and Berners badly and not care much about the fallout if you are simply looking at the short game – this one election – but most of us in the aforementioned category are not playing a short game; this has been the start of the long game we have been hoping and waiting for, some of us for a very long time. It would behoove Hillary supporters who want our votes this November to not only see and acknowledge that in their GOTV, but to perhaps step back a bit and look at the bigger picture that we see: it’s much much larger than one election and the short term consequences of that election. This is about the long term future of our country and we are in it for the long haul. We will be #StillBerning for a long time after this election.