I just read this comment in another diary.
“The analogy I have with Bernie is if you invite someone into your home and then they take over and trying to run YOU out of your own house.”
Yes. This is exactly what it’s like. And that’s what bothers me so much about Bernie right now.
To me, Bernie is the guy who never got married because he couldn’t commit but then turned 40 and realized he was all alone, but instead of finding someone to start a family with, he pursues a married woman.
A woman who has been married for just over 20 years and the youngest kid is just about on their way to start college. She and her husband have their problems, but they love each other and they are learning to focus on each other again after raising a family together. But it’s hard. They were married young, because she got pregnant. They struggled a lot early on, because they were poor. But after a lot of sacrifices and a lot of fights they figured out how to make it work and pull ahead and now that their kids are moving out they finally have another chance to have a life together. But there is a lot of work to be done to rebuild their relationship. There is a lot of hurt to heal. It’s really hard for both of them, but they love each other and they want to be together. It was really scary for a while there, but if they don’t give up on each other, they are going to make it.
That’s the Democratic party to me. Is it perfect? No. Has it fucked up? Yes. But it’s also a wonderful party that has done incredible things including electing the first black President and after a lot of ups and downs it’s really finally feeling like it’s on it’s way to being a truly great party again.
And just as that is happening, along comes Bernie. He knows how to push all of the buttons pointing out all of the imperfections and fuck ups and pain and he promises a wonderful future and there is no history with him of struggling and fighting and your kids have really seem to like him and it is so tempting to just walk away from a painful difficult history and start over with someone new.
There was a reply to that comment I quoted above.
Yes, party loyalty should come before anything else.
When I read that I felt sick to my stomach. Loyalty being talked about as if it were a weakness instead of a strength.
I have liked Bernie for years. Since around 2007/8. But I have never liked that he is running for the nomination of our party. It didn’t seem right to me, since he’s been an independent for 40 years. But I have really not liked how he has treated this party as he has run. Throwing everyone under the bus who stands in his way.
My wife and I have been married for over 15 years. In the first few years, we moved to a big city for me to get a programming job and for her to go to college. I didn’t get one right away, so, we both ended up getting shift manager jobs at a video store chain. It was a hard time for us, because we were very poor and in a new city all alone and we ended up working opposite shifts from each other, so, we bare saw each other for months.
My wife and I had pretty different approaches to running shifts. She was by the book and I was more relaxed. She got everything done on time. I made the store a lot of money by making friends with all the customers. My boss quit and for a while her boss ran my store as well. He was a pretty good looking guy who flirted with the girls who worked at the store a lot. He didn’t particularly care for my style, but my shifts made more money than any other store in the city and he was stretched pretty thin, so, he just let it go. At least with me.
With my wife he started talking shit about me. He had already tried flirting with her and it hadn’t really worked out for him. He was the kind of guy who didn’t take that as a hint. He took it as a challenge. He just tried harder and part of how he tried was to try to put a wedge between her and I. He actually pressed her for why she was with me. I didn’t know this was happening at the time, because… well, because she didn’t want me to walk into the store and knock him the fuck out… but she told me months later when I left.
I have never hated anyone in my life, but I came pretty close with that guy. He wanted something, so he fucked with my marriage to try to get it. I didn’t really have anything to worry about, because my wife loves me. But I still felt violated. For her, for having to endure that from her boss. But also for me, because he was fucking with the most important relationship in my life. I love my wife with everything in me and going through those hard times was part of our life together. We knew there would be hard times and we committed to helping each other through them.
I like Bernie a lot. But I really resent how he treats the people in this party as he pursues becoming President. I am sure he really believes that he’s going to be the best President and that he’s going to lead a movement to change this country. But he’s shitting all over people who have been working together for decades to try to make this country better. People who have done incredible good. He concedes that we did some good with a wave of his hand before he says how much better he can do it. I feel like he’s just this guy who thinks he can show up and take whatever he wants without any regard for anyone else and what they have built together for decades.
Bernie has enjoyed being single for the last 4 decades. He’s worked with us, but he has never had to join us and commit to us and struggle with us and fight with us and soul search with us and change with us. He’s just always been perfect. He’s always been better than us. That’s what he says to our faces. And now he wants to show up after all these decades and lead this party when he doesn’t even know how to be a member of a party.
Is this party flawed? Has it failed? Has it fucked up? Yes.
But we did it together. Together.
And Bernie could have been a part of us, but he didn’t want to be. Not until he wanted the most powerful job in the world.
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