So, I Am Now the Tool of the "Establishment", evidently
I cast my absentee ballot today for Joe Biden. From what I'm reading in this forum, that makes me a tool of "The Democratic Establishment".
Thing is, I've thought all along (since he announced) that Biden was closest to my views on most things. He wants to keep the ACA and expand it. He believes everyone should have health care. He believes we should have more affordable prescription drugs. He believes in better background checks. He believes in tax reform for the middle class, and balancing the budget. He believes that America has always been great.
Also, I think he's much more likely to draw voters from the middle of the country, i.e. people like me- partly because I'm a people like me. Bernie alienates me. I don't want a revolution. I want steady progress. I'm proof that you can be a progressive without being a brick-tossing revolutionary. I think Biden is, too.
So, is it possible that I voted my conscience based on thinking about the issues, rather than being a pawn of "The Dreaded Democratic Establishment"? Because I know that a certain number of people, just like last time, are going to be crying foul if Bernie doesn't win the primary, and will tell people like me that we were duped into voting against our true interests. But I disagree, humbly. And I appeal to them all now, to look to the possible future, where their guy doesn't win, and ask them to ask themselves if it's worth it to suffer four more years of Trump because they're bitter about Bernie not getting the nod again. And I ask them to consider uniting against Trump with the one party that has a realistic shot at unseating him. That's the Democrats, under whomever is the nominee.
And if that happens to be Bernie, I'll support him. I won't enjoy it, but I'll do it.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Thank you, well put. And, you’re far more diplomatic than I 
What you represent is the adult in the room. And who wants to agree with an Adult? Who isn’t tempted to demand it all at once, to ignore history & culture ..to run with the renegade?!
As I attempt to deal with the angry progressives I apparently pal around with, what stands out among the Berners is their history of not having been a Renegade, a Green, or an open Atheist … let alone having done the foot & head work to have learned the political lay of the land to the extent some understand a favorite sports team.. Yet, they’re experts, too.
Worse, they’ve not noticed the changes, the lack of fairness in broadcasting, unlimited campaign contributions, dirty hardball politics, fifty years of ‘conservative’ Supreme Court rulings… And in order to maintain their moral high ground, they demand a level of purity in those they vote for that’s no longer feasible in US politics…
So, Comrad, we’re not only left to teach politics 101, recruit competent viable candidates, fund them … then support the political paddling necessary to turn this massive ship of state around … we’re also dodging bullets from a circular firing squad of should-be democrats attacking their own ..because they lack the sense, ability, or integrity to take on true evil..
Thankless, isn’t it 
Varn
Level 8
Mar 7, 2020
0
When George Will writes an editorial essentially endorsing Biden, you know something fundamental is going on. A voice of the conservative Republican establishment, begging someone to rescue the nation from Trump and throwing his weight behind the one he thinks can do it.
Varn:
@Paul4747 Sounds like David Brooks, he’s moderated as well: [nytimes.com]
Brooks: “Democrats are not just a party; they’re a community. In my years of covering politics I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like what happened in the 48 hours after South Carolina — millions of Democrats from all around the country, from many different demographics, turning as one and arriving at a common decision.” -- “It was like watching a flock of geese or a school of fish, seemingly leaderless, sensing some shift in conditions, sensing each other’s intuitions, and smoothly shifting direction en masse. A community is more than the sum of its parts. It is a shared sensibility and a pattern of response. This is a core Democratic strength.”
His, the Moderates hiding in the Republican Party are what’s needed to straighten the nation out.. The R’s are not going away, sounds as though ‘we’ won’t even gain control of the Senate. So, who’s capable of working with them? Angry Sanders, or the Joe they know … whose numerous Senate votes are being thrown back at him by our purists … though were cast in order to move ahead progressive legislation through means of negotiation..
I do not see moderate Republicans using Solitary Sanders as a way to ditch trump … as they’d be willing to do with Biden..
I share your perspective and your feelings. I was an Elizabeth Warren supporter from the beginning and right up to the end. However, I was not willing to subject myself to the HATE SQUAD by talking about it.
Thank you for putting your experience into words.
BitFlipper
Level 8
Mar 7, 2020
1
Plenty of people did, I do not understand your remark At All
Varn:
I’d also started out as a Warren supporter.. Linked up with a couple ‘college girls’ leading her outreach in my region. Began to dislike the way she’d so arrogantly attack other candidates … and when arrogance turned into desperation, it got worse. Now, I’ve no sympathy for her; hers became a gender-based campaign, period ~
@Varn I didn't notice that. Maybe because I've been supporting female candidates for a long long time.
Varn:
@BitFlipper I’d supported HRC, for a long long time.. She never made it about gender, no doubt answered those questions, but she was aimed to represent everyone. Had Warren not been challenged by Sanders, she may not have played the gender card so early.
Even if (if) the "establishment" has engaged in some machinations, we the voters can still make our own choices -- we are not "tools".
FearlessFly
Level 9
Mar 7, 2020
1
I will vote soon. In the general I will also vote for whoever gets the nomination. My top priority is returning to a sane administration in the White House.
itsmedammit
Level 8
Mar 7, 2020
3
Enjoy being online again!
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