2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)Black Lives Matter! Period. Therefore I Have Altered my Primary Intentions. [View all]
Recent attacks on people who insist that attention be paid to the wholesale killing of unarmed black people by official government law enforcement officers has convinced me that my support for Bernie Sanders in the primaries was misplaced. When I align myself with a candidate and pledge support for that candidate, I am aligning myself with that candidate's supporters.
I can no longer do that in good faith. Due to actions by supporters of Senator Sanders, I am withdrawing my support for him at our caucuses in Minnesota. I cannot be aligned any longer with his supporters, which has cost that candidate my own support. His insistence that economic changes will produce the kind of social change that is so much needed no longer can be supported, either.
Perhaps he will change that line of thinking, and perhaps not. He appears to be convinced of it. Yes, he has supported civil rights issues throughout his career, but his current campaign focuses too much on economics and not enough on redressing the real and continuing racial inequality in the United States. Both are critically important, and focusing only on one will not result in the changes that are desperately needed.
Some will, no doubt, say that I never actually supported Sanders in the first place. They are incorrect. I know my own heart and mind. Nobody else does. So, I will ignore such comments.
Candidates are known by many through the actions of their supporters. That can be very beneficial for the candidate or very harmful. Certain actions by supporters of Senator Sanders, whose politics in general are well-aligned with my own, have represented the candidate very poorly, and I see no tendency for them to change. Those supporters may well poison his campaign and cause the rejection of a broad base of support by PoC. Without that support, he cannot win the Presidency, and it is crucial that we elect a Democratic President in 2016.
As of now, I will be supporting Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic nominee for President. I believe she will be the nominee, and think that Bernie Sanders has reached his peak of support by the general Democratic voting public. What a shame! Hillary Clinton has and will continue to have broad support from all segments of our society. That support is absolutely critical. Loss of any sector of support will lead to a Republican as President. The Sanders campaign is too narrow and focused on only part of the change needed. Sanders supporters are making enemies, not friends. That simply will not work, and I will not support it.