Guys, I'm pretty sure we all agree on the world we want to see. We just have a strategic disagreement on how to get there. I am frankly afraid of Left third party participation. Having lived through Bush v. Gore/Nader, LePage v. Mitchell/Cutler, and LePage v. Michaud/Cutler, there is no doubt in my mind that a third party or independent candidate can cause us to slide so far backwards we may never recover. Our problems are too pressing, too dangerous. If Trump wins, I am afraid to have children, I'm not kidding. It's okay to be motivated by fear, we should be afraid, there's a lot at stake.
This does not mean I just don't want third parties - of course I want third parties. Of course I want more choices, better choices, that fit people better than the two parties we have. I just know, through observation and study, that wanting that does not make it so. Closing our eyes and voting our hearts does not make it so. Other societies have multiple parties without effort, without risk, without terrible loss, because they have different electoral rules. Our rules make third parties marginal, fringe, and ineffectual except as dangerous spoilers. If we want a true multi-party system, we will have to change some Constitutional rules (no easy feat), and in the meantime, we have to work within the two party system, where change is possible, though slow and incremental.
To me, that is the beauty of what Bernie did this past year. He ran within the Democratic primary, and showed what a powerful agent for change the Party can be if we actually participate. He used the political leverage he gained to make real change. He lost, and he accepted the outcome of the primary process. He could have kept running as a third party or independent candidate and continued to ride that wave of glory. But he cares more about defeating Trump than his own pride, he knows a third party run is a terribly dangerous long shot with far too much at stake, so he gave it all up, for the greater good. And notice he did not say he'd vote for Stein, he said he'd vote for Clinton. Not because Clinton is closer to him in beliefs - but because she is the only candidate standing with a real shot at defeating some truly dark evil coming our way. And if you think Clinton is the same as Trump, I don't even know where to start. Do vote your fears, please, because they have never been more real.
But it's not all darkness and playing defense either. Yes, we need to win, because in American politics there is no second place. Which means sometimes we have to choose the winnable candidate we aren't crazy about over the impossible long shot we adore to avoid the terrible ogre. That much is true. But we can influence who the choices are, as we came amazingly close to doing in this primary. Bernie almost won. And every campaign cycle, all up and down the ticket, amazing people DO win their primaries, or run unopposed, and become the shining choice for their voters. Do you have any idea how many Bernie supporters are running for the Maine legislature right now as Democrats? A lot. Bernie's campaign has created momentum and funding to win more of these victories. We can shift the country left and put true progressives in power from within the Democratic Party, without being spoilers and handing victories to fascists.
A Clinton presidency will help with that, not hurt. Having a Democrat in power, even a centrist one, will allow us to focus on making progress, not desperately trying to hold the line against regressing back into darker times. She won't take us as far as we wanted to go, but she won't drag us backwards either, and she will make it possible for others to carry us forward. Imagine a President Gore instead of a President Bush. Imagine a Governor Mitchell or Michaud instead of a Governor LePage. Forget the whole lesser of two evils thing, a more appropriate saying for the situation is this: don't make the perfect the enemy of the good. And a Clinton presidency would be good, even if it's hard for us hurting Bernie supporters to see it right now.
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