Disillusioned, Disgruntled, and Disgusted- Why I May Never Trust Democrats Again
When I was 19, I voted in my first election. After so many years of growing frustrated with Bush 2: Electric Boogaloo, I was proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama because I was tired of society validating the harm the Republican Party has done to the country for most of my lifetime. I was naive then, and I knew it. I was wary even then of trusting either party as I worked to discover my political identity. And while I flip-flopped on my party affiliation over the years, I worked out that I couldn't stand with bigotry, theocracy, or showing political favor to the rich over the rest of society. I voted for Obama because he promised change.
Four years later, with almost no fundamental change to speak of, I voted for Obama again. I didn't do this because I believed the change he promised was being withheld through no fault of his own. I did so because I feared what would happen if we allow Mitt Romney to set back the progress Democrats made with the Affordable Care Act. But while I was eager to protect this law that I had personally benefited from, I watched as many people I knew continued to slip through the cracks.
Another four years later, I began to hope again. Bernie Sanders ran his first campaign and had revealed unprecedented support for most of my ideals. He convinced me that all of the things that I believe would constitute a better America can resonate with others. I have never thought his policy proposals were perfect or that his agenda would go far enough for my liking. But he represented a fair compromise between a better world and the status quo I had been so uncomfortable with as someone who grew up in poverty. But here, sadly, is where my disillusionment began. Voter disenfranchisement, closed primaries, limited debates, and manufactured consent crushed the political revolution that could have saved my faith in the Democratic Party. The status quo won and, although compromises were offered, it went to shit anyway when we elected Donald Trump. And since then, my attitude toward the party has gotten progressively worse.
The establishment that lined up to coronate Hillary Clinton decided, despite massive evidence to the contrary, that Bernie Sanders and his movement were the reason we have had to put up with four years of being led by a fascist. This outrage let up only when it was revealed that the widespread belief among leftists that the DNC sabotaged the election in order to pick the candidate who would serve the interests of the establishment were completely accurate. Then they decided to focus on Russia and the influence they had on the election. At no point during the last four years did the Democratic Party do any introspection. Nobody could entertain the possibility that they lost because they ran a flawed candidate and took their victory for granted because the other side was so much worse. The fact that Donald Trump ran to the left of Clinton on so many things didn't matter to them because they were lies. Of course they were lies. Anyone truly paying attention to Trump's 2016 campaign could have seen his abandonment of his most populist ideas coming once he came to power. But he proved that standing with the people and not just those who presume to know better because they've been financially bankrolling both parties fucking WORKS on election day.
I have been disgruntled ever since. Trump gave a promise that people wanted to hear--to uplift the working class and "drain the swamp"--and, even though it was obviously bullshit to most of the left at the time, it worked because the Democrats made no such promises. They rested on the laurels of Obama's presidency and LOST. That should have proven to them that the status quo doesn't work for a lot of people, which is why I maintained hope that 2020 would be different.
Fast forward to the current campaign and note the many disappointed tweets I've made about the primary election. After somehow managing to be surprised by the levels of villainy I had witnessed in the Trump administration, I was ready to do anything to send him packing. I could have voted for damn near any candidate in this primary to accomplish this goal At first, I was excluding only Mike Bloomberg because electing a billionaire racist to unseat a different billionaire racist wasn't worth validating a centrist campaign. But what gave me some hope was that Bernie was back in it again, the closest the Presidential field has ever had to a principled progressive in my lifetime has another shot. This could very well be his last shot and, since he lacks any experienced successors, the last shot for progressives.
So far, this primary has proved two things: 1) that Bernie's platform isn't radical and actually appeals to the majority of the country on every point and 2) that Democrats have not learned anything from 2016. The field was once again relatively full of centrists who monopolized the mainstream media platform to convince everyone that only a moderate could possibly beat Donald Trump. This is something they have already failed once to prove and the country has mostly fallen for it again. When Bernie began to win despite this, all of the centrists joined hands to prop up Joe Biden, who was a middling candidate before winning one of the few states in which he bothered to campaign. A few primary sweeps later, Joe Biden stands at the front of the race, leading by over 300 delegates. This was all the Democratic establishment needed to declare the race over despite the fact that a majority of states have yet to vote. They began to smear Bernie for rightfully staying in the race as it is all but assumed that Biden's surmountable lead is actually insurmountable.
