Bernie Bots

Let me start by stating that I'm a huge Bernie Sanders fan, I have been for years, I even voted for him in last weeks Arizona Presidential Primary.  I would like nothing more than to see him become the next President of the United States.

That being said, I'm not a real fan of a lot of other Bernie Sanders supporters.  I understand that a lot of them are young and excited and perhaps just now for the first time getting involved in politics, but their exuberance has in many cases been getting the better of them.  Their painting of Hillary Clinton as some sort of monster not worthy of the Presidency and their threats to not vote for her in November if she wins the nomination are incredibly short-sighted and fool-hardy.  In case you hadn't noticed, she holds a huge delegate lead and will most likely win the Democratic nomination.

Fact is, Hillary Clinton is immensely qualified, her foreign policy experience greatly exceeds that of any other Presidential candidate and she is very popular with women, blacks and Hispanics, all of whom will play a very important role in electing the next President.  Regarding her so-called faults?  Her position on the Iraq war has been greatly misrepresented.  Her use of a private email server, while wrong, seem to have been standard practice.  Benghazi, while a tragedy, was hardly her fault and has been far more politicized than any other embassy attack in U.S. history.  As for taking money from the Wall Street, who am I to criticize someone from taking a boat load of money for giving a speech, who in their right mind would turn that opportunity down, and why does it have to necessarily mean she will give them special favors?

Further, do I really need to remind them of the possible consequences of their actions?   Have they already forgotten the havoc that Ralph Nader caused?   If you're going to rail against money in politics, who do you think would give you the best opportunity to overturn Citizens United?  If you are concerned about Climate Change, do you really want to put off action to stem it for another very critical 4+ years?  The Supreme Court has leaned right for a good 40+ years now, do you think that would change with a President Trump/Cruz appointing the next Supreme Court justice (or 3)?  Do we really need to go back to the disastrous Republican economic policies that led to unprecedented inequality and the greatest recession of the past 80+ years?   I haven't even mentioned the mess they'd make of healthcare, social security, foreign policy and a host of other issues either.

So to sum up, go ahead Bernie Bots, support him, campaign for him, vote for him, but please stop disparaging Hillary Clinton and please consider the consequences of another Republican administration should you follow through on your threats to not vote for Hillary Clinton should she win the nomination.   There is no shame in accepting defeat while at the same time knowing that you did move Hillary Clinton further to the left and you did make her a better candidate.  Better yet, get involved, vote more than once every four years, run for office, start a political revolution!