Bernie Sanders, revisited

It has been a long campaign.
When Senator Sanders announced his bid for the Presidency more than a year ago, I wrote this:

I have, once or twice, spoken well of former senator H. Clinton in these pages. In my opinion, she did good work as secretary of state [I would no longer characterize what she did to the people of Libya and Syria as "good work"] and in some of the other gigs on her resume (the United Nations, U.S. Senate, First Lady). And there was a time when I really liked her husband. I voted for him twice, with enthusiasm.

But since those days, in my opinion Bill and Hillary have sold out to the Wall Street bankers. There is probably not a better political mind on this earth than Bill C.'s, and perhaps the two of them recognize that H. cannot be elected without large piles of corporate money.

Since announcing her candidacy, Hillary has sounded like a progressive. In my humble opinion, she is lying. As president, she will be no more progressive than President Obama. For all his talk of "hope" and "change," he likewise has been a subservient tool of Wall Street.

But Bernie Sanders? He is the real thing.

It is not, in truth, altogether “done.” Ms. Clinton still needs all of her “superdelegates” to fulfill their pledges to vote for her at the Democratic Convention next month, for without them – that is, the smug, comfortable political establishment – she does not have enough delegates to be nominated. I would be surprised if Senator Sanders can get any of them to come over to his side.

The Sanders campaign has sent daily e-mails to their financial supporters – the millions of people who have given small contributions, on average less than $30. From today’s e-mail, following last night’s results:

You ask anyone running for office what they hate most about it, and I guarantee that virtually every single candidate will say that it's raising money.

The way that you have helped me run for president is absolutely unprecedented. I get to talk to voters, while my opponent has to talk to donors.

The candidates we're endorsing for other races are seeing similar results. We funded state legislative candidates' entire campaigns through one email. We completely transformed several congressional races because of your generosity….

What we are proving… is that it is possible to take back our country from the billionaire class. It is possible to stop millionaires and billionaires from buying our democracy. And we can do it $27 at a time.

I have supported some of these candidates with small donations, alongside my financial support for Bernie Sanders. I think that this may be the direction that Sanders wants to take the progressive movement that he has kickstarted.

Our state, Iowa, had a primary election yesterday. Not for president -- that was all done at the Caucuses -- but for the U.S. Senate and Congressional seats, and local offices. For the three open seats on the county Board of Supervisors, there was a “Sanders slate” – three candidates who had been Sanders precinct captains in February. Two of them were elected as the Democratic nominees.

It is a start.


I do hereby pledge that I will never vote for Hillary Clinton.
Not even if Sanders calls on his supporters to do so.
Not even if my vote were the deciding vote that gave the election to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump strikes a responsive chord in me, with his scorn for political correctness and establishment politics. But I do not sense that this responsive chord is of the Spirit; quite otherwise, when one considers some of his views.

I will consider voting for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein. She appears to be a good and honorable person, and my political views align with the Greens, more so than with the Democrats (especially as they are nowadays).

Most likely, I will write in “Bernie Sanders.”
I think a lot of people will do that.

I was bitterly angry this morning as I read the news reports, especially Sanders’ loss in California, and the gloating commentaries in the mainstream media. A lot of Sanders supporters are angry. Many of them were already alienated from the political process, but saw this as one last chance to have a voice in the manner in which America is governed.

And then I looked across to the photo of Robert E. Lee that is on my desk, a photo taken after he had suffered a defeat far worse and more final.

I think it is the duty of every citizen, in the present condition of the Country, to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony. It is particularly incumbent upon those charged with the instruction of the young to set them an example. (from a letter to the trustees of Washington College, where Mr. Lee was serving as President after the War)

And I looked at a quote on a magnet attached to my filing cabinet, from another great leader whose cause fell to defeat and whose people continue to suffer from it:

Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children (Sitting Bull, 1877)

Wednesday morning is one of the times appointed for the Great Litany. Thus, I sang it at the end of Matins, as is my custom. This day, I appended the Supplication (BCP p. 154), which is “for use… especially in times of war, or of national anxiety, or of disaster.”

I do not think that this is going to end well.

We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities; and, for the glory of thy Name, turn from us all those evils that we most justly have deserved; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living, to thy honor and glory; through our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP p. 155)