To me, the issue isn't even about the violence and threats, but what prompts it. Sanders supporters are so entrenched in the belief that the system is rigged, everyone is corrupt, and they're getting screwed by the establishment that they WANT an excuse to pick up a chair.
That's what they actually want. They didn't want to just vote and well golly gee, our guy got elected president. They want to march and scream and throw their fist in the air and set shit on fire and take back the country from THE FUCKING MAN. They watched their parents pull that shit in the sixties and now they think that was the only way to get anything done. Everything is grounds for a march on Washington to them.
They get INSANELY upset at the slightest hint of voter fraud, regardless of authenticity. They go on long diatribes about the disgusting concept of closed primaries while openly asking Trump supporters to subvert the democratic process. And they declare the death of democracy when they fail to overturn the will of the people over a couple of delegates in Nevada.
They walked into this election with a massive chip on their shoulder and gravitated to the most pissed off candidate in their party. The Republicans did the same thing with Trump. Trump has no concrete policy, an unprecedented number of flip-flops, and is possibly the least-presidential candidate to ever run. None of his supporters care. Because they aren't voting for policy, they're voting because they think they are personally being fucked over by some nonexistent boogeyman.
That's why you see the BernieorBust people. They don't believe in Bernie's policies, because if they did they'd vote for Clinton without a second thought. They believe in his rhetoric. That it's the system's fault that college isn't free. That it's the system's fault that student debt is so high. That it's the system's fault that marijuana isn't legal in all fifty states. That it's the system's fault that Obamacare isn't perfect. And so on, and so forth.
But in reality, it is theirs. Students all around the country signed on the dotted line and took on massive amounts of debt. Their hands were not forced. People all around the country failed to show up in local and midterm elections and elect representatives who would push the progressive policies that Bernie supporters claim to support. And Bernie himself failed to fly out and help those candidates get elected.
You know who did? The Clintons. The Clintons have campaigned for all kinds of downticket Democrats over the years. Bernie himself took money from Hillary's PAC to get him into the Senate. And even though he was an independent, Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid endorsed him (ensuring no other democrats would run and thus split his vote) and then-Senator Obama campaigned with him.
But his supporters don't want to admit they dropped the ball. They don't want to take personal responsibility for their actions and inaction. They want to blame the system. The donors. The movers and shakers. The mysterious forces that nobody knows about because 98% of them don't exist. They want to blame the winners, like Hillary Clinton, who has done nothing but be a beacon of light for liberal causes for decades. Like Elizabeth Warren, who knows damn well that a splintered party is a losing party. Like President Obama, who knows that it's better to get some things done than nothing done.
But they'll never blame Bernie. Bernie, who spent nearly 30 years in Congress and has little to show for it. Bernie, who is even more partisan and unwilling to compromise than Ted Cruz. Bernie, who has been on the right side of history, but has never helped make history.
I hate that attitude. I hate the idea that the way to change the world is by loudly marching. Occupy, BLM, the list goes on. Groups with no leadership, no clear message or goal, endlessly screaming until their voices give. And they never realize that people stopped listening a long, long time ago. How did Occupy change the country? How has BLM? All they did was take very real issues and made sure nobody ever took them seriously again. And that's the real tragedy.
You don't change the world by raising a fist, you have to actually lift a finger. Organize, lead, and vote. Get your agenda on the ballot, get your supporters to the polls. Stop treating minorities like low-information voters and recognize that they have different priorities than you. Support the people you share middle ground with and listen to the people you have nothing in common with. Stop dismissing everything that hurts your cause and embrace the uphill battles. People love an underdog, but they hate a sore loser. History is made by people who show up. So show up.
This is all stuff Bernie failed to do. This is all stuff he and his supporters have refused to do. They never wanted to win, they wanted to invest everything they had into a longshot and then claim corruption when they lost. They want to be angry, because they think that's what justice looks like. They don't want to change the system, they want to get revenge on it. Because they think the system made all their choices for them.
It's time for Bernie Sander to recognize his inadequacies as a presidential candidate. It's time for the Sanders campaign to recognize that they were outmaneuvered at every turn by a more experienced campaign. It's time for Sanders supporters to recognize that the system is not rigged, that Bernie got a fair shot and that Bernie simply did not win.
It's time to put down the chair and hug it out.
But first, Hillary drops the People's Elbow on Bernie's roody poo candy ass by winning California by double-digits.