I don't want to argue with you. We want the same things. I don't want to explain another side of the argument with this, not the real issue.

I'm just conflicted about Philly. I was ready to go months ago, when it was clear to see to those with eyes it would come to it.

But it's a little too on the nose at this point. The DNC didn't just hit one or two of their marks to make it happen. They've hit every single one available, and invented some new ones this go round too.

And it seems more and more like booking a ticket to a riot rather than a demonstration.

I'm unhappy about it in every possible way. I don't want violence. I see what non-violence gets and I'm fuming fucking mad too.

Mad that my chops as a Democrat, or a progressive, or as a non-freak are up for debate, when all I wanted was a debate of the issues.

I'm a small business owner in the corporate world but I grew up in the Long Island hardcore scene and let me tell you something, and I don't give a shit if people think it's a stupid thing to say about a little old Jewish white man in a suit from the Senate.

Bernie Sanders is punk as fuck. He practices rule #1. If someone falls down, pick them back up. He's been helping pick people up for years and teaching others how to do it and why it's important.

And that's why it's rule #1. Because it's important and people need help getting back up sometimes, lest they fucking die on the floor.

And if you want to kick them in the face with your boots when they're down, there was a lot of people who would have something to say to you. Myself included.

I can see why punks, or whomever, would be attracted to Bernie. I'm a guy in khakis, but that's how I was raised.

I'd like to be able to go to Philly, with my Banana Republic sweater and my business cards, and tell the cameras that all us swells are for Bernie too.

But I know the punk in me and the punk in other people, when they see people getting their head smashed in simply for falling down, and it makes me think it's destined to be a war zone.