Senator Sanders:
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I have been talking and writing about income inequality (and its impact on both our country and my industry) for years. I was thrilled to see that issue move from “un-American communism” to smack in the middle of the national conversation, and for that, I have Bernie Sanders to thank. I wrote in April that you had already accomplished all you were going to accomplish this election cycle, but what you had accomplished was breathtaking. That this movement MUST continue, MUST succeed, for the good of the nation. I sit here as a Jewish woman stunned by three things I never believed would happen– a serious Jewish candidate, a woman as the presumptive Democratic nominee, and one of the most important issues facing our country suddenly on the table.
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This is a massively historic moment.
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Senator Sanders, I sincerely thank you. And I sincerely hope you don’t let your personal political aspirations destroy a movement that literal lives are depending on. Now that you have the nation’s ear, you can do so much more about economic injustice from your Senate seat than you can as POTUS. POTUS has a zillion issues to contend with, but economic justice can be your legacy. Return to the Senate. Build coalitions– work with people, compromise, win people over– push legislation that makes sense, that will actually pass. Make incremental progress every moment until you can no longer fight. THAT’S where we need you– not in the seat that signs or vetoes, but in the seat that WRITES.
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Stop refusing to stump for downticket races unless they have endorsed your presidential bid first– those people on the ground will be your left and right hands in this movement going forward. You need them. We ALL need them. Change begins at the grassroots level.
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Please, please do not sacrifice this movement– one of the most important political movements of our lifetimes– on the altar of your political ambition. WE NEED YOU WRITING BILLS IN THE SENATE and then using the political clout you’ve gained over the past year to get them passed and signed. You’re focusing on continuing to push forward in a lost primary in order to gain power to influence a platform that’s essentially just a wishlist when you could be focusing instead on the actual legislation that will make those wishes a reality.
Please, please do not sacrifice this movement– one of the most important political movements of our lifetimes– on the altar of your political ambition. WE NEED YOU WRITING BILLS IN THE SENATE and then using the political clout you’ve gained over the past year to get them passed and signed. You’re focusing on continuing to push forward in a lost primary in order to gain power to influence a platform that’s essentially just a wishlist when you could be focusing instead on the actual legislation that will make those wishes a reality.
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The issue of economic injustice and the way it has prevented our nation from achieving anything like the equality and hope we say we stand for is the point upon which turns an America that means something and an America that happily disenfranchises women, people of color, the disabled, LGBTQ people, and many more. Either we approach this issue intersectionally, tirelessly, and immediately, or we become a third world nation. That’s what’s at stake, and Senator Sanders, you are our best hope. We desperately need you in the Senate, writing bills and using your newfound clout to pass them. America has given you an immense gift– more power than 99.999999% of the people in this nation. Use it where we need you most.
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Senator Sanders, you could permanently change the nation for the better if you use your power and fame wisely. Or you could throw everything you worked for away and leave the American people who need you in the Senate– who need you drafting legislation and getting it passed– hanging because you want the big chair despite losing the election.
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I know it’s hard to lose. But we’re counting on you. You currently occupy one of the most elite, powerful seats in the nation. Go sit in it and make things happen. Change America for the better. You already have this power. Please use it for the good of the country. The primaries are all but over, but your Senate seat is empty. That’s where we need you.
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Senator Sanders, please return to the Senate and start the hard work of leading a movement to save this nation. You already have so much power. You don’t need more to get this work done.
Bitter Gertrude 
As someone who has contributed time, money and shoe leather to the Sanders campaign, I am planning to vote for Hilary. Not because I am crazy about her, but because I want that other candidate, the fascist, retired from public life. I agree with you that Senator Sanders may still have a very productive career ahead of him in the Senate. We must make sure that he is a member of the majority in Congress.
Anyone who *says* they stumped for Bernie would NEVER vote #WallStreetClinton for President. Methinks you really don’t understand the Sanders movement. And if Bernie really will vote for Hillary, he doesn’t either.
Yes!!
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As always, thanks so much for your badass commentary on the world.
Spot on, as usual.
I really love your insight and appreciate your mastery of expression, esp around the arts. And I read this missive with an admittedly jaundiced eye. As a mid century feminist, I’m amazed to have lived under the first fine black president and the first fine female democratic nominee. They both have their faults, plenty, but it’s fulfilling.
I’ve been around for all of Sanders political career. Its always great to have him rabble rousing in the Senate, although he hasn’t accomplished much, his political sentiment was aligned with my own.
Now Sanders has a big task ahead of him. So do his followers. It means truly galvanizing into grassroots organizations that work within the system, out in the world, in the belly of the beast and bring needed change. Not only complain, troll and blow up others on the internet using misogynistic slurs. It’s damn hard work, it takes years of fails and successes, it takes compromise and boldness in the face of perceived power. But here’s the thing, Bernie will not be leading this revolution. Bernie seems not to have leadership skills beyond his own ego, witnessing his stubborn behaviour past and certainly present.
So you’re right to ask: will needed moments result from Bernies campaign? Will he build effective relationships in the Senate to move the people’s agendas? That’s the hope of many.
I welcome it, the Bernie bros, etc, if they’re willing to work shoulder to shoulder . Because that’s how revolution works. That’s why Hillary is a viable candidate who truly will alter the course of our nation. Whether Bernie follows, leads or not is his choice to make. But he’s obviously bitter, and a staunch lone wolf, and not much can come from that.
It’s unfortunate that my comment yesterday which isn’t as glowing as the posts you’ve allowed here, isn’t posted. But then, your blog? Your rules! Freedom to speak as long as you like what’s said, I guess.
I approve all comments, even dissenting ones, that do not use racial slurs, gendered slurs, or other disrepectful terms and that are not openly attacking, hostile, name-calling, etc. Your usage of gendered slurs is what kept your comment yesterday from being posted.
Then in the interest of public discourse, please educate us all and post the term you refer to as a “gendered slur” as it would have been the first one I’ve ever used in my 58 years….!
Happily. I have no plans to post comments that use “prostitute” or “whore” to demean women, whether they are politicians, their supporters, or your mom. (You wrote: “candidates who’s [sic] agenda is not focused on the corporate prostitution.”) I also refuse to approve comments that attack me personally (or anyone else for that matter), which was another reason your comment was not approved.
The only reason I’m leaving this thread up is that it saves me from having to post a “this is my blog; here are the rules, etc” postscript above. They are tiresome.
For the record, I also do not approve comments containing conspiracy theories, propaganda, and factually inaccurate information posing as counter arguments. Since this is my personal blog, I’m the arbiter of what those terms mean. On your blog, you can define them however you like.