If Democrats Were Really Progressive They'd Back Bernie

In the past weeks we've seen a big change in attitude in the Democratic Primary race. Bernie and Hillary have sat down and talked about their plans for the future, Elizabeth Warren has backed Hillary and started campaigning for her, and the DNC's updated platform includes several of Bernie's propositions. It seems as if Hillary and the DNC are doing a lot to tell Democrats and Independents that they're progressive, but let's take a good hard look at that.

In the past week I've reached out to many Hillary supporters and talked to them about why they supported Hillary over Bernie. A lot of it went along the line that many of the accusations against Hillary have been lies spun by the GOP that are greatly exaggerated and that they agree with some of Bernie's ideas, but overall, most of his ideas are too left and "radical" for them.

Here's the reality, Hillary has a very strong proven path of being moderate at best and changing her mind to fit whatever is considered the norm. It was well-known that in 2008 she campaigned for a single-payer healthcare system, something Bernie is campaigning for now, and now she claims it's impossible. Of course we have everything about how she didn't support gay marriage until it was popular to do so.

Look, I could go on and on about many of Hillary's mistakes. Sure, she's done some good in her time, but it's been riddled with scandals, shadowy failed operations and a plenty of questionable money trails (and a lot of deleted emails).

Now, you can question how radical Bernie's ideas are for however long you want and we know it would be hard for Bernie to enact many of them, but just having a progressive like him in office would result in so much change in the way our government operates. No one questions that Bernie is fighting for the people, not the corporations and big money interest. He's proved that for decades and even more so this campaign season.

So we come down to what's happening, the convention is coming up and it seems likely that Hillary will be anointed as the Democratic Nominee in July. And while they lead up to this the Democratic Party is trying their hardest to make themselves seem as progressive as possible for the public eye.

In light of the tragic mass shooting in Orlando many Democrats stood up to the GOP and demanded a reprimand on current gun laws. Now, though this is admirable, many of us have been left asking, "Where were you earlier?"

When the children of Flint, Michigan were being poisoned by lead, where were you? The problem was going on for a while and no one bothered to step in until it was in the spotlight. Where were you when the people as a whole asked that big money interest backed out of the political process? Where were you when over twenty-eight million Americans were left uninsured even after the Affordable Care Act passed?

Sure, the Democrats are looking at the death penalty and the fifteen dollar minimum wage and a few other progressive ideals, but what were they doing beforehand?

Maybe Bernie really did inspire them to pass some progressive reform and we've already seen some Sanders backed candidates win primaries, but when anyone truly looks at the record of Bernie and Hillary and say, who's the real progressive, Bernie will win every time.

This is what I tell the Democratic Party, yes, you can look and consider as many progressive ideals as you want, but if you want America to see you as the people's party, as the progressive and idealistic party, nominate Bernie Sanders for President. There is still time, and hey, at least Julian Assange isn't threatening to leak crucifying document on Bernie.