A late-model SUV was parked this afternoon in the driveway of our neighbor two houses up the hill. On its rear end was a bumper sticker that said:
Bernie Sanders 2020
Because F**k this S**t
And there you have it, a truth accidentally revealed. Supporting Sanders not because of any expectation that his campaign promises will come to pass if he’s elected (there being a near-zero chance they’d ever get through even a Democratic Congress), but just to give a big poke in the eye, a big “F**k you All,” to all those reactionary non-Bernie-Worshipping corporate-lackey moderates and their pagan idol, Compromise.
It must feel good, the righteousness, the certainty, the assertion, loudly and proudly, of in-group solidarity. You don’t understand us, you don’t agree with us, you are unable to see how right we are, you put us down? Then F**k you All.
Sound familiar? Here’s what Michael Moore said before the 2016 election (I’m no big fan of his but this so perfectly makes my point):
[Trump voters] see that the elites who ruined their lives hate Trump. Corporate America hates Trump. Wall Street hates Trump. The career politicians hate Trump. The media hates Trump… after they loved him, and created him. And now hate him. Thank you, media…
‘The enemy of my enemy is who I’m voting for on November 8.’
Yes, on November 8, you, Joe Blow, Steve Blow, Bob Blow, Billy Bob Blow, all the Blows, get to go and blow up the whole goddamned system, because it’s your right. Trump’s election is going to be the biggest ‘fuck you’ ever recorded in human history – and it will feel good.
You could change “Trump” to “Bernie” throughout and the quote would still ring true.
We don’t need far-left Trumpers. We don’t need more condescension and loathing. We need to recapture, to reinvigorate, our sense of commonality; to posit that those who see things differently may be wrong, but are not evil. We need to stop stoking cultural, class, political, and racial differences.
Now a President Sanders will surely be a major improvement; Sanders may be a zealot, but he doesn’t have a narcissistic personality disorder, and isn’t a serial liar. He appears to have a soul. In fairness to Sanders’ supporters, Trump’s radical deviation from constitutional and historical norms, his trampling of ideas and restraints that are at the core of the American project, his hatred of a majority of Americans, his incitement of his supporters to similar acts, and the woeful, cowardly refusal of Republicans to stand up for our American norms, make it tempting to react in kind.
But responding “F**k this S**t” to someone who’s just yelled “F**k this S**t” isn’t only not productive, it’s an invitation to escalation. It’s jumping on a mirror-image alternative Trump Train, wailing down a parallel track with increasing speed. Invigorating, but dangerous. To watch Sanders and his supporters take this ride is sad. The left should be better than this.
Categories: Politics
Tags: Bernie Sanders, Democratic Primary