Political choices: A matter of the greatest possible good

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Bernie Sanders, democrats, Hillary Clinton

Cynics are fond of dismissing criticism of their political decisions by declaring they will have no part of any decision between the “lesser of two evils”. Throughout much of our past, political choices often were between the lesser of two evils, but that has changed. The Democratic party has not gone as far to the extreme left as the right to its extreme, but it is more liberal today than it ever has been.

Cynicism has tremendous appeal, likely due to its sheer simplicity. It’s too easy to distrust “banksters,” and assume that money in politics buys votes. It was easy to say Obama violated our trust of his intent on energy policy when he appointed nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz as Energy Secretary, especially after all his “all of the above” policy statements in his State of the Union addresses. Then there is the favorable State Department report on the Keystone pipeline.

Cynics, like children, seldom think about issues in great depth. Never mind that Obama still says he will veto any bill approving the Keystone pipeline. They do not consider for a moment that his appointments and speeches may be political smoke-screen that will help him get away with stopping the Keystone pipeline and championing other eco-friendly policies.

In the same vein, they accept Bernie’s promises without question. After all, he shares their cynical outlook, and tells them what they want to hear. Their view reminds me of the oft quoted line from 1 Corinthians, 13:11:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

Unfortunately, age never truly determines either the insight or maturity of most people. Bernie and his supporters exemplify that fact. They declare that the Democrats have failed them, when only their logic has. Never mind that their “revolution” was stillborn, and the one candidate remaining who could stop the GOP from gaining hegemony in government is Hillary Clinton. Never mind that Bernie once declared that “on her worst day, Hillary Clinton will be an infinitely better candidate and President than the Republican candidate on his best day.” He now threatens not to support her unless the Democrats adopt his platform, and his supporters are determined not to vote for her.

In their childish resentment that their “revolution” has failed, Bernie’s and his followers’ vilification of Hillary Clinton has blinded them to the fact that she represents the greatest possible good, not a lesser of two evils. At bottom, they are behaving like spoiled children who resent mommy not buying them the candy they wanted at the grocery check-out, and Bernie is like the kid whose team mates chose someone else to pitch for their side in a sand-lot ball game. Bernie and his supporters are willing to abandon the revolution, because they don’t get to lead it.

It’s time for Bernie to call for party unity

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2016 Primaries, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Primary, Hillary Clinton

Albeit Bernie Sanders had been disingenuous about running as a Democrat to avoid splitting the Democratic vote, it’s time that he stood up and honored the claim. The question is: will he? His use of innuendo to sully Hillary Clinton’s image, as well as his misrepresentation of her position on issues since the day of his announcement of candidacy, misrepresentation of endorsements and misrepresentation of his past positions leave his honesty as questionable as his claim of integrity.

Sanders had his shot at heading a transformative revolution, but it should be clear to him now that he miscalculated the turnout he could solicit. The numbers just are not there. His “revolution” was, in fact, stillborn.

Not only was Sanders not able to raise the seething millions of discontented voters from the left and right, too few liberal extremists—the self-described anarchists, socialists and assorted other cynics—rose to the old cynic’s call to arms. The delegate count tells the story.

Having done well in the Iowa Caucus, and his home state of Vermont, analysts queried whether he would do as well in states with more representative demographics. With the exception of Michigan, the results of the March 15 primaries answered their question. Clinton swept the states, even those with open primaries—those where Bernie performed best—and decimated him in those with closed primaries. This last fact gives weight to the speculation that cross-over votes were at least largely responsible for the life-long cynic’s win in Michigan.

With the closed primaries yet to come, and the delegate split that can be expected even in states with open primaries, Bernie needs to find God and pray for a miracle if he wants to win. For that matter, his supporters will need to pray that he wins enough that Hillary wins only by virtue of the Superdelegates if they want to continue to grouse about that.

By every indication, Sanders intends to hold on until the bitter end—which brings us back to the revelation about his real reason for running as a Democrat. Now that he has the name recognition he sought, can he be trusted not to run as an independent—I would not bet on it. His career has shown him to be a cynic, and his conduct throughout his bid for the Democratic nomination has shown him to be dishonest as well.

If he has enough remaining of the integrity he claims to hold so dear, it is time to acknowledge Hillary’s triumph. Moreover, it is time to confess to the character assassination in which he and his cynical supporters engaged, and endorse her with the same vigor with which he and they tried to sully her name.