What I Have to Say to My Friends Who Support Bernie

I received the following question from a friend, and it’s a question I’ve gotten a lot this week, so I thought I’d share my response.

Question: I hope that before Sanders supporters switch to Clinton, as opposed to staying home on election day, they encourage her to negotiate some policy changes e.g. in environment (no fracking, keep coal in the ground), social justice (no private prisons, restorative justice, Black Lives Matter), labor ($15 minimum wage +), exploring non-violent solutions to conflict instead of the military/industry solutions, healthcare (single payer). Steve Tidrick, Mrs. Clinton prides herself on getting things done and negotiating. Is she planning to bring the party together on something more substantive than being anti-Trump?

My response: Thanks for your question. I’ve seen this sentiment a lot online from my friends who support Senator Sanders. It boils down to: what concessions will Secretary Clinton give to Senator Sanders to win him over and win over his supporters. I have to say, I feel this sentiment is off base for reasons that I think might surprise you: I feel it diminishes Senator Sanders and his accomplishments in this campaign.

Friends of mine are talking about the end of this campaign as though it’s two warring parties making peace. Despite what the most engaged partisans on both sides might have felt during the heat of the campaign, this is not, and never was, a war. This was a campaign with serious disagreements between allies. Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders have been and remain friends and allies, and you don’t give your allies concessions — you work closely with them to build a stronger alliance for the future.

Let me say a few things about Senator Sanders, our ally. He did not run a single negative ad against Secretary Clinton. http://theweek.com/speedreads/629001/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-aired-206528-ads-not-single-negative Despite the spin provided by many, he did not aggressively attack Secretary Clinton, but rather brought up his disagreements with her on substantive policy issues. All the while, he didn’t just “bring new voters” into the process, he did something that is very hard to do in politics — he provided a new framework and vision for how to talk about and work toward improving serious problems that have haunted our party and our country: money in politics, economic injustice, and the role of international corporations in our lives and our politics. In basic political terms, these have been issues of concern to every Democrat, yet no one was sure how to rally voters around them. Senator Sanders has shown the way.

I don’t agree that Secretary Clinton should be offering concessions to Senator Sanders. I believe that you will see in the coming months the Democratic Party adopt much of Senator Sanders’ language because it’s the right way to talk about these critical issues. Concessions imply that a defeated foe will be given scraps. Rather, I believe Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders will be re-forging the Democratic Party with a clarion Progressive voice and Senator Sanders will have a major role in that alliance.

All I’d ask of you and any Sanders supporter is to have an open mind. While I believe deeply that we are not enemies, but allies, so often I’ve seen in this primary the supporters of both candidates talk about each other as though we are permanently divided. If you view us and Secretary Clinton through a lens of suspicion and doubt, and imagine that anything positive that happens is a cynical ploy to win you over, we are in real trouble as an alliance. Rather, I ask you to view this as I view this — a strong alliance that has had a public disagreement that we will now work through to make ourselves even stronger.

If we do that, there is nothing that can stop us. As we like to say, the people, united, can never be defeated.