Then President Trump announced that the coronavirus had become widespread in the States and we were facing an unprecedented emergency. What has happened since? Well, we have Trump who kept flip-flopping over whether to actually help everyone before going mask-off once again and just surrendering to the possibility of hundreds of thousands of deaths. Bernie has all but put his campaign on the back burner in order to direct his fundraising toward charities that aim to help people through this crisis and direct his loud voice to his job on the senate floor, shaming our elected officials into giving a fuck about poor and working class people who will be affected the most. Then we have Joe Biden, who barely interacted with the public at all. Every appearance he's made since the last primary debate has been tightly managed and yet he still failed to hide that he no longer has all of the marbles in his head. As far as true democrats are concerned, we're not supposed to point that out. What am I doing? aM i TrYiNg To hElP tRuMp WiN aGaIn? Whatever. it's probably fake news right? I must only be imagining this motherfucker wandering away from his own town halls mid-sentence and giving some of the cringiest interviews of the current election cycle.
What about Tara Reade? A former Biden staffer has given a very credible account of sexual assault by the presidential candidate (she's one of seven who have) and hardly anybody is talking about it. It was very convenient for Democrats to co-opt the #MeToo movement when trying to block one of Trump's Supreme Court nominees. Most of them would have argued that, whether the source is credible or not, every allegation deserves to be honestly vetted. But now that the allegations are against the democratic frontrunner, they don't deserve to be dignified with a response as far as they are concerned. Biden surrogates delete tweets about believing sexual assault survivors to mask the hypocrisy of ignoring the accusations against their preferred candidate. Those among Biden's supporters who even allow for the possibility of him being an actual racist try to argue that it shouldn't matter because Trump is a known rapist. Really? You're okay with the thought of having to choose one rapist over another? This is the choice you want to give to survivors of sexual assault? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
So now I'm disgusted, specifically by the shit that Democrats are so full of. I was willing to excuse the party before in the belief that only the leaders who've been influenced directly by corporate donors are the actual problem. But for weeks, I have watched as party loyalists jumped on the left-bashing bandwagon, ignoring how the realities of COVID-19 reveal the need for our ideals to take hold and that the flawed candidate they've aligned themselves with is no good to anyone in a crisis. Joe Biden has effectively won this race and these motherfuckers stuck in their victory lap still won't shut up about how Bernie is ruining their chances of taking the country back from Donald Trump. They do this because they know how weak Biden has become and, like in 2016, will refuse to take any responsibility for nominating a flawed candidate.
So take your "Vote Blue No Matter Who" and shove it up your asses, Democrats. I will be reserving all of my votes going forward exclusively for candidates that convince me they are willing to make things better with positive policy proposals. None of that "Lesser of Two Evils" crap for me. The GOP will always be evil in my mind, and letting fear of their policies convince us to validate any shitty candidate the supposed left-wing party deigns to refrain from sabotaging will never, ever save our society. And it will never again be on my mind.
Four years later, with almost no fundamental change to speak of, I voted for Obama again. I didn't do this because I believed the change he promised was being withheld through no fault of his own. I did so because I feared what would happen if we allow Mitt Romney to set back the progress Democrats made with the Affordable Care Act. But while I was eager to protect this law that I had personally benefited from, I watched as many people I knew continued to slip through the cracks.
Another four years later, I began to hope again. Bernie Sanders ran his first campaign and had revealed unprecedented support for most of my ideals. He convinced me that all of the things that I believe would constitute a better America can resonate with others. I have never thought his policy proposals were perfect or that his agenda would go far enough for my liking. But he represented a fair compromise between a better world and the status quo I had been so uncomfortable with as someone who grew up in poverty. But here, sadly, is where my disillusionment began. Voter disenfranchisement, closed primaries, limited debates, and manufactured consent crushed the political revolution that could have saved my faith in the Democratic Party. The status quo won and, although compromises were offered, it went to shit anyway when we elected Donald Trump. And since then, my attitude toward the party has gotten progressively worse.
The establishment that lined up to coronate Hillary Clinton decided, despite massive evidence to the contrary, that Bernie Sanders and his movement were the reason we have had to put up with four years of being led by a fascist. This outrage let up only when it was revealed that the widespread belief among leftists that the DNC sabotaged the election in order to pick the candidate who would serve the interests of the establishment were completely accurate. Then they decided to focus on Russia and the influence they had on the election. At no point during the last four years did the Democratic Party do any introspection. Nobody could entertain the possibility that they lost because they ran a flawed candidate and took their victory for granted because the other side was so much worse. The fact that Donald Trump ran to the left of Clinton on so many things didn't matter to them because they were lies. Of course they were lies. Anyone truly paying attention to Trump's 2016 campaign could have seen his abandonment of his most populist ideas coming once he came to power. But he proved that standing with the people and not just those who presume to know better because they've been financially bankrolling both parties fucking WORKS on election day.
I have been disgruntled ever since. Trump gave a promise that people wanted to hear--to uplift the working class and "drain the swamp"--and, even though it was obviously bullshit to most of the left at the time, it worked because the Democrats made no such promises. They rested on the laurels of Obama's presidency and LOST. That should have proven to them that the status quo doesn't work for a lot of people, which is why I maintained hope that 2020 would be different.
Fast forward to the current campaign and note the many disappointed tweets I've made about the primary election. After somehow managing to be surprised by the levels of villainy I had witnessed in the Trump administration, I was ready to do anything to send him packing. I could have voted for damn near any candidate in this primary to accomplish this goal At first, I was excluding only Mike Bloomberg because electing a billionaire racist to unseat a different billionaire racist wasn't worth validating a centrist campaign. But what gave me some hope was that Bernie was back in it again, the closest the Presidential field has ever had to a principled progressive in my lifetime has another shot. This could very well be his last shot and, since he lacks any experienced successors, the last shot for progressives.
So far, this primary has proved two things: 1) that Bernie's platform isn't radical and actually appeals to the majority of the country on every point and 2) that Democrats have not learned anything from 2016. The field was once again relatively full of centrists who monopolized the mainstream media platform to convince everyone that only a moderate could possibly beat Donald Trump. This is something they have already failed once to prove and the country has mostly fallen for it again. When Bernie began to win despite this, all of the centrists joined hands to prop up Joe Biden, who was a middling candidate before winning one of the few states in which he bothered to campaign. A few primary sweeps later, Joe Biden stands at the front of the race, leading by over 300 delegates. This was all the Democratic establishment needed to declare the race over despite the fact that a majority of states have yet to vote. They began to smear Bernie for rightfully staying in the race as it is all but assumed that Biden's surmountable lead is actually insurmountable.
Then President Trump announced that the coronavirus had become widespread in the States and we were facing an unprecedented emergency. What has happened since? Well, we have Trump who kept flip-flopping over whether to actually help everyone before going mask-off once again and just surrendering to the possibility of hundreds of thousands of deaths. Bernie has all but put his campaign on the back burner in order to direct his fundraising toward charities that aim to help people through this crisis and direct his loud voice to his job on the senate floor, shaming our elected officials into giving a fuck about poor and working class people who will be affected the most. Then we have Joe Biden, who barely interacted with the public at all. Every appearance he's made since the last primary debate has been tightly managed and yet he still failed to hide that he no longer has all of the marbles in his head. As far as true democrats are concerned, we're not supposed to point that out. What am I doing? aM i TrYiNg To hElP tRuMp WiN aGaIn? Whatever. it's probably fake news right? I must only be imagining this motherfucker wandering away from his own town halls mid-sentence and giving some of the cringiest interviews of the current election cycle.
What about Tara Reade? A former Biden staffer has given a very credible account of sexual assault by the presidential candidate (she's one of seven who have) and hardly anybody is talking about it. It was very convenient for Democrats to co-opt the #MeToo movement when trying to block one of Trump's Supreme Court nominees. Most of them would have argued that, whether the source is credible or not, every allegation deserves to be honestly vetted. But now that the allegations are against the democratic frontrunner, they don't deserve to be dignified with a response as far as they are concerned. Biden surrogates delete tweets about believing sexual assault survivors to mask the hypocrisy of ignoring the accusations against their preferred candidate. Those among Biden's supporters who even allow for the possibility of him being an actual racist try to argue that it shouldn't matter because Trump is a known rapist. Really? You're okay with the thought of having to choose one rapist over another? This is the choice you want to give to survivors of sexual assault? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
So now I'm disgusted, specifically by the shit that Democrats are so full of. I was willing to excuse the party before in the belief that only the leaders who've been influenced directly by corporate donors are the actual problem. But for weeks, I have watched as party loyalists jumped on the left-bashing bandwagon, ignoring how the realities of COVID-19 reveal the need for our ideals to take hold and that the flawed candidate they've aligned themselves with is no good to anyone in a crisis. Joe Biden has effectively won this race and these motherfuckers stuck in their victory lap still won't shut up about how Bernie is ruining their chances of taking the country back from Donald Trump. They do this because they know how weak Biden has become and, like in 2016, will refuse to take any responsibility for nominating a flawed candidate.
So take your "Vote Blue No Matter Who" and shove it up your asses, Democrats. I will be reserving all of my votes going forward exclusively for candidates that convince me they are willing to make things better with positive policy proposals. None of that "Lesser of Two Evils" crap for me. The GOP will always be evil in my mind, and letting fear of their policies convince us to validate any shitty candidate the supposed left-wing party deigns to refrain from sabotaging will never, ever save our society. And it will never again be on my mind.
Hell yeah!
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