@Allamanda

The national and global surge of nationalism, racism and anti-immigrant hatred horrifies me.

@ToolGuy

Like you, since age 18 I have been fighting against Republicans for civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, environmental protection, clean air and water, women's right to control our own bodies, abortion rights, education, equality, gay marriage, and more.

I believe the mark of a great civilization is how well it takes care of elderly, minority, poor, disabled and disenfranchised members of society.

I've been depressed and anxious since election night 2016. That's on top of the depression and anxiety I've lived with all my life.

@Allamanda I do feel it can give some if they follow it. There needs to be a balance, though. Get enough information to make a positive move (vote) but not too much to drive you crazy. Sometimes it's hard to find the right balance and I am feeling that. Ever since I was a kid I took things seriously.

Sanders is doing his best to change the systemic causes of our persistent reality. The helplessness, the shame, despair, and distraction that keep people from voting or other forms of participating in change and improvement to society, for example. He's having dialogues with people who have historically been voiceless and encouraging them to see themselves and others differently.

[buzzfeednews.com]

If he succeeds in this he will activate a lot of historically inactive voters and we'll see the beginnings of real change.

@mordant Unfortunately for him and us, the DNC and the party establishment do not care about winning the election against Trump or nor do they want the kind of systemic change you are talking about or want the involvement of the voiceless and the usual non-voters in the election process. Because all that matters to TPTB with the Dem party is pleasing their donor class of the rich and corporate America, because those groups are perfectly fine with another four years of Trump. They just care about preventing any progressive agenda from ever being pursued in DC.

@TomMcGiverin Sanders has fought this fight for decades and just keeps at it. He has only gotten traction that might lead to the White House in the past 5 years. He will keep on whether or not he gets elected. He will use the power that conveys to him either way. It is an inspiration to me. After his narrow defeat for the nomination in '16, he got a lot of progressive planks into the party platform, mostly eliminated the superdelegate system, and sparked other progressives to run, with obvious results in the '18 midterms.

I completely agree with you that the centrist wing of the party is as much his implacable enemy as the GOP -- in some ways, more so. One look at the social media smears against him as he rises in the polls, will demonstrate that. But because of Duverger's Law, pushing for change from within the Democratic party is the only possible way forward. No third party candidate would ever win a national election under our non-parliamentary system.

If you see someone other than Sanders with a better way forward, I'm all ears. Some tried blowing up the system using Trump as a useful fool, and look where that has got us.