I wasn’t going to blog today. Nope. I was going to sleep because waking up at 1:30 a.m. to deliver newspapers is torture. And being someone unable to sleep during the day makes it that much more difficult. So, instead, I’m writing. And I’m writing because I am sufficiently pissed off and alarmed and need to to put it in some kind of official capacity. Listen, I am a Bernie Sanders fan as well. I have been for longer than his candidacy lasted. I’ve been watching him for years. My Bernie lawn sign is still on the lawn. It is going to maintain its rightful place there next to my Jill Stein lawn sign when it arrives next week. My “Feel the Bern” magnet is right there on my car next to my Jill Stein magnet. It’s not going anywhere. But. I. Am.
I have already done the #DemExit thing and am an Independent. I have also pledged to support Jill Stein and the Greens in the upcoming election. For me, this is a no-brainer. There is nothing out there that tells me I’m wrong. The Green Platform and Sanders’ platform are very, very in sync. In fact, if there’s a difference, it’s that the Greens are even more progressive. There is nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, that tells me that Hillary Clinton is going to advance Bernie Sanders’ platform. I don’t care where it is written, people. It is a non-binding platform, and Hillary Clinton does not see it as her guiding light. And, unlike the Democrats, the Green Party does use the platform as its guiding principle.
There are three things that made me write this piece. First, the announcement of Clinton’s “transition team,” that is headed up by Ken Salazar. He’s about as progressive as Newt Gingrich. In fact, he’s a pro-fracking, anti-climate neocon. Then, what put me over the edge was a visit to a pro-Bernie site where the administrator was threatening to remove anyone who mentioned Jill Stein in a comment, immediately followed by this piece from the Real News Network showing up in my mail box about the fact that Clinton’s transition team includes absolutely no “progressives.” This was where I went totally over the edge.
I believe in the Sanders Revolution. What I do not believe in is that it happens anywhere around Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party. I don’t know what happened to make Bernie Sanders cease his campaign so quickly without notice, endorse Hillary Clinton, and fall back in line behind the dirtbags. I only know that I cannot and will not follow him down that path. I have no intention of working for Hillary Clinton or casting a vote for Hillary Clinton. In fact, I am going to do everything in my power to see that she is finally viewed for what she really is: A a lying, corrupt, money-driven neocon warmonger with no soul. I will not donate to Democratic causes any longer. I am donating only to Jill Stein.
WTF are you all waiting for?
No matter what Sanders does, the best way you can move his reforms forward is to leave the Democratic party and become an Independent. Then, support Jill Stein. Period. No questions. Bernie Sanders has already gone back to being an Independent, so what’s the big deal? We owe the Democrats jack shit. They turned their backs on their base. The DNC actively worked to destroy