Hi Holly, someone shared your post with me and I want to start by saying you’re a great writer. I love your passion and I can’t wait to see where you come out at the end of this election cycle.

However I want to speak to some of your points as someone who is indeed a lifelong Democrat and a current Hillary supporter — though I’ve never been anti-Bernie. I simply think she’s a better candidate for president.

1) You write: “These are invariably Liberals (with a capital L) who have so long been socialized in a political environment where Not Republican = morality. To them, morality is voting for the best Democratic candidate and by best, they mean most electable.”

Just as you know yourself to be smart and capable of making decisions based on facts and thoughtful consideration, I have to say, I find it dismissive to insinuate that I am any different; or that anyone supporting Hillary does so because of some moral deficit within or simply because she is “not a Republican.” Yes, electability matters, but it’s hardly the only qualification she has for president. It’s also why Hillary had a strong, supportive base long before Bernie even came along or we talked about “electability” in any sort of comparative context. (Also, good lord, I hope there’s no one out there assuming that every single Democrat has some sort of lock on morality. Oof.)

2) You’re mainly supporting your premise with lots of disproven attack lines (“she sent millions of black kids to prison / thanked Nancy Reagan for letting people die of AIDS”) although doing so with some kickass snarky writing.

This is not the whole story; just the spin. Dig deeper. There’s a reason that AIDS activists, LGBT advocates and Black leaders who support HRC have been able to express why, and lay out specifically what she has done for their communities over her years of service. I can’t overlook decades of good work to eradicate AIDS around the globe because of one(admittedly awful) comment about Nancy Reagan that she immediately apologized for. I can’t forget the crack epidemic of the early ’90s and how it was the minority communities pleading for laws to protect them, that created the crime bill. Were there unintended consequences? Yes. But those who are trying to paint that vote as some deliberate, racist attempt to jail the Black community are not only flat out wrong, they are intellectually dishonest once they understand the circumstances behind the vote.

3) “They want us to believe that Hillary, being heavily financed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, will be tough on Wall Street regulation…”

Yes, I know that Bernie’s entire platform is based on this. I’ve heard it over and over and over as the answer to any question about anything at all. (“Why is the sky blue?” “Hillary and Wall Street!”) While there are indeed serious problems in terms of corporate influence and campaign finance that need to be addressed, no one has yet been able to point to any Senate votes show Hillary veering from the democratic majority in a way that would demonstrate some secret, immoral support for Wall Street. The connection simply isn’t there.

What I will give you is that as a New York Senator during 9/11, she saved my city and my state by supporting the financial district — along with the rest of us. I still remember cab drivers, pushcart vendors, mom-and-pops, restaurants, businesses of all kinds in dire straits because of the decimation of the industry and the neighborhood that was their livelihood.

I really try not to disparage Sanders. If he is the candidate I will be behind him 100%. But on a post about morality, I find it unfair to cherry-pick talking points from the opposition in order to paint two candidates with different brushes.

Where was Bernie’s morality when he voted against Brady, or to hold gun manufacturers accountable for deaths? Where was his morality when he wrote about women’s rape fantasies? Where was his morality when he supported a Cuban dictator who tortured and killed his own people? Where was his morality when he co-sponsored a bill with the GOP to dump Vermont’s nuclear waste next to Sierra Blanca?

I’d say the answer is, he’s a moral person who makes some bad decisions. Or, perhaps some decisions that seemed good at the time but turned out to be not so good.

(You can see where this is going.)

I believe they are both moral, flawed humans. We all do good and bad things. However, what I see in Hillary is an overall commitment to the good. I see a fighter. I see a diplomat. I see a leader and I see a President. I also see a person who learns and grows and acknowledges mistakes and grows some more. In that sense, Bernie seems merely obstinate.

So perhaps you will come to see Hillary at her best in this election and understand where so much passionate support actually comes from. Maybe you’ll see what $900mm worth of negative Koch-funded ads looks like and understand why she is playing by the financing rules we currently have instead of the ones we’ll hopefully have when we overturn Citizens United. Maybe you’ll see that Bernie and Hillary supporters share more political DNA than they don’t. Or…maybe not. Maybe you’ll just see the proverbial lesser of two evils in November.

You have remarkable passion. Bernie is lucky to have you as an advocate, and I really do look forward to following your perspective. I also hope you’re willing not to flat-out dismiss mine.