I do think the vast majority of rank and file Hillary supporters are the casual people that don't follow politics and say they are for Hillary "just because". In other words, they are told what to think by the mass media and party elite that have sought to create this manipulative veil of "inevitibility". Naturally people don't really want to think to hard about things if they don't have to. That's just human nature. People want to "go with a winner" and there you have it. The Big Lie. And if you think that is some sort of conspiracy, you don't really understand politics or human nature. People really just sort of go along with what they are told for the most part. That's why propaganda is so powerful.
Right now, a lot of people feel like the whole system is corrupt and has been for a very long time and only getting worse. To many it seems as if incremental half measures and bread crumbs are given with one hand while the other knife reaches around your back to cut your kidney out. The Clintons have been a HUGE part of this. NAFTA is but one very real and impactful example.
NAFTA devastated my home town. Full stop. It saw it happen in real time. It was incredible.
Thus, on my side of the fence there is a massive amount of anger, frustration, and resentment at what the "elites" that both parties have wrought on the vast majority of Americans.
I know this is "Democratic Underground". I used to think it was democratic underground w/ a small d but I do understand it has a party function and at the end is really a capital D. I don't like that, but I can accept it. Thus, once a nominee is selected I and I hope others will respect that and not post too much divisive language once we cross that bridge.
However until then this is a place for debate. And when a certain segment of the Democratic party, spearheaded by Hillary Clinton and her acolytes, has essentially ruined a part of the soul of the party don't expect people to just take it lying down.
The reason why you may feel Sanders supporters come across as if you are condescending it is because it feels as if HRC supporters have their fingers in their ears chanting "la la la" and "Benghazi!!!" while willfully ignoring really important shit. Some of this "really important shit" is the fact that Hillary sounds a fucking lot like neoconservatives and is going to stumble her way into another shitty war where a lot of people fucking really die.
It feels like we need to wake y'all up.
Maybe we don't...
But it feels as if we do.
The other thing is that I have a problem here with HRC is that it seems as if all that matters is winning. Which, on it's face, kind of makes sense. You can't influence policy if you don't win. However, bit by bit the political capital of the party and its moral center has been sold off. NAFTA is but one example. It's a matter of short term gains have resulted in long term losses. The 90's were great (in some ways). But what were we left with? What was Bill Clinton's true legacy? NAFTA...China...bursting bubble economies...banks too big to fail...DOMA...Don't ask don't tell....injurious welfare reform...a rising police state? And how can we convince working class voters to support the Democratic Party when it was this party that did all this shit? And then there's the Bill Clinton ethical issues... oye vey... how can we defend this shit over coffee or at Thanksgiving?
The only defense of voting for the rightward march of the Democratic Party is avoiding the batshit crazyness of the Republican Party but I feel the rightward march of the Democratic Party has only allowed, if not encouraged the right wing to get every more rightward. By chasing Super Pac dollars the New Democrats are basically right of center when it comes to economic insecurity and more war for more money. Why would the Republicans need to adhere to reality if we have the Democratic Party doing their dirty work for them?
I cannot and will not vote for Hillary Clinton, not now, not ever.
The first Presidential election I was allowed to vote in was 1992.
I voted for Clinton, Clinton again, Gore, Kerry, Obama, and Obama again. I pull the lever almost down the line for Democrats except for save votes where I usually vote a bit more liberal to throw some love to the loveable underdogs.
But I am not going to keep pulling the Democratic lever "just because" or due to some fear that the "crazy Republicans" are going to take over. Because honestly, to me, the Democratic Elite PTB are crazy and injurious in their own damn way.
I truly believe Hillary is going to bumble us into another war. I truly believe Hillary is going to flame up some b.s. hypercharged bubble economy that is going to end up with the predators walking off w/ the golden parachute and the rest of the populace with a big pile of shit. I truly believe Hillary is "in the tank" for AIPAC, the MIC, and Wall Street.
I also truly believe Hillary does care about women, children, and other disenfranchised groups. I don't think she's evil.
However, I don't feel like bread crumbs for women, children, and other social groups that need help will compensate for the huge kitchen knife that will inevitably end up puncturing their backs.
Clinton is the DLC and the DLC has NOT been good for the disenfranchised but it has been very good for the rich assholes that control everything.
Hence, that's why things suck as bad as they do and why everyone is so economically insecure and why so many people are in prison and why so many people are shooting each other. They are frustrated, alienated, disenfranchised, and impoverished in many ways. This isn't an accident this is a by-product of a pay to play corrupt political system.
Bernie is speaking to these fundamental truths whereas Hillary seems to want put frosting on the same 'ol shit cake.
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