Dear Tell All: I learned everything I know about progressive principles from my dad. He’s volunteered for every good liberal cause of the past 40 years, from nuclear disarmament to gay rights to affordable health care. As a recent college graduate, he voted for the liberal third-party candidate Barry Commoner for president in 1980 rather than support the conservative Democrat Jimmy Carter. He voted for the man of integrity, Ralph Nader, over compromised Democrat Al Gore in 2000.
My dad’s progressivism is legendary in our west-side neighborhood, which is why people we know are puzzled by his vocal support of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. I’m puzzled too. He acknowledges that he agrees with Sanders on every issue and disapproves of Clinton’s history of pandering to win mainstream approval — see her vote in favor of the Iraq War and her longtime opposition to same-sex marriage.
His main argument is that “Hillary can win.” Well, okay, but you could have said the same thing about Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and he’s the one who brought us the escalation of the war in Vietnam. What good is it if a Democrat wins and then makes terrible choices that would do a conservative Republican proud?
To put it another way: How did Hillary Clinton manage to kidnap my dad?
Bern-ed
Dear Bern-ed: When no one was looking, your dad appears to have turned into a realist. That has been known to happen as people get older. I don’t know your dad, but I do know American history over the past few decades, so I can guess where he’s coming from.
What did his protest vote for Barry Commoner get him in 1980? Eight years of Ronald Reagan’s conservative administration. What did his protest vote for Ralph Nader get him in 2000? Eight years of George W. Bush’s even more conservative administration, including a military quagmire and an economic collapse.
I’m not saying your dad was wrong to vote his conscience back then, and I’m not saying you are wrong to support the principled candidacy of Bernie Sanders now. Idealism in the face of long odds can be a wondrous thing; see the abolitionists of the early 1800s. But if Bernie doesn’t get the Democratic nomination, and his supporters fail to summon up necessary enthusiasm for Hillary, a realist would understand that Republicans come out ahead. Something similar happened in 2000, when just enough progressives turned up their noses at the Democratic nominee after feeling let down by compromises in the Clinton-Gore administration.
I’d suggest cutting your dad some slack, Bern-ed. After what he’s lived through, can you blame him for preferring the sound of “President Clinton” to the sound of “President Cruz”?
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