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Critiquing Bernie Sanders Isn’t the Same as Betraying Him
I didn’t have anywhere to live during the 2016 primaries, but if I’d had a permanent place of residence I would’ve definitely cast my vote for Bernie Sanders. I intend to make the same decision in 2020; I’ve been a type 1 diabetic since I was a year old, and as such I have a lot of skin in the Medicare For All game. And a great many of his other beliefs and ideas, like his general inclination towards ramping down US imperialism, hold a lot of water with me as a voter as well.
I like what the future of a Bernie Sanders presidency would probably hold. But increasingly, I really don’t like how the people I have to think of as my fellow voters are behaving about him. Any time his campaign hits a bump in the road, the baby explodes on contact with the window in an attempt to bail out the bathwater as quickly as possible. Saying he did something wrong is not the same as saying you don’t want to vote for him, and it’s time to stop thinking of all criticims of his campaign as a personal attack.
One of the beautiful things about being a progressive is that by nature, it’s a general ideology that gives you the freedom to hold people accountable when they mess up. This goes double and triple for leaders. You don’t, and shouldn’t, have to fall in lock-step when they make a mistake; you can let them and others know that they’re doing…
