I am a Democrat

[MuseRider]

29. Again I want to thank you.

There is no way I will ever be able to express myself that well.

I also believe that those, like Bernie, can say a lot of things that he could not say if he was a Democrat without the risk of the party coming down on him. He wants change to begin now. The slowness of an organization or the need to moderate to incremental change to include all members is too slow when we are where we are now. As an Independent he can go wherever he wants to go politically to push the ideas that need to be considered to move us forward sooner rather than later without tarring a party with something they are uncomfortable with. I say these things giving him the benefit of the doubt that he is trying to do these things with the best intentions not the worst. Others certainly feel distrustful of him. I can understand that given all that was said about him during the primaries and since the election.

I like him where he is for those reasons above. As to becoming a Democrat to run I think there were many reasons to do so. For those of us who feel he was doing this for good reasons we see that he did not want to be a spoiler. He said so several times. If he had run as an I he would have then been able to run against the republican candidate directly and whoever won the nomination from the Democratic party. I don't think that would have been any more popular, perhaps worse and he surely then would have been blamed for the loss. He had the right to do that, I am not sure he knew the money would come to him like it did. I don't think he would have even then. I have no reason to doubt his good intentions but as I said, others certainly do distrust him.

As for criticising the party I guess it depends on how you feel about criticism. I, as a performer, needed all of it I could get, even as someone who does not perform as a major player. It made me better even if it made me mad and sometimes that criticism that made me mad was the best of all. It takes a while to see it but it is always important. If the Democratic party had been performing better than it has I would feel a little more iffy about the need for him to speak out. If there is a Democrat who looks at the performance of the party and thinks we should not loudly and publically say, oops and correct some things then I don't get it. Honestly we have been pounded and the R's have managed to convince people that they will help them while creating much distress for them in their lives and they are still voting for them. With all that power it is difficult at best for the Dems to even discuss the fraud in our system without sounding like the whiners the Republicans call us.

We need people like Bernie outside the system to allow the system to work. I wish I had a way into his mind, I do not but running as a Democrat against the party favorite is no reason to dismiss him. Criticizing the party at this point is iffy I guess but I see it as necessary and as an "outsider" he has the freedom to do it. I believe he has the responsibility to do it, I believe we all do. Just voting D is not going to change our minority status all over the country.

Sorry Tom, just early thinking out loud. Being someone who thinks Bernie is doing the right things I just felt the need to say something I guess. I don't understand the anger. Thank you again for a very well thought out post. I always look forward to reading when I see your name.