Bernie's Brown Shirts

Bill,

I've tried hard to like Bernie, and to be open minded about his ideas. Some of them, to put it plainly, are not only unrealistic but so fraught with unintended consequences as to qualify as dangerous if not outright stupid. Listening to Bernie's passionate polemics has even led me to change my position on single payer health insurance, although not in the way that Bernie would have hoped for. An incremental approach, beginning with a public option, would satisfy my goals.

Even as a Hillary supporter, I'd been willing to tolerate his eagerness to dig yet further into my pockets, his outrageous demonization of the nations' entire financial sector, and his dismissal of Democrats of color who just don't seem interested in his agenda.

But he is losing, and losing badly. He's been losing badly since Super Tuesday. Now, the man who so passionately laments the dearth of democracy in our political system employs every specious argument the can find support his continued presence in the race. The fact that Hillary has garnered 3 million more votes from those pesky Black Democrats, doesn't seem to matter. He and his supporters are not going to get their way. Their answer? Online harassment of those who disagree with them, viciousness toward their opponents, gleeful misogyny, and death threats. Sanders response? Lots of excuses but no willingness to accept responsibility. Sounds like the favorite tactics of another presidential candidate we have already heard from way too much.

No doubt most Sanders voters are genuine, passionate, well meaning supporters of the causes he espouses, who understand that democracy only works when the losers accept the will of the majority in exchange for basic protections of their rights. But there is a sinister faction among his supporters who have no interest in such niceties. They want their way. They don't care what anyone else wants, and they don't really care how they get it. Sanders in turn hasn't don't nearly enough to disavow their attitude and tactics. That's an ideology, that has way more too much in common with the wrong kind of  socialism.

Eli