Another Nader?

     Don’t get me wrong.  I love Bernie Sanders.  I love the way he’s firing up young people – and also many others.  I love the way he talks about economic and environmental justice and inclusion for all, and I love the way he gets folks all excited.  Hopefully, this excitement leads to action, including voting. 

   No, don’t get me wrong.  I’m a Bernie Bro.  I feel the Bern.  Anyone who read my post last month about going to a Sanders rally – kind of – knows this. 

   But I’m concerned.  I’m concerned about the mixed messages Bernie is sending and the mixed messages some of his supporters are sending.  I’m concerned that he will end up being another Ralph Nader and give the election to Donald Trump. 

   Remember when Nader ran as a Green Party candidate in 2000 and got enough Democratic votes so that George W. Bush won by a hanging chad or a few hundred?  (I was one of those “Nader Democrats.” My mom was furious when she found out.)

   It is disturbing enough that some Sanders supporters have been rude, uncivil and even violent, threatening delegates who say they support Hilary Clinton, throwing chairs at Democratic party meetings.  It is disturbing that Sanders hasn’t totally condemned this behavior and sometimes blames and goes out of his way to agitate the Democratic party. 

   What’s even more disturbing, what really concerns me, is that this doesn’t help Clinton in what should have been her easy effort against Trump. But that’s not all.  There have been reports that some Sanders supporters say they’ll vote for the mean-spirited, ignorant and reckless Trump in November if Clinton is the Democratic nominee. This may be just another bizarre twist in this wild campaign, and hopefully these Bernie Bros will calm down and act and vote sensibly, but the prospect of Sanders supporters giving their support to Trump not only makes no sense at all; it is downright alarming, downright terrifying if it means that Trump is our next president. 

[NOTE: I will be not posting or posting regularly in the next two or three months because of traveling, etc.  I may post here and there in the meantime, but I’ll resume my regular posting in August or September.]