We are Democrats. Let's Roar!

I haven’t posted here at DU much. I have been a very loyal reader and lurker for over ten years.
Now, I have to speak up. This internal battle between Democrats has to stop.

Before you start yelling… take a beat and listen to a tale from not that long ago and not that very far away. At the beginning of what I, and many other progressives had hoped would be a new century of enlightened thought, there was a candidate- Al Gore. A lot of Democrats didn’t like him. They decided that they would rather have a “true progressive”- Ralph Nader. It did not matter to them that Ralph had never served his country in battle nor had he ever held elected office. His positions and his promises were enough. There had long been an anti-Clinton schism brewing in the Democratic base and now it came to full flower. Al Gore was tarred with that brush. Many Democrats decided to stay home.

Please don't tell me that Ralph Nader's candidacy did not influence the outcome of the 2000 election. It did. Then as now, the Democratic party was divided.

What happened next was a national tragedy. The election was stolen. It was stolen because the margin of error in the major state of Florida was so razor thin that the state could be had… the results could be contested. Democrats that stayed home, the Democrats that did not vote for the nominee of their party let this happen. We had the numbers. We did not use them

Noses neatly severed from our faces, we watched in horror as the Bush administration destroyed not one but several countries including our own.

I know two things to be true. ONE: A party divided against itself cannot stand.
TWO: History repeats itself.

The Republicans always win… why? Because they never break rank! Until NOW> We are witnessing the probable break-up of the Republican lock step that has been a hallmark of their voter base for forty years. We cannot fall apart now. We have victory within our grasp.
If Democrats get out the vote- every vote- and pull the straight party lever... we can not only put a Democrat in the white house but we can also sweep the DOWN BALLOT TICKET.

If we continue this ideological war against the probable nominee of this party we will loose. Democrats will stay home in droves and history will repeat itself, only now we are in sight of loosing every progressive program hard won in the 20th century. This is a fact!

That being said, I fully support Bernie Sanders for President, but if Bernie Sanders is NOT the nominee of my party I will support the nominee of my party because it is too important that we not loose: social security, medicare, abortion rights, civil rights, voting rights, gay rights, prisoner rights, immigration rights, global climate change initiatives, public education, gun control. I don’t want another war. I don’t want forced conscription. I don’t want a state religion. The list is longer… feel free to add on.

THIS IS WHAT IS AT RISK IF WE STAY HOME.
The sanctity of your vote will not keep you warm and you cannot eat your moral rectitude.
The very moment Barack Obama was sworn into office, a faction of this party dropped their pom-poms and began spit-balling. In 2010 a crucial year for Congressional elections, when we could have stopped the wave of tea-party fanatics in their tracks… Democrats stayed home.
We lost the majority. You know what happened next.

WE ARE DEMOCRATS. WE CAN CHANGE THIS. LET'S RISE. LET'S ROAR!