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torquillI think I've figured it out: the difference between Hillary Clinton supporters and Bernie Sanders supporters. It's not a question of feminism, or Millennials, or any specific political affiliation.
It's the difference between those who believe that our current political landscape is capable of carrying us into a bright future, and those who do not.
Most progressives agree that we need change -- that the current state of affairs is not what we want them to be. Obstructionism in Congress, attacks on the rights of women and minorities, religious fundamentalism masquerading as policy, a lack of adequate health care, inequality, gun violence. All of us believe that these things need to be addressed in order for us to remain a strong nation, and we all agree that the Republican party isn't acting in our best interests. That's what we have in common.
The Democratic party is stepping forward and saying, we'll be the solution that the Republicans are not. And while it's true that they are more aligned with progressive ideals, the split that's occurring is that more and more people are uncertain that the Democratic machine is actually the solution, rather than a mitigating force. A lot of those people dropped out years ago, citing disillusionment with politics; a bunch of Millennials have ended up in their ranks as they come of age. What we're seeing now is people who have been politically active, affiliated with the Democrats, losing their faith in the party. Not just in the specific people in it, but the party platform, its mechanics, and its guiding principles.
Whatever else can be said about the differences between Sanders and Clinton, it is beyond dispute that Clinton is part of the Democratic party establishment, and Sanders (formerly a longstanding Independent) is not. It doesn't matter who took money from banks and why -- it matters that one side feels this is an issue about their candidate, and the other side feels this is an issue about the whole game.
People who have lost faith in the Democratic party, in the current political system *period*, are now coming forward and making a huge push for an anti-establishment candidate. The presidency seems like an unrealistic place for such a movement to aim for in its first round -- look at all the other parts of the system they could be focusing on! Why shoot for the moon before you can get off the ground? It's unrealistic to believe that everything could be solved just by electing a candidate who says all the right things.
If you think this is the first time the anti-establishment progressives have made a move this century, you haven't been paying attention.
Occupy Wall Street, which sparked Occupy camps everywhere. Campus tuition protests across the country. Ferguson and Baltimore and a whole lot of other protests. The open disgust that many of us have had at the Democrats' ineffectiveness against Tea Party tactics, which lost us election after election. All of these, large and small, are examples of people saying "The system does not work for us". In many cases, as in Black Lives Matter, it is "The system has *never* worked for us". Bernie Sanders will not cure the problem. His supporters (the realistic ones) have never claimed that he can. He isn't perfect, and he's still an old white guy. But his stances are exactly the punch in the face of "business as usual" that so many of the disillusioned left have been craving. He has a bully pulpit to say the words like "inequality" and "universal healthcare" and "free tuition" that scores of his followers have been screaming for years without being heard.
For people who have lost faith in the establishment, who have gotten a pat on the head from the Democrats and a gentle "we'll take care of you" before being thrown a few crumbs, Sanders is a trailblazer through the political landscape. For those who still believe in the power of the establishment, Sanders is an irresponsible dreamer who whips up crowds of idealists with feel-good slogans which would never translate into real policy.
That's where our divide lies. And that's why when you ask each camp who they'll support, most Sanders supporters say they'll settle for Clinton, but most Clinton supporters flatly refuse to believe that Sanders would ever get that far. They believe in the power of the system to make things right, and that outside of that system there is only chaos. Some of us, however, no longer share that belief.
It's the difference between those who believe that our current political landscape is capable of carrying us into a bright future, and those who do not.
Most progressives agree that we need change -- that the current state of affairs is not what we want them to be. Obstructionism in Congress, attacks on the rights of women and minorities, religious fundamentalism masquerading as policy, a lack of adequate health care, inequality, gun violence. All of us believe that these things need to be addressed in order for us to remain a strong nation, and we all agree that the Republican party isn't acting in our best interests. That's what we have in common.
The Democratic party is stepping forward and saying, we'll be the solution that the Republicans are not. And while it's true that they are more aligned with progressive ideals, the split that's occurring is that more and more people are uncertain that the Democratic machine is actually the solution, rather than a mitigating force. A lot of those people dropped out years ago, citing disillusionment with politics; a bunch of Millennials have ended up in their ranks as they come of age. What we're seeing now is people who have been politically active, affiliated with the Democrats, losing their faith in the party. Not just in the specific people in it, but the party platform, its mechanics, and its guiding principles.
Whatever else can be said about the differences between Sanders and Clinton, it is beyond dispute that Clinton is part of the Democratic party establishment, and Sanders (formerly a longstanding Independent) is not. It doesn't matter who took money from banks and why -- it matters that one side feels this is an issue about their candidate, and the other side feels this is an issue about the whole game.
People who have lost faith in the Democratic party, in the current political system *period*, are now coming forward and making a huge push for an anti-establishment candidate. The presidency seems like an unrealistic place for such a movement to aim for in its first round -- look at all the other parts of the system they could be focusing on! Why shoot for the moon before you can get off the ground? It's unrealistic to believe that everything could be solved just by electing a candidate who says all the right things.
If you think this is the first time the anti-establishment progressives have made a move this century, you haven't been paying attention.
Occupy Wall Street, which sparked Occupy camps everywhere. Campus tuition protests across the country. Ferguson and Baltimore and a whole lot of other protests. The open disgust that many of us have had at the Democrats' ineffectiveness against Tea Party tactics, which lost us election after election. All of these, large and small, are examples of people saying "The system does not work for us". In many cases, as in Black Lives Matter, it is "The system has *never* worked for us". Bernie Sanders will not cure the problem. His supporters (the realistic ones) have never claimed that he can. He isn't perfect, and he's still an old white guy. But his stances are exactly the punch in the face of "business as usual" that so many of the disillusioned left have been craving. He has a bully pulpit to say the words like "inequality" and "universal healthcare" and "free tuition" that scores of his followers have been screaming for years without being heard.
For people who have lost faith in the establishment, who have gotten a pat on the head from the Democrats and a gentle "we'll take care of you" before being thrown a few crumbs, Sanders is a trailblazer through the political landscape. For those who still believe in the power of the establishment, Sanders is an irresponsible dreamer who whips up crowds of idealists with feel-good slogans which would never translate into real policy.
That's where our divide lies. And that's why when you ask each camp who they'll support, most Sanders supporters say they'll settle for Clinton, but most Clinton supporters flatly refuse to believe that Sanders would ever get that far. They believe in the power of the system to make things right, and that outside of that system there is only chaos. Some of us, however, no longer share that belief.
