Turning pain into action #NotMeUS
My only reason to believe that there was still a small chance to ever have a good future has just vanished today.
Bernie Sanders will never be the President of the United States.
I could not be more heart-broken that what I feel right now. It may seem weird, as I live in France, but I have rarely felt that left aside. This Election was not about a country, it was about everyone’s future.
Whatever happens, in the best and worst case, a rapist will live in the White House for the next four years.
I know it should be time to all gather behind the future Democratic nominee and work to defeat Trump. But I will once again say it: I have values, things I will never stop defending. Joe Biden is not a good candidate and will not be a good President. Don’t answer that I am giving the election to Trump, the DNC already did. Once again, the Democratic Establishment has stolen an election. Party leaders worked against Bernie in 2016 and they did again in 2020. They don’t care about the youth and the future of the country.
I seriously hope that Joe Biden will reconsider his plans before the Convention and include Bernie’s proposals in his platform. America needs Medicare for All and a $15/hour minimum wage. More importantly, the world NEEDS America to pass a Green New Deal.
That’s why I fully support the open letter that has just been sent to Biden to ask him to adopt these plans.
Bernie Sanders’ two presidential campaigns will have had a defining impact on my life. Like millions of other young -and less young- people, I have had a lot of hope thanks to Bernie. Bernie is the one who cares about us, the one who fights for us, the one who does not cheat on us, the one who does not lie to us.
I live in France, under Macron’s presidency. He might look like a good leader from abroad, young, kind, good-looking… But he is basically the same as Joe Biden and all the Establishment Democrats who take money from corporations and put profit before People. I know what it’s like to have a President who constantly lies to you. Bernie was a hope that maybe, things could change a bit.
Again, writing this makes Biden weaker. I know it. But, again, I will never forget that he has serious sexual harassment allegations. Even if I wanted to fully support him now, I couldn’t.
This day has been a nightmare. A real one. I have lost one of the most important things I had in my life. Part of my hope just disappeared.
I have not been a very optimistic person these last years. But as everyone who says things publicly to try to motivate people to act, I have never said it. I keep saying that there still are ways to save the future, that if everyone fights, we can win. The truth is that I don’t believe it. But for the past months, there was something different. Of course, I’m not stupid and I perfectly know that having Bernie Sanders as the President of the US would not have solved all the problems of the world. But it would definitely have solved some.
What I want to say is that even if that hope is gone, even if I am less optimistic than ever, there is no reason to stop fighting. We will die fighting if we have to, but we will continue to defend our values. At least I will, and I hope you will too.
The White House is lost, but the Congress is not.
In 2018, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Joe Crowley, Nancy Pelosi said it was a “local phenomenon”. This year, on November 3, she will be challenged by an amazing candidate who deserves at least the same support as Bernie Sanders. Shahid Buttar is there to defeat her and change the Congress.
This story is only one is many. On March 17, Marie Newman defeated the Representative of Illinois’ 3rd District, Daniel Lipinsky. This is clearly not a local phenomenon. While I really wish I could have said the same about Rachel Ventura, Robert Emmons Jr, Andrew Heldut, CJ Berina, Justin Lecea, Jessica Cisneros, Sema Hernandez and so many other progressive candidates who could not fight the campaigns ran by big money funded incumbents, a lot of other primaries are still to come, and the Revolution is underway.
Today, we must refocus on this. This fight is the most important we have now. Congress must represent the People, not corporations and the top 1%. Just to give a few names now, please go and support Meredith Mattlin, Joshua Collins, Jen Perelman, Sakinah Lehtola, Mark Gamba, Jason Call, Nathaniel Mulcahy, Eva Putzova, Angelica Dueñas, Georgette Gomez, Nabilah Islam, Ray Lenzi, Ihssane Leckey, Melanie D’Arrigo, Samelys Lopez, Morgan Harper, Candace Valenzuela, Jessica Scarane, and so many others that I can just not name for the moment because it would be too long.
In the past weeks, I have made a list of all the 435 congressional districts in the US + the Senate seats having elections this year, to find all the progressive candidates who need to be supported to change the Congress.
I will be done processing all of this in a few days and I will share the full list here. Supporting these campaigns is the most important thing we can do today. I am definitely not a public figure and I don’t believe that I can make someone be elected with my 755 followers on Twitter, 200 of them living in the US. But if I can support them by spreading their voice and having other people do the same, it can make a difference. So I’m just going to do that for the next months. I have already started sharing candidates’ stories on Twitter, with my “Candidate of the Day” tweets. This is a fight we can, and must, win.
Politics will never be the same again. Today was definitely a turning point. We all have to think about what happened, why it happened, and what comes next. Fully supporting the Democratic Nominee or not supporting him is a personal choice. Both are understandable. What is not, however, is giving up.
There is always something to save. Always something to fight for something.
Today was a bad day. A real one. It hurts. But we must transform that pain into action. Because our Future is still at stake.
And it’s our duty to fight.
November 3 is not only about the President.
Finally, thank you, Bernie. You changed the world and you inspired us. We promise we’ll continue the fight.
See you soon,
Clement
