It's a sad day when you find one of your favorite writers on the opposite side on an issue.
In this case, the Rude Pundit has called out #BernieorBust people like me. In yesterday's post, "Note to Fellow Sanders Supporters: You're Gonna Vote for Clinton in the General, So Shut the F*ck Up", the Rude One, like me, is a Sanders supporter, but then rehashes the same old "lesser-of-two-evils" thinking that has enabled the Democratic Party to become yesterday's Republicans and the Republican Party to become yesterday's fascists.
In today's post, "Scenes from Our Neverending Abortion War: Wiping Away a Right One Regulation at a Time" the extortion is made explicit to support Hillary-> over an eeeeeevil Republican president who'll ensure Roe v, Wade is overturned. "So when you're in a voting booth in November, wondering if you should maintain your purity and not vote if your preferred candidate isn't on the Democratic ticket," The Rude One threatens, "know that you'll have the potential bodies of women stacked up on your conscience."
OK. I'll accept every single woman who dies from a botched abortion and every single baby born that was unwanted under a President Drumpf... if Hillary-> voters have to accept the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis resulting from her vote for the Iraq War and all the orphaned children of Libya and Syria because of her warmongering policies as Secretary of State. Because I'm betting that far fewer women will die from botched abortions under President Drumpf than will die from drone bombings under President Hillary->.
All this extortion to support a "Democratic" candidate is necessary when she pushes the war machine's foreign policy, Wall Street's economic policy, Chevron's energy policy, big business' trade and labor policies, and Big Pharma's medical marijuana policy. If we had anything resembling a left-wing party in this country, it would be extorting us to vote for its candidate, lest this Hillary-> Clinton become elected and plunge the country into wars in the Middle East, let the big banks run roughshod on the economy, promote environmentally dangerous fracking worldwide, shutter American factories by shipping jobs to Mexico, and stall on medical marijuana until pharmaceutical companies can patent it.
For this extortion to work, I need to believe that the President Drumpf scenario is apocalyptic, and I just don't. (President Cruz, on the other hand, might work to extort me.) Donald Drumpf says outrageous things like a right-wing radio host or the old Morton Downey, Jr. show -- it's for the ratings. I don't believe Donald Drumpf even believes half the words coming out of his mouth. He's trolling the rabid GOP base for votes and after the primaries, his pivot to centrist moderate -- and even to the left of Hillary-> on some issues -- will once again stun the political pundits.
Drumpf's actually pissed off the anti-abortion right with positive defenses of Planned Parenthood you'll hear from no Republican. He rightly savages George W. Bush for ignoring the warnings that led to the 9/11 attacks and for lying about WMDs to get us into the Iraq War -- and was rewarded by Dubya-loving South Carolina with a huge victory. He's called for reining in the excesses of hedge fund managers and military spending.
Don't misunderstand me. Drumpf's an embarrassment to the country, not just the Republican Party, and his nakedly racist, Islamophobic, and misogynist rants are unfit for politics. But in a long-term view, Drumpf will govern so poorly and be so despised by both party's establishments he'll be just a one-term president. Pundits predict a Drumpf run equals a Democratic Senate, which can block any of Drumpf's SCOTUS nominees who want to overturn Roe v. Wade. (We #BernieorBust people aren't staying home; we'll be voting on the down-ticket races for Dems to obstruct a possible Drumpf Administration.)
But the long-term view of Clinton is one that spells disaster for any hope of aggressive progressivism not sanctioned by the establishment, like single payer health care, ending fracking, stopping drone wars, free public colleges, and federally descheduled marijuana. The hundred-fifty-million dollars net worth Hillary-> has earned thanks to the largess of Wall Street, Pharma, Defense, Private Prisons, and Energy wasn't for her inspiring speeches. She is bought and paid for and will work to further the one-percent agenda, while accepting what politically-beneficial-but-functionally-ineffective scraps of progressivism the one-percent will allow to provide the illusion of real change.
A President Hillary->, having proven that money, not principle, is the way to win election will further convince downticket Dems they, too, must abandon principle for money. With the power of incumbency and the withering of the GOP, she'll win a second term, and that rightward corporate slide of the Democratic party, proven successful by three straight two-term Centrist Dems, will be locked in.
We'll still be suffering from the major problems we suffer today, but President Hillary-> will extract minor concessions from the one-percent to be able to point to "progressive accomplishments". We'll still have boots on the ground in the Middle East... but Hillary-> will make some minor changes that improve the Veterans Administration. We'll suffer another banking/housing bubble burst... but Hillary-> will create some program to help with some of the pain of foreclosures. Americans will still suffer from medical bankruptcies... but Hillary-> will get a couple percentage points more people enrolled in Obamacare. Big money will still rule politics... but Hillary-> will win some level of disclosure for who's donating to what. Cannabis users will still be imprisoned for medical use... but Hillary-> will let GW Pharmaceuticals study how to put it in a bottle with a barcode. Wealth will still accumulate outrageously to the one-percent... but Hillary-> will inch our minimum wage up to $12 eventually.
There is a great political cartoon I've seen showing the ill-fated Titanic ship. Drumpf's at the back of the Titanic, pointing at the dangerous sharks in the ocean and screaming "We need to kill these sharks!" Hillary->'s at the front of the Titanic, explaining, "I'm the best captain here, I know all about how to run a ship!" Only Bernie is on the bow, screaming "ICEBERG!"
So, no, Rude Pundit, I will not shut the f*ck up and resign myself to voting for Hillary-> if Bernie doesn't become the nominee. I will write in Bernie Sanders so Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC can count exactly how may votes they lost by running a moderate Republican neocon warhawk for the presidency. If we reward the DNC for merely not being the knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing racist misogynist Islamophobes as they bow to the agenda of the one-percent, that's what they'll continue to be.