2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: K&R if you're prouder than ever to be on Team Bernie! [View all]chknltl
(10,558 posts)but not just yet.
"This is a BERNIE SUPPORT THREAD ONLY. Don't try to poach support for her."
Yes it is but no I am absolutely NOT poaching support for HRC. Let me be clear here. If she gets the nomination I may find myself permanently adrift from DU because I do not see my way clear to voting for her without going through some deep angst. I support our citizenry, the majority of our citizenry. It feels good to be on the Sanders team. I once donated 50$ to keep Dennis Kucinich in Congress. I'm not from his area, I live in Washington State. That $50 was my first ever campaign contribution. Recently I got a small windfall, life has become a bit easier. On the day Senator Sanders opened up shop for contributions I gave him $1000. I gave a further $360(ish) to Free Speech TV through the Thom Hartmann Program. After ten years of listening to Brunch With Bernie, I know my trust is well placed. OTOH Banks and Wall Street and the Military Industrial Complex are only in it for themselves, they are destroying our democracy. In my opinion HRC represents those guys while Bernie Sanders represents our LAST BEST HOPE. Make no mistake here: I am NOT 'poaching' for HRC. I am trying to support a faction of our fellow DUers and in so doing support all of us. If you should read further I will explain why.
"Your plea is not only unwelcome, it shows how shallow her support is in reality!"
Unwelcome, yes I've noticed. Earlier in this thread I pointed out that there was a Poll taken and the results showed astonishingly 90% support for Senator Sanders and 10% support for HRC. Yes, this is not a secret. Your thread juxtaposed next to the HRC thread you copycatted has similar results I've no doubt.
"You want solidarity? Tell the HRC People to support Bernie! Stop smearing Bernie! Stop saying he's unelectable! Stop saying he ignores PoC, immigrants, women. Stop saying he's pandering to bigots. Stop saying he's a gun nut.
GO IT???"
Recently Bernie Sanders responded to and then reached out to a University that isn't very favorable to Progressives. While the very arguments that SOME and let me loudly repeat SOME from the HRC group used to stir up bruha over here can be called shallow our response was not. Bernie seeks to unite our nation through the things we share in common. Go take a look at the names of our fellow DUers who placed their names on that list for HRC. What I just quoted you as saying applies to EACH AND EVERY fellow DUer on that list and many that are not. I screamed SOME earlier, most HRC supporters do not fall under that category you put them under. Would you tell NanceGreggs to stop smearing Bernie Sanders? What about Skinner? What part of what I quoted from you would you ask him to stop doing?
Let me broaden the picture. Our nation is divided, this division is being exploited. Do you have any doubt that there are bad apples on either side of the divide? Worse yet, do you have any doubt that there are those who are merely acting as bad players on both sides of the divide and are paid to act that way? Of course the Conservative and the Progressive philosophies are far apart but do you have any doubt that the REAL FIGHT we face is not the one between opposing philosophies, it is instead between the citizenry and those who exploit us. Bernie Sanders fully gets this, that is why he reaches out to the Conservative citizenry too. He knows that the fight will be difficult but it will be made far more difficult if we drive away those who can and will rally to his banner. Let us not drive away anyone from Bernie's banner, regardless of political philosophy. We may not be able to stop those who are paid to foment hate in order to keep us divided but doesn't it make good sense that we stop helping these agent provocateurs? If we try we can be smarter than that!
The same is true right here in DU. There are some heavy hitters in the HRC group. While you blindly push them away by rubbing their noses in our numerical differences and accuse all of them for the transgressions of the few, can you see why I would step between both sides, how my words here seek to offer up a small bit peace between us? Would even a little peace between us now be such a bad thing? Consider the DUers we've lost in past Primaries. I'll never miss the bad apples but we've lost far too many good DUers due to the hate too. DU does not win when that happens. Take another look at that list in the thread you copy-catted, there must be at least a few on there whose wisdoms you've been grateful for prior to these primaries.
"Tell your friends in the HRC room to stop smearing Bernie if you want solidarity....'
No. By now you know my thoughts. I've not seen those whom I call friends that support HRC do these things you say. I've seen a few bad apples over there do that. I've seen it from our side too. I've seen many good DUers from both sides sucked up into this miasma of hate. It is easy to succumb to it when everyone is shouting at each other. I've found my ignore button to be great medicine when it comes to the bad apples on either side. I've actually politely asked those on our side to tone things down too, that one is damned hard to do. Posting this will be even harder because I am laying bare the ground from which this animosity springs and explaining the folly of it-I am doing this to a fellow DUer who tells me to go away.
If this story was about children on a playground, any teacher worth her salt would know how to turn this into a teachable moment... I am not a teacher....I am doing the best that I can. This is no playground and the stakes tragically...well when the broader picture is looked at, arguably life as we know it on this planet hangs in the balance. I am not speaking to a child, I do not care who hit who first. What matters is the fighting should stop. It should stop at DU and most importantly, it needs to stop between the citizenry long enough for us to fight together to reclaim our democracy. Bernie sets the example and you know what? Bernie is human too.
Now would it hurt to go over to the HRC group and: