Lots of traditionally alienated and disengaged people turned out for Sanders in the primaries

[YoungDemCA]

People who had rarely (if ever) voted in Democratic primaries (or had ever voted at all). Many young people, poor and working class people, progressive third-party voters, left-leaning independents, etc. voted for Sanders. And in many areas (outside the South, at least) Sanders did surprisingly well among black and Latino voters. And he accomplished this not as an independent/third-party candidate, but as a Democratic candidate. And furthermore, he accomplished this with very little Democratic Party institutional or big donor support. That's fucking impressive.

A lot of Clinton supporters harshly criticized the Sanders voters who said that they wouldn't vote for Clinton, and pointed out that Clinton voters would have been more likely to vote for Sanders if he (or anyone else) was the nominee than the other way around. So assuming that that was the case, wouldn't it have been smarter to nominate Sanders than Clinton?

This should absolutely not be taken an endorsement for Sanders in 2020, or anyone else for that matter. We don't need another "inevitable" nominee who has been waiting for years for their "turn." That served us poorly this year, with devastating consequences on an unprecedented level.

I want to get progressive policies that help/are beneficial for ordinary people (of all demographic backgrounds), so consequently, I want progressives to be elected. You don't get that by scolding people for holding bigoted or unenlightened views. Progressive politics is not (or should not be, at least) about sanctimonious moralizing; if you want that, there's always the Religious Right.