Observations from a former Kucinich supporter from 2008 who voted Bernie in 2016...

[Humanist_Activist]

8 years is a long time, and frankly I'm amazed at the political shift that is occurring both within the country and within the party. Win or lose, I think the Bernie Sanders candidacy is representative of a leftward shift that can't be ignored by the Democratic party leadership for long.

I do find the argument that Bernie Sanders only ran as a Democrat due to electability issues and therefore isn't a true Democrat and hence shouldn't be supported by Democrats. That I never understood, so what if he uses the party as a tool, that's what political parties are, tools to help organize candidates, increase visibility and increase the odds of being elected. Its no worse than Dixiecrats which did the same from the right for many years and decades. Simply put, being a Democrat, or for that matter, a Republican, only gives people a rough idea as to where you stand on many issues. Within those labels there is a huge variety, from the until very recently Kim Davis to Dennis Kucinich, and, for now, Bernie Sanders.

There is very little, if any party discipline, while there is a party platform, no Democrat is obligated to believe or advocate for even half of it to run, if they resonate with local voters enough to win local Democratic primaries, support the DNC, and donate time/money to such, then they are a Democrat, period.

Then you have Bernie Sanders, who isn't technically a Democrat, but sort of plays at one, this I actually have no problem with, he has been a conundrum on DU for quite a while, if memory serves, he had a Democratic challenger to his Senate seat, but said challenger did NOT have the support of the Vermont Democratic Party, losing the primary to Bernie Sanders, so, according to the rules on DU, we were able to support Sander's run, even though it was against both a Democrat and a Republican.

I support Bernie Sanders for the same reason I supported Dennis Kucinich over other candidates, they were and are the candidates that most closely reflected my political beliefs. No more, no less. Its not that I think Hillary is Evil Incarnate, quite the contrary, I think she cares about a lot of issues, and has been an advocate for some issues I could support, my problem is that they are mostly half measures, or incomplete issues to support.

But, and this is the thing I do like, these were the guys I voted for. I will be forever grateful to Bernie for giving me the opportunity to vote for him on a national stage. Its the first time I didn't settle for a candidate, and more importantly, I think it actually makes a difference, unlike Kucinich's candidacy. I live in Missouri, and Dennis Kucinich pulled in 820 votes, total, in the whole state, Bernie, and guy just as far to the left as him, was able to pull in over 300,000, nearly half the vote for this primary. This is fucking huge, and, unless Democratic party participation fell through the floor in the past 8 years, most of those people were NOT like me, Independents who think of the Democratic party as too conservative, in general, but are true card carrying Dems.

I hold out some hope that Bernie Sanders could win the nomination, being torn between optimism and pragmatism. But more importantly, what I really hope for is that this will reflect a shift in the Democratic Party towards the left. By all accounts, Bernie Sanders should have been a fringe candidate that would have been forced to drop out back in January, yet that hasn't happened, he's a contender who will make it to the convention. That is extraordinary and exciting to me.

I really hope that, win or lose, Bernie helps pull younger voters into, if not the Democratic party, at least the political left in general, who will, at least more often than not, vote for candidates who support many of the same causes and policies we support. I would like for us to particularly focus on state politics, in 4 years, the census is coming up, and we need Democrats and fair Independents to be in charge of as many states as possible, to push for non-partisan redrawing of district lines. This is the most important issue to push for going forward, the House of Representatives is NOT Representative anymore, it is literally set up to favor Republican heavily, and I'm afraid that will disenfranchise the Democrats and left-independents for at least another decade or more going forward.

You want to talk about the effectiveness of the Presidency of either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, it will only be as effective as Congress is willing to work with them, and the HoR hold the purse strings, and hence most of the power. We need to find ways to win it back.

As far as the conduct of members of DU: Primaries, generally speaking, a pox on both sides, just as bad as 2008 if not worse, and neither side is innocent here.

So these are my meandering thoughts in a meandering post.

[pat_k]

1. "I really hope that, win or lose, Bernie helps pull younger voters into [politics]"

You and me both!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511507143

[Faux pas]

2. Dennis was always my man,

until Bernie came along. Kucinich was another good one the msm swept under the rug, stamped into dust and helped ruin life as it could have been.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be.

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice. Thomas Paine