I am Bernie or Bust. I keep hearing pundits and career politicians tell me that I’m behaving like a child because of this. I’ve read the critiques plastered all over the internet about how I am simultaneously too immature to fully grasp the political landscape and too privileged for my own good. I have been lambasted for my inflexibility while being told to quietly acquiesce to what these same pundits and career politicians are telling me what’s best for me. And through it all, I am Bernie or Bust.

I joined the U.S. Navy in November of 2001. When the Twin Towers fell, I did the only thing I could think of: I enlisted. As the son of a career soldier, I followed in his footstep to protect the country I loved from terror. At the end of my 5-year enlistment — for which I received an honorable discharge — I began working in the financial sector. I worked for a Fortune 100 banking institution during the financial meltdown. I used the G.I. Bill to attend undergrad. I am now a graduate student making just over poverty wages. I have been well off, and I have been flat broke. I say this not to garner an emotional response from you, but because it is important that you understand that I was in the military during a war, I was at a bank during the recession, and I am a student during a time when even the government is trying to wring every last penny out of me. It is for these reasons that I am Bernie or Bust. War is horrific. The financial sector has run amok and there is no oversight. And students — on whom our future should be built — can’t excel. And I’m told that I have the mindset of an infant because I’m Bernie or Bust.

I’m not going to patronize you by giving you a breakdown on why Bernie’s message resonates so strongly with me. What I will do is explain why it is offensive that the DNC, Hillary’s supporters, and the establishment believe that I owe them my allegiance. Yes, I am a Democrat. But let’s be very clear on one thing, neither Bernie nor Hillary are. Bernie is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist and Hillary is a Republican. However, due to our country’s two-party system, they are both running as Democrats. And that is perfectly fine. But neither of them is owed my vote. No party, institution, nor individual is owed my vote. My vote is earned. And you’re going to have to work damn hard for it.

In America, the vanishing middle class has so very little voice. Our purchasing power is one, and our vote is another. So when I hear Bernie talking about class equality, student loan debt, withdrawing from wars, environmental protections, equal rights for LGBTQIA+, and an honest government, of course that resonates with any rational person. But, and this is more important, when I look at his record and see that he has, for the better part of 5 decades, fought on the right side of history for all of these things, that earns my vote. When I hear Hillary talking about class equality, student loan debt, withdrawing from wars, environmental protections, equal rights for LGBTQIA+, and an honest government, of course that resonates with any rational person. But when I look at her record and see how she has failed so miserably on every. single. one. of these topics, that does not earn my vote. You see, I don’t have to vote for a Democrat. I don’t have to “make sure the party stays in power.” Because it’s not my party. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC, and the corporate media have made sure of that. And, look, I get it. Bernie won’t make deals. He won’t play your shell game. And that pisses you off. It should. Because once We The People begin to have our revolution, the echo chamber you have on Capitol Hill will be drowned out with Our voices. And that just won’t do. So, yes, I’m Bernie or Bust. Not because I’m a petulant child who will take my toys and go home if my candidate doesn’t receive the nomination. But because I understand all too well what is at stake. So yell at us. Tell us we’re wrong. Educate us on how you think we should understand the role of government in our lives. Convince us that you know what’s best for us. Please. You’ve been trying for months and you are failing. You discounted us, then you derided us, now you’re trying to convince us we don’t exist. But we do. We are Bernie or Bust.

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