Hilited: Isn't it possible to be both? I'm going to support Sanders' run until he's done. I want the debate within the party and a re-centering of the leaders a bit farther to the left. But the realist will support Clinton's ultimate candidacy because the Republicans are evil and dangerous. The least or best of them is still beholden to the GOP and it's the party that's become dangerous, not just the occasional whack-job... they're pretty much all whack-jobs.
At first I thought about voting for Sanders to promote the issue of the problematic growing rich/poor divide. But the more I saw of Sanders the more his ideas didn't sound realistic. I've been around long enough, I've seen movements, real ones. I saw what people saw in Obama. It's not there with Sanders. This country is not going to suddenly become Sweden or even the EU.
Then it started to bother me more and more that from my POV, just like there was/is an undercurrent of racism expressed by some (not all, but some) people toward Obama, there's sexism that is affecting how some, not all, people perceive Clinton. And that matters to me as well.
So are we going to address the shrinking middle class with a candidate that is not going to accomplish it even if he won the primary? Heck, I don't see Sanders accomplishing anything even if he's elected President. If there's going to be movement, and I hope there is, then we should see evidence of it in the Congressional elections. If you don't see it there, it ain't gonna happen with Sanders at the top.
But the sexism, that is going to be affected by a Clinton Presidency. I see an impact on women that might even ripple around the world. And I don't see her caving completely to the 1%. Bill Clinton caved some, Obama caved some, but both Presidencies were so much better than the Republicans that held the office before and after them respectively.
And there's one more big thing that I think matters. The world is a mess. Russia, Iran, ISIS, Syria, hundreds of thousands of refugees marching on the EU, idiot ideologues who think random acts of mass murder will get them 72 virgins in paradise, Israel that still thinks bulldozing houses is effective (you'd think they'd figure it out it isn't helping their cause), and closer to home, crime syndicates in Mexico and Central America (though I'm not happy how Clinton addressed the Honduras crisis)... anyway you get the picture. This is no time to put a one trick pony in the office of President.
So, I'm supporting Clinton all the way. I so do agree with Sanders' philosophy and with his solutions. I hope Elizabeth Warren continues to be very effective in the Senate.
But this is a time we need a competent President. There are mothers' sons dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. My son is 26. He's not about to enlist and I don't want him to. My brother's stepson was in the military and now he's working with military contractors. My brother disapproved that I didn't want my son to enlist. My stupid brother has the values that we should lose our kids because it's their duty. Screw that. But at the same time, I don't want other kids being sacrificed in the name of duty to country. Need I ask if you'd send Marcello off to do his duty if he might die in a war?
So as much as Sanders is addressing an incredibly important cause, what about the mess the rest of the world is experiencing? I would love to be in Canada right now, Trudeau simply saying, we're out of there. I don't know if that's the right answer for us. Bush screwed the world up, bad.
I think that sums my position up. Yes, Sanders has a point. But there is so much more at stake.