Why I Don't Like Bernie Sanders: A Reasonable Explanation
Every election season, there’s a tiff between top presidential candidates—just the most popular ones because who gives a shit about the ones who don’t have a chance, right? It’s par for the course and fueled by a mass media that, against the greater good, creates a culture of divisiveness and fear. In this case, Russian bots, CNN and other news outlets are succeeding at alienating the first real female contender we’ve seen since Hilary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, two democrats who share similar values and an unwavering desire for structural change, have been reduced to bickering gladiators in Colosseum style presidential debates, flanked by centrist corpse puppet Joe Biden, and a businessman who bought himself airtime, among others.
“Microaggression is a term used for brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative prejudicial slights and insults toward any group, particularly culturally marginalized groups.”
I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary, and I voted for Hilary when she won the nomination because I’m not an asshole or a purist and remained of the mind that literally any democrat was better than a Trump presidency. I listened to my “Bernie-bro” friends who voted for Jill Stein or refused to vote at all when Bernie ceded his nomination. In 2020, I will vote for any democratic nominee, even Joe Biden, because the Republican party, as a whole, is a disgrace and any step away from the impending apocalypse is a step in the right direction.
This show was much better than the debate.
I watched the most recent democratic debate on a plane from California to Massachusetts but only made it through about 20 minutes before switching to Jim Carrey’s new show about a children’s television star a-la Mister Rogers who is slowly losing his mind after the death of his son. You know, something more lighthearted. The debates become exponentially more disastrous and nonsensical as time goes on, but the moderators unabashedly stoked a nonexistent fire and appeared to successfully place the final wedge between Sanders and Warren, as evidenced in Liz’s handshake diss at the end of the night. They asked Bernie why, in 2018, he told Elizabeth Warren during a private conversation, that a woman could not win the presidential election, and when he denied ever uttering the phrase, they panned to Liz and asked how she felt about Bernie saying that a woman could not win the election. It would have been in her best interest to dodge that question or shut the moderator down. Instead she walked into a trap meant to boost ratings and create headlines. Even if Sanders never uttered that explicit phrase, I’m certain that he believes the sentiment. And when Biden and Sanders expanded on their alleged sexist comments, they both acknowledged that the presidency of the United States is not determined by gender, color or sexuality. But they also insisted that the future of the U.S. depends on careful strategizing and/ or revolution; that they are the most qualified and we (the collective ‘we’) shouldn’t take any ‘unnecessary risks’ (code for electing a woman) if we want to get rid of Trump.
I hadn’t seen my dog in over a week when my friends dropped him off last night. He’s an old guy with a weird body; a mash-up of bloodhound, beagle and German shepherd with a small head and beer gut. Strangers stop us all the time because he’s cute, old and awkward. When I saw him after my vacation, I saw him the way that those strangers see him. Distance removes the blinders sometimes.
The reality that my dog is overweight, and aging, is a useful metaphor to elaborate on my disdain for men during election years. Elizabeth Warren lost credibility and points by acknowledging sexism and Bernie Sanders is once again heralded the one true savior of our democracy. The point is, Bernie and Joe don’t have to say ‘A woman can’t be elected president’ in order for it to be true. Microaggressions exist in behavior, sentiment, gestures, attitudes, expressions and actions. Biden can team up with Lady Gaga and give heartfelt speeches about empowering women, but he still hasn’t apologized to Anita Hill and has no sense of personal space. Sanders, however, has consistently been on the right side of history, fighting for social justice and human rights, but he, too, has no respect for personal space, and gesticulates wildly—sometimes in women’s faces. He interrupts women and disregards them by making himself the lone champion of revolution. Just because Sanders’ supporters don’t notice this behavior does not mean that it—or the implicit double standard in a gesture or tone—does not exist. And this kind of blind idolatry comes at the expense of treating microaggressions as feelings to be swept under the rug. I can believe my dog is thin and spry when I’m around him every day, but it doesn’t mean he’s not a chunky senior. I see him clearly when I leave the protective bubble of our life and return with new an unbiased outlook.
I firmly believe that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are capable candidates with the potential to create the structural change they speak so passionately about. An important piece of revolutionary structural change is dismantling white, male, heteropatriarchy, so why would I willingly vote for another old white man? I’ve been saying this since the 2016 election: I would have more respect for Bernie as a progressive candidate (or any white male candidate) if he were more intent on unifying the democratic party or emboldening minority candidates; or if he supported Elizabeth Warren, presently. Although my political stance is more anarchic than progressive, I’m rooting for Liz and will continue to patiently await the decline of white men and the proliferation of equal representation at all levels of government.