So, it’s no big secret that Bernie Sanders hasn’t been treated that well by the Democratic National Committee. They seldom favorite or retweet his tweets, they don’t participate in his hashtag games and they may have conspired against him to keep him from becoming the next President of the United States. Regardless, Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee and Bernie is doing everything in his power to support her in becoming the next President. Well, maybe not everything; I don’t know if he has lent her his hashtag generator (#feeltheburn #PreparationHMissedMarketingOpportunity). Like a true team player, Bernie Sanders has called for those who supported him in the primaries to support him in trying to get Hillary Clinton elected. However, there is a tiny problem…many of Bernie’s supporters are not supportive of this team player concept (insert #BernieorBust hashtag to prove it).
There are a lot of reasons why #BernieorBust people are upset about being asked to support anyone but Bernie Sanders. Most of the complaints revolve around legitimate issues and concerns. I will list zero of those concerns. If you need an education, just type #BernieorBust and away we go. A few legitimate concerns might even pop up in the comment section below (please be gentle). Regardless, from a political perspective, the reasons are kind of irrelevant now. Hillary Clinton is going to be competing against Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States. No matter how they each got there, they are the choices for America. Lamenting won’t change that outcome. Which brings me to one of the biggest laments I’ve heard concerning #BernieorBust people who feel betrayed by Bernie Sanders supporting a Clinton presidency.
The argument goes something like this: Bernie has brought a whole bunch of new people into the Democratic Party. These people are now leaving the Democratic Party because of current events and Bernie’s refusal to stand up to Hillary Clinton. There are many variations, but the argument basically assumes that the only way to keep these new members of the Democratic Party is for Bernie to keep fighting the Democratic Party as a protest candidate. The argument goes that sadly, this massive group that Bernie brought into the party is now leaving because of his unwillingness to fight against the injustices of the Democratic establishment.
The argument tweets well and I certainly know the temptation of threatening to never go back to a place that did something you really don’t like (I’m talking to you Disneyland if you replace the Tower of Terror with a stupid Marvel movie ride), but I don’t really buy the logic. First, what does it mean to actually bring a new group of people into a political party? Is the mobilization of a group of voters to vote in one primary, for one candidate, the same as bringing voters into a political party? I don’t think you can even say someone has brought voters into a political party until they’ve walked through an entire election cycle. In other words, we won’t really know how many people were actually brought into the Democratic Party until the general election.
You can’t leave a party you never really joined. If you only joined to vote for your candidate in your primary, you didn’t join a party, you voted your interests at a particular time in your life. It is completely fine to vote your own interests in the primary and do whatever you want once your interests or your candidate don’t win. However, that is something far different from actually joining a political party or becoming an advocate to reform a political party. This holds true on all sides of the political spectrum.
This is the divide we now see between Bernie Sanders and some of his former supporters. Bernie Sanders believes that change can occur through leveraging his influence inside the room. Bernie Sanders still wants to reform the Democratic Party. Many of his supporters want to leave the room and shout from the outside or form their own protest party. The argument for who is right is up for debate. Regardless, it is important to distinguish between those who are trying to reform the party they have joined and those who enter and exit the room based on whether or not their man wins the nomination. In this light #BernieorBust seems like a very appropriate hashtag.
Douglas Bursch is the author of Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. He also hosts The Fairly Spiritual Show podcast.