Clinton v. Sanders: One Liberal’s Point Of View

If you’re a political junkie on social media, you’ve seen the camps. There’s the Hillary camp, and there’s the Bernie camp.

For the few who still don’t get it: Bernie Sanders is running as a Democrat – not as an Independent. This means he will not be taking votes away from Hillary if she’s the one who wins the primary. It will be one or the other – unless we see another rock star liberal pop up.

There are so many armchair pundits who claim they KNOW Bernie will never make it past the primary. They just know. And they can be condescending. Others know it will be Hillary – and they can be just as condescending.

Guess what? No one knows anything – yet. NO ONE KNOWS. Bernie Sanders is changing the game, and it’s only July 2015. This is and should be the fun part – watching how it will all play out.

What saddens me is the angry divide among these armchair liberal pundits who believe they know everything. It’s pointless, and it isn’t helping. While it’s perfectly fine to think one candidate will win out over another, or to prefer one candidate over another and to have a debate about the two, it’s counterproductive to spend energy engaging in nasty confrontational arguments with other liberals. Who wins? You? No.

For the record, I think Bernie Sanders is just what this country needs. That said, if Hillary wins the primary, I will cast my very enthusiastic vote for her. I think they’re both pretty awesome. Rather than spend my time vilifying other liberals because we don’t see things in exactly the same way, I prefer to focus on the positives of both candidates while also understanding their weaknesses.

I think Bernie Sanders needs to put more focus on minorities and women. He has a solid record with both, I just want to hear him talk about them. I think he will as time moves on. We’ll see.

Hillary Clinton needs to court the far left, and she would be smart to take a cue from what Sanders is saying about the banks and campaign finance. She’s pretty smart – so we’ll see what she does.

***Yes, I realize both candidates have several other issues they must focus on – just anticipating the ‘splainers.

Right now, we need to stand together – even when we don’t see eye to eye on every freaking detail.

So often people comment on my threads and say something like – “I usually agree with you, but…”

It’s really okay that we don’t all agree on every single issue. But can we make an effort to not attack each other in the name of self-righteous indignation? Aren’t there enough right-wing trolls to raise our collective blood pressure? Do we really need to prey on our own?

Bernie won’t get in Hillary’s way if she’s the ticket. Hillary won’t get in Bernie’s way if he’s the ticket. If another Democratic rock star emerges, that person won’t get in the way of whomever wins the Democratic primary. Only ONE of them will emerge the victor, and it is up to US to decide who that will be.

Kumbafuckingya people.

Now, have a Happy 4th of July. 🙂

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