I want to say this: I fucking love Bernie Sanders. I love him in the dumb ways, the smart ways, the emotional ways, the cultural ways. The popularity of his representation of progressivism, both practical and symbolic, revived many people's cynical hearts. I love that a dedicated long-time veteran of liberal politics all of a sudden became famous and revered in his 70s—like some kind of political version of Sixto Rodriguez.
I also didn't think I'd ever see a Jew get as close to the presidency as Bernie did. Even one of my fellow "Eh, let's just say I'm Jewish, because genetically I am, technically I am, and it's also the easiest way to explain what my whole thing is" types of Jew. Electing a woman would be a bigger milestone than electing a Jew, but there are huge swaths of this country that don't want to see Jewish people in prominent positions. Too many people on the far right think we're always scheming on something, while too many people on the far left think Israel is the modern equivalent of Nazi Germany.
I love Bernie, I love what he's done this year to progress progressivism—but I love progressivism more. (I'm sorry I just said that word so many times in a row... I also want to throw an apple at me.)
This isn't some new movement. It's not some out-of-left-field disruptor. Bernie and many of his ideas are the top floor of a tower that's been growing taller, in fits and starts, over the last 150 years. And yeah, he's reaching for the stars, but it's because he can from all the way up there. This year the party didn't happen on the roof, it happened in the ballroom again—but it's still our party. Sitting out the election, or even voting Republican, doesn't punish the DNC, it only punishes the most vulnerable people in our society: babies. No, I'm kidding, I mean the people whose basic human and healthcare rights Trump has already vowed to oppress.
Seriously, THE OTHER VIABLE CANDIDATE IS DONALD TRUMP. PUTIN WANTS HIM TO BE PRESIDENT. THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT? Listen, even if you're one of those people who, for whatever reason, thinks that Hillary Clinton is only marginally better than Donald Trump, please still vote for Hillary. Because so many people exist in what you perceive as those margins. Many women only have healthcare because of those margins, many people only have their families here because of those margins, many WHATEVER WHATEVER POUR ON THE SCHMALTZ, but you also know it's true. It's fucking true. It is fucking true. It is.
So if you believe that taking a small step forward is a better plan then taking a huge step back (when taking a great leap forward is no longer an option), vote for Hillary this year. And then come back and vote two years after that, and two years after that, and two years after that, and all the way until the party is on the roof again.