Month: May 2016

I'm a Bernie supporter. I am not, however, one of the foaming-at-the-mouth, Bernie-or-Bust idiots running around out there acting like petulant children swearing they'll sit out the election in November or—the gods forbid—vote for Trump—if Bernie does not get the Democratic nomination.

How exactly does voting for Trump further the ideals that you admire in Bernie? If you're thirsty and you want water but someone tells you there isn't any available and offers you lemonade, will you turn it down and drink battery acid instead?

I get that Bernie has stirred a lot of passion in the younger generation. I get where he's coming from and I agree with it; that's why I support him. But c'mon people—if you don't vote for whoever has that (D) after their name in November, you're all but ensuring a Trump victory—and quite possibly the end of America as we know it.

Hyperbole? I don't think so. Like so many others, I laughed the possibility of a Trump candidacy. I kept thinking, "No one's going to buy this bullshit. There's no way he's gonna win the nomination. He's going to say something or do something to make him irrelevant in one news cycle." I can't help but believe the vast majority of the German population felt the same way about Hitler in the beginning as well. Yes, I went there.

So far that hasn't happened. Trump is enjoying a free ride with the press, making no apologies for anything, claiming he never said things that are on tape, and simply refusing to answer questions he doesn't want to—and no one is calling him out on it. What are they afraid of? He's exposed the ugly racist, misogynist, homophobic underbelly of America and has given it an air of legitimacy that scares the hell out of me—and should be scaring everyone else as well.

I also find it amusing that the same people who—with straight faces—accuse Obama of being the Christian Wet Dream Antichrist fail to see how Trump more closely matches their own canonical definition of The Beast, yet they're silent on that because he's going to rid the United States of the hoards—hoards I tell you—of pesky Messicans streaming across the southern border to steal our jobs.

Yeah, I know I can't wait until I can start picking lettuce in hundred-degree heat. How about you?

In my heart of hearts I know the United States is filled with a huge majority of good-natured, compassionate people who believe in equality, fairness, and giving everyone a chance to make it here and be happy. And I know that folks on both sides of the aisle are fed up with the ever-increasing power of the oligarchy. Unfortunately, many of those same people don't vote, allowing rabid right-wing christofascists to win elections, giving them power to enact their bat-shit crazy legislation (see North Carolina's HB2 as the most blatant example) and chip away, piece-by-piece at the fairness this country supposedly stands for—all in the name of Jeezus. And quite frankly, I'm done with it. Believe in your invisible friend in the sky (who curiously always seems to hate the same people you do) all you want, but like your penis, keep it to yourself unless asked. If you want to get involved in politics, fine—last time I looked we were still a secular society and if you start telling your congregations who to vote for from the pulpit, it's time to tax your fucking church as the political entity that it is.

As Democrats, we are a diverse and colorful group. We don't like to be told what to do—even by other Democrats. Getting us to agree on anything seems about as easy as herding cats. But while our diversity is our strength, it is also our weakness. We need to borrow from the Republican playbook and unite. So often we lose sight of who the real enemy is and waste time squabbling among ourselves. Republicans march lockstep with their leaders, and they come out to vote in droves; all pulling that lever for whoever they've been told to. They're primarily older, whiter, and more afraid of change and anything that goes bump in the night than Democrats. And while they claim to be "the party of personal responsibility" I find it amusing that so very many of them are suckling at the governmental teat (I'm talking to you, Red States) and looking for nothing more than a daddy figure who will tell them what to do; someone who will somehow magically undo the last sixty years of progress, take us back to the fictitious world of Ozzie and Harriet or Father Knows Best and "make America great again."

Admittedly many of these people do not like Trump, and while there are rumblings of  rebellion and a third party run—not to mention threats of simply staying at home in November—mark my words, when the election rolls around they will be out in their American-flag-bedecked Hoverounds, lighting up Trump's name. And why? Because by that time, the Democratic nominee—whoever it is—will have been made out to be Satan incarnate by the right wing noise machine. And like happens again and again, Republicans will vote against their own best interest out of fear: fear of change, fear of the other, fear of progress, fear of science, fear of Islam, fear of Atheism, fear of liberals, fear of the black, the brown, the yellow—and most importantly— the rainbow people.

I know Hillary isn't the ideal candidate for a lot of Democrats. She's seen as more of the same, kowtowing to the banks, the military, and the multinational corporations. But the chances of seeing jackbooted thugs roaming the streets and dragging people from their homes in the dead of night for simply being the "other" is nonexistent in comparison to the aftermath of a Trump election.

And if nothing else keep these four words in mind: THREE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES.

And that is why it is so vitally important that if you are a Bernie supporter and Hillary does end up being the Democratic candidate, you put your animosity at losing the nomination aside (I'll be disappointed as well, believe me), and still vote for her, because not doing so will all but guarantee a Trump victory. Do you really want to see Trump select three justices, not to mention cabinet posts? How does "Chief Justice Roy Moore" sound? How about "Attorney General Joe Arpaio" or "Surgeon General Ben Carson"? Do you really want to see Obama hand Trump the keys to the White House—not to mention the keys to our nuclear arsenal?

This country—not to mention the world—cannot afford any of that.