Although the 2016 Democratic Convention came and went quickly this summer, disturbing questions that it raised for many U.S. progressives linger. How could Bernie Sanders, one of the most vocal critics of plutocracy, enthusiastically endorse Hillary Clinton? She is a classic corporate Democrat who defeated him in a blatantly rigged primary. And now that Bernie has backed such an establishment figure, is there any hope for a political revolution, if there ever was? To address these questions, we must look beyond Bernie as an individual and towards the larger left-liberal culture of which he is a part. Therein lays an insidious myth that binds most progressives to the political status quo, and an underlying truth that can help set them and the nation free.