I Was A Bernie Supporter, But "I'm With Her" Now
by Matthew Parrish University of Virginia Aug 1, 2016
republicbuzz.com
It is official now. The nominations for the Republican and Democratic parties are set and we are left with our two options for President of the United States: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Now, I am not thrilled either. I was a through and through Bernie Sanders supporter since the beginning and I would vote for many other candidates over Trump and Hillary if it wouldn't be wasting my vote. But this election, we cannot afford to waste our votes. I'd love to write in Bernie Sanders or vote for some third party candidate like Gary Johnson for president, but it is not worth the risk just for the sake of satisfying my political conscience.
It is easy for someone like me, a white, middle-class male, just throw caution to the wind and vote for whoever makes me feel best at the end of the day. Why would I want to vote for Hillary, a candidate who has shown to have many flaws already, when I could vote for Gary Johnson? If Trump wins, it probably would not make my life worse, unless he plunges the world into World War III or collapses the economy like some of his business endeavors; it might even improve for me because of the race, gender, and social position I was born into.
But I cannot allow my friends, family, and the countless minorities in this country to face the fear that would be a Donald Trump presidency. Unfortunately, we live in a two partisan political system and voting for anyone outside of the two main parties is basically the same as writing their name on the ballot and then proceeding to throw it in the trash, and this is something that we can not afford to do this election. Donald Trump is feeding on the fear of the ignorant masses and people who have never voted before will be coming in hordes to the polls. We have to stop them. As mindful individuals that supported Bernie Sanders originally, we cannot allow Donald Trump to spit in our faces and spread his rhetoric of misogyny, racism, and hate.
A Donald Trump presidency means a lot more than Romney over Obama ever could. Trump will oppress minorities and throw our economy into ruin. Other countries will refuse to take us seriously with that clown as our head of state, and he will undoubtedly result in trade sanctions being placed on us because of his brashness and stupidity. I do not want to live in an America where my friends of color have to fear for their liberties and lives whilst my friends from around the world may be kicked out of the country for being "terrorists" or "rapists."
Hillary Clinton was definitely not my first choice, but right now she is my only choice. Bernie challenged her with his ideals and passion and in response, she has taken on some of these ideas and values for herself and we can be proud of that as Bernie supporters. Right now, we need to change from just being Bernie supporters and become Hillary supporters also. We have no other choice if we want to have an America where Bernie's ideas could ever come to fruition. We cannot waste our votes on third party candidates and we cannot afford to let Dictator Oompa Loompa destroy our country. And it is because of this that "I'm with Her".
Cover Image Credit: republicbuzz.com
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