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Bernie Or Bust: A Moral Dilemma Or A Capitulation?

May 04, 2016
by Caroline Miller
Bernie or Bust, Bernie Sanders, consequences of a write-in protest, moral pique in voters
6 Comments

Having spent 9 years in public life, I know something about that spotlight.  Politics is the one forum where one needs no credentials to chart a course for society.  One needs only to be in the right place at the right time and have access to money. The situation would be funny, as it is of our making, except the consequences that follow can devastate millions of lives, not only in our country but around the globe.

Still, there are those who treat the democratic process lightly, refusing to participate in the upcoming election if their candidate doesn’t prevail in the primary.  A matter of conscience, they insist, as if the rest of us who soldier on have never suffered an election disappointment or were incapable of conscience.  One woman on Facebook explained, “I couldn’t participate.  I have to vote with my heart.”  I cringed.  Isn’t that why men argued against the suffragette movement:  women were too emotional for politics? 

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Courtesy of facebook.com

Sadly, nothing destroys a democracy faster — not bankers, not political bosses, not corrupt politicians – than citizens who in a moral pique worthy of ISIS refuse to compromise and either threaten to abandon the ballot box or engage in a pyrrhic write-in protest.  When these righteous refuse to  support a candidate of similar persuasion, being too refined to be contaminated by compromise, they open the floodgates to ideas abhorrent to them.

I wish I could afford to live in the rarefied atmosphere of the pure in heart.  But, like any soldier, I serve my country best when I stand by it in its troubled hour.  Too much is at stake: the fate of migrants, women’s rights, health care, the choice of Supreme Court justices, protection for minorities and the poor, gun control, Black Lives Matter…  The list is endless.  Walk away you high minded people if you must.  But tell me, tell me truly, where is your heart?

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6 Comments
  1. Anne Morin May 4, 2016 at 9:30 am Reply
    Yes to every word here, Carolyn. I do not like the write-in idea. There is the scent of Bernie changing out of his Democratic clothes and changing into something he's more comfortable in because he is not a true Democrat.
    • Caroline Miller May 4, 2016 at 11:17 am Reply
      Thanks Anne. I've lost a couple of subscribers over this blog, but so be it. I have no quarrel with Sanders and would vote for him if he were the nominee, but I do wonder that the purists don't see a tiny whiff of opportunism in Bernie's death bed conversion to the Democrats. Having co opted their platform, he's been complaining about the long standing practice of closed primaries and now, after months of accusing the super delegates of being "party bosses," he appeals to them for support. Sorry, but I'm looking for a little consistency from a would-be president.
  2. Janet May 5, 2016 at 1:52 pm Reply
    I am also in agreement with your sentiments. But not surprised that some have decided that it's a wiser course to hold their vote in their pocket since I have heard this from some of my friends. But I do hope that they remember that their vote stands for hopefully supporting a direction that includes potentially 2 future nominees to the Supreme Court. There is so much at stake.
    • Caroline Miller May 5, 2016 at 2:28 pm Reply
      Perhaps you could tell your friends that it's okay to hate the sinner but vote for people her policies will protect.
  3. ALC May 5, 2016 at 6:01 pm Reply
    I agree wholeheartedly with what you say and share your angst about the end result if the self-righteous refuse to vote.
    • Caroline Miller May 5, 2016 at 6:08 pm Reply
      We can only hope after the anger dies down, reason will prevail.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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