First, let me acknowledge I don’t write often, and am much more comfortable watching and reading the many great diaries on here from those with far more time and ability to meaningfully contribute here.
But, tonight, watching that speech from Cleveland, I couldn’t help but be spurred on to at least contribute. And ask for a favor.
I was greatly inspired by the wonderful message and robust campaign waged by one of my favorite politicians in Washington over the past several decades — Bernie Sanders. He stoked a lot of important progressive fires along the way, and reminded us all (including those of us who are left-leaning independents but still cling to some of the fiscal conservatism of days gone past) how important it is to clean up Democratic politics and begin to sever the cord from Wall Street that renders the mechanics of the Democratic Party not altogether different (or at least different enough) from the GOP.
He made a strong case for being bold, and while he did not win, and many here are still greatly disappointed and angered by the outcome, I know one thing for sure based on his words and positions from the campaign.
What we heard and saw in Cleveland tonight should be a chilling reminder that the next several months MUST STILL BE about protecting our youth and future generations from the very cold, dark and real possibility that indifference or point-making from the left in November could bring about a turn in our nation’s history that will have a profound impact on any future my kids or yours may have.
We know that they view immigrants — all immigrants — as murderers, dirty and a detriment to our safety, and worthy of being irradicated from our towns and cities. They scream loudly for “leadership” that prevents those not born and raised here from having any real pathway to a future as an American, and a wall to be erected to symbolize our disdain as a country towards those who live outside of its borders. Millions of very real people, including kids, now go to bed tonight wondering what the future might look like, and what made them bad people. Is this who we are?
We know that if you are not white, affluent and male, YOU are causing problems that need to be solved and are being planned for. If you are black and live in urban areas, you are a “threat to our continuing safety”. All of you. And after tonight, the gauntlet has been dropped. We as a nation will come at you as a whole and put you back in your place — under constant watch and guard — because your skin color and financial status (or lack thereof) present a real and present danger to our way of life. No more free passes. For we know now, after tonight, that every murder in an urban area, and the grim dispicable killing of cops in Dallas by a madman, were very much a byproduct of your existence and “laziness”.
We know now that schools are a throwback to the Soviet-era, that public education is to be scorned and viewed as a problem and not the future. We heard that the millions of underpaid, overworked and yet tireless, selfless teachers, administrators and staff doing everything they can to keep our kids safe, and fed, and educated and...yes...loved are the problem, and not the solution.
We know that they mock and ridicule science, as if it is some vast hidden conspiracy against the vast economic potential of oil, gas, fracking, coal and other old-world energy sources. That global warming is indeed not a threat to our children’s health, prosperity and natural resource availability but instead a hoax perpetrated by an overzealous former politician and thousands of lying scientists. We heard loud and clear that the world painted for us tonight serves the interests of billionaire owners of businesses in this market space that continues to pollute the planet and cause irreversible damage to ecosystems, rivers, oceans, ice shelves, entire populations of wildlife, and, eventually, humankind.
I could go on and on, but one thing stood out to me as so vividly symbolic of the untempered hubris and just sheer evil that poured out of every word of that creepy, hair-raising speech last night that should matter nowhere more than here. At Daily Kos. Where I find more reasonable, well informed, civil and honorably progressive voices in one place than any other I’ve visited.
They think that simply pitting our support and investment in the courage and honor of Bernie Sanders against the disappointment of his eventual defeat in the primaries will somehow turn hundreds of bold-faced lies, eerie cries of “yes, you will” (as if to convert the Obama phrase of hope into a vow of loyalty to an emerging dictator), non-stop hate and vitriol toward an opponent who has dedicated her post educational life to public service and championing the causes of those who are less fortunate, complete and unabashed denegration of teachers, Muslims, blacks, women, union laborers, scientists, Mexicans, NATO, immigrants of all stripes and BLM into votes for Donald Trump. Seriously. That’s what they think of you. That somehow, like their Rubio, Cruz, Kasich and Bush supporters who would rather sacrifice their integrity and the future of the country to simply BEAT HILLARY CLINTON, that all Bernie Sanders supporters care about is the same, empty, hollow thing. What we saw in Cleveland this week was embarrassing. Sometimes laughable. Often disgusting. And tonight — REALLY CREEPY and eerie to me. Dark. Ugly. Mean. No holds barred. Like somehow, the inclusion of immigrants in the country = decline. BLM = chaos. Women’s rights = erosion of social values. Public education = the Soviet Union. And on. And on. And on.
Please. For our kids. For our country. For the future. Don’t be the people they think you are. Don’t let pride, idealism, disappointment, fervor or a simple distrust and dislike for Hillary Clinton be what they are baiting you to let it become. America is a complex and complicated proposition. Filled with unpleasant compromise and disappointment in leadership. An experiment like our Democracy could be nothing less. And often, we find ourselves dragged into places where our personal convictions are swept aside by the majority who feel differently. It can be bitterly disappointing. But in this case, after this night, let it be clear as day. While we may differ from one another as Democrats as to who and how best to lead this country, there can be NO doubt. This Party — this site — are SO VERY DIFFERENT from the dangerous, dark, evil and mean propositions put forth from Cleveland. And in no uncertain terms, a vote for Trump, or even a non vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, WILL potentially make us complicit in the very real, very scary consequences sure to follow.
After tonight, there is no doubt. I’m with her. I wasn’t before. I am now. I have a family I love, neighbors I care deeply about, a community I want to see thrive, and a nation I love and want so badly to see continue moving towards decency and respect, inclusion and hope. What the GOP from tonight represents to me is a nightmare- one I never want my kids to experience or witness. So I ask you. Please. If you are still undecided, or still resentful of the outcome of the primaries...please — stop. And think. And consider. I’m not willing to play any part in taking a chance that this phony, stage-show, empty suit can come anywhere near the nuclear codes, the Supreme Court or the rights of blacks, hispanics, Muslims, women — you name it.
I’m with her. For GOOD reason.
Will you join me?