In Defense of Bernie
Back before Iowa, I decide to check out a Bernie rally and see what the fuss is about. Waiting for the Senator to take the stage, the vibe feels something like a cross between the lot before a Phish show and how I envision the lot before Taylor Swift (think excessive amounts of kids pointing phones at their asinine selfie faces). Liking the former and ignoring the latter, I began to detect an energy in the walls — ghosts of justice fighters seem to be here checking up on our progress. Rockin’ In The Free World floods the house speakers. Kids sport pins and patches and various swag. Lots of them look too well off to care about income inequality and far too young to vote. I keep seeing the same Silent Bob-shaped dude wearing a steel-your-face shirt, ponytail and an untamed beard. A middle aged vegan-looking couple enthusiastically hands out Bernie stickers as they snack on tangerines from a fanny pack and share a camelback teat. Feeling conflicted, I can’t help but wonder if the revolution is merely a cocktail of noodling jam band fans and strung-out-on-Instagram kids who’ve found a new hashtag.
Born in the mid eighties, I feel like an old millennial, an outsider, old enough to cringe at phrases like Political Revolution and Feel The Bern. I’ve been through enough elections and read enough history not to notice the stench of naiveté in the air as I watch my generational cohorts gleefully follow the Pied Piper — yet I find myself right here along side them, skeptical, but mostly, “Fuck it. How much for a pack of those Bernie glow sticks?”
Perhaps some of you whom according to polls are over the age of 30, are sardonically thinking out loud in the voice of Willie Wonka, “Tell me more about how skeptical you are.”
Well, I say you, allow me to defend my Bernie skepticism while I dig up some cash for these glow sticks.
For starters, I don’t trust the glaring effectiveness with which the Sanders campaign’s branding and messaging is working on me and all these kids. But it is working. This leaves me unsettled and makes me wonder: Are we all sharing a different side of the same coin with the Trump show? Though frightening, it is impressive to me how the guy has managed to invite himself into America’s backyard, toss a ball up, swing the bat and hit a line drive straight into the hornet nest that has been festering in the old dead tree behind the garage.
No need to stick with that thought. I have another skepticism about Bernie and her name is Hillary Clinton.
Hillary is a cream-of-the-crop candidate, both politically and righteously. The name, the clout, the power, the experience, the smarts, the grit. She does comes off as robotic and calculating but she writes thank you notes to her staff which makes her seem human. She possesses seemingly infinite knowledge of how government works and how the world spins and I feel fairly certain she won’t lead us into nuclear oblivion.
On paper, Hillary is the logical, safe choice, but the energy from these ghosts in the walls pulls me the other way. If Feelin’ The Bern means posting another esoteric Grateful Dead themed Bernie meme on Facebook, chuckling to myself, and whoops, that’s me renewing my $20 Bernie For America donation, then I’m feelin’ it.
I look around the room and suddenly people stretch back as far as I can see. I pan the field of merry hippies, and the sea of little screens, and I hear Rockin’ In The Free World, but it feels like someone slowed down the record. In a moment of slow motion, I consider the absurd discord between the way we humans act and the reality of things.
We live and operate within a system that is self-destructive, but it’s easier to act like things are fine than actually deal with it. It’s the feeling that we’re on a road leading us toward a cliff and we’re asleep at the wheel.
It’s this dissonance with reality that we’ve been pushing down below the surface but it’s now bubbling up. We know we need to turn the car around but we’re sleeping and it’s a nice dream and sure there’s an alarm going off but let’s just snooze a few more times.
Standing there in the belly of the slow-motion crowd, it occurs to me that Hillary is the snooze button candidate.
Yes, she champions democratic value. Yes, the first woman president will be historic. Yes, she’s incredibly qualified. Yes, she would defend the policies and achievements of Obama.
But despite all these things, I still feel like Hillary is best suited for the system we have and Bernie is best suited for the system we need. In the days of super PACS and calculating politicians who craft messaging from focus groups, Bernie Sanders stands out like a sore thumb.
Now turn out the lights and watch me throw these glow sticks.
