Dear Bernie Sanders,
In our times of fear, growing bigotry and uncertainty, I feel obligated to appeal to you. As a former campaigner of yours, I write this letter with sadness, rage, disappointment, fatigue and fear, but also a hopeful look toward the future.
Disillusioned with Barack Obama, I supported Jill Stein for President in 2012. However, when this election cycle came along, I, like many others, decided to change my registration from “Independent” to “Democratic” in order to vote for you in the primaries. Fortified by knowledge of the dangers of a Clinton candidacy, I strongly felt you were our best hope for meaningful change and warding off the Republicans.
Bernie, you ran an impressive campaign that inspired millions. I remember standing on line for hours to see and hear you speak in the Bronx, only to be turned away due to overcrowding at the rally venue. Black, brown, yellow, red, white, young, old, gay, straight, what have you. Everyone was there, excited to hear you speak. People saw you as a progressive alternative to the status quo of corruption and injustice both here in the United States and abroad. You called out corporate tyranny, recognized many of the ills of our society, suggested constructive solutions to some of our biggest quagmires and even had the guts to openly declare yourself a socialist. In a landscape of fake, propped up, sell-out, hypocritical, cowardly, Teflon candidates- you projected integrity and strength. I felt that supporting you was important, even though your social and economic policies did not go far enough, and your foreign policy was a light version of the morally corrupt neoliberal imperialist agenda.