This is looking back at the more or less concluded Democratic nomination process and why I hope that all of the Bernie nation will now be solidly behind Biden for President. Bernie Sanders AND his supporters Must fall in line and give MAX support to the Biden campaign. With all that is happening in the Country today, no one can be on the sidelines, you MUST pick a side. The differences between the Biden and Bernie camps remain. As the nation grapples with the Covid 19, these differences has been overtaken by more pressing issues, BUT they must not be forgotten as come November we MUST present a united front to checkmate the Republicans as bad as things are it is far from game over for Trump!
Might I take this moment to see if one can reason with you all? I hear through the grapevine that the Bernie movement will stay home or even worse some might vote from Trump as Bernie did not secure the nomination. Come let us gist and reason together for a minute. 5 points to bring to your attention:
A regards getting to the convention and with the most votes and being handed the nomination: Wait Oga, I begi, no sir, we not gree. Haba Mallam! Why...Well two points, Now remember when your man ram against Hillary in 2016, in case you forgot here was the delegate count BEFORE any Super delegate votes were cast: Delegates Won- Hillary: 2205 Bernie: 1846 So as we can see, coming into the convention, your man was losing and did not ask that the nomination be handed automatically to Madam Clinton at the time, so what has changed now? Especially after the Dems have allowed the first vote without the super delegates? Nah wayo be dat folks!
Dis "Movement" you were shouting about... I know The Bernie folk and Bernie himself love to say this is a "movement" well no so fast dude, why? The party elections have shown that there really is no Bernie "Movement" taking place. Bidens' showing in North Carolina is what seems like ages ago ended the apparent "Movement" narrative for Bernie. Looking back, four states voted prior to North Carolina, taking a quick look at the Benie's track record and what it means; Iowa: Bernie worn 26.2% of the vote, meaning 73.8% voted against him, In New Hampshire, he won 25.6% of the votes and lost 74.4% of the voters, and finally in Nevada, he won 46.8% of the vote but that means that 53.2% another majority of the voters voted against him. So lets be fair, YES he did extremely well! But lets also be real, those were NOT the results of a "movement". Thank God the media has stopped trying to confuse us and make it look like Biden did not have max support!
Winning the nomination and winning White House are far from one and the same. I am hoping you all know that the is by and large the Country was until recently split down the middle. And the MIDDLE will determine who wins the election. in 2016, Donald Trump won the middle. Trump won his core 30-40% GOP vote and that will very much be the same in November. Covid 19 has helped define Trumps 40% support, we see daily on social media, those that refuse to adhere to the CDC guidelines, the Karen's and others who refuse to act intelligently to save all our lives. If Bernie had won the nomination, you all are still just about 30-40% of the overall vote. So you will CERTAINLY need some GOP Obama (Biden) voters (Thank you Lincoln Project) and large chunks of Independents like myself to vote for Bernie and to be honest so long as he keeps on this Medicare for all madness he could not get my vote.
How about if he had changed his message? If I dig up some of my very old political commentary, I have always believed in what I call Social Capitalism. Too many Americans simply fear the word Socialism and from my vantage point, many point out we do have many socialist services like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. BUT the big difference is there are other alternatives for those who so desire to have other alternatives. The Untied States of America is a Capitalist county and that is what has given it strength over the years. Life needs to be more fair that it is today but life by nature is unfair, the fact and truth is that life has always been about the the survival of the fittest! The strong survive and the weak do not do so well. How about a more palatable collection of programs that maintain Capitalism but strengthen its social baseline? Examples? Student Debt: Yes have the government take on and forgive student debt, have government INVEST in universities, but free college for everyone? A total and complete disaster! Go and visit University of Ibadan or Ife or Lagos and see. Medicare for all? Heck NO!? But how about this, first I agree negotiate with big Pharma and others to bring down the cost of healthcare then improve Obamacare, how? YES indeed feel free to tax the 1% but take that money and give the 99% of us a yearly STIPEND that can ONLY be spent on healthcare services. How easy can this be? Guess what we already have out HSA's and FSA accounts, how about the Federal Government allocate a specific amount of funds to each family from the government coffers and we still keep our employee based health care and if we like we can opt out and join Bidencare or whatever the heck the revised plan will be. Win / Win as I see it, Bernie gets to fight and beat big Phama and the medical lobby and I still get to keep my employer based health care which I like.
Lastly, we will maintain the love for the Bernie bros, but it could waiver... lets be clear, I, like many cannot for the life of me vote for Donald Trump, it is a total and complete impossibility (even is my dreams impossicant!) . Me, from my shithole County of origin to this wonderful nation to which I am so grateful! Nope, never, sam sam, BUT! It should not be mistaken that siting out this election is an option. It is absolutely NOT an option. Sitting out this election is a vote for Trump. The issue is if Bernie Bros and Siatas do NOT unite behind Biden, the more a guy like me might just decide to simply stay home and prepare myself for the madness that is to come with a Trump second term. So for the Bernie bros and sistas we love you all, but as you didn't make it, you MUST return the love, as make no mistake, we can win this election without you, but we will MUCH rather win this election WITH you all by our side despite our differences. We certainly can win the general election without you and that will be very sad to see that happen as at the end of the day, we have more in common compared to our differences. We might just have a different way of trying to get to the same end goal or finish line, A more united and equal America which is why protests continue from Portland and all around the nation.