My Life as a Sanders Supporter: Why I’m Tired of the Senator’s Rhetoric, His Push Forward, and His Campaign

I’ve been a fierce supporter and defender of Sen. Bernie Sanders since before he was packing arenas, before he even had yard signs (let alone 22 in my neighborhood alone), and certainly before he broke fundraising records without help from special interest groups. I knew who I was backing this election season from the moment a post came across my dashboard on Tumblr that linked to a story about a self-described Socialist, Independent Senator from Vermont registering to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination. And to my surprise, he didn’t let me down. His campaign fundraising that bucked the Democratic trend of saying “we’d like campaign finance reform, but we have to have Super-PACs to beat the Republicans, because you know they’re doing it” was very literally putting his money where his mouth was, a rare thing to see from politicians. And his ability to spotlight the economic inequality that has this country’s citizens in a stranglehold was and is unparalleled. To cut it short, Sen. Sanders was a politician I could believe, which is saying a lot from an extreme leftist anarcho-communist. And for the most part I still do believe in him. I still believe that he has important work left to do, and that the passionate following he has raised can be energized toward making some major political change. I believe in his future. But right now, in the present, I can no longer say that I believe what he’s doing is right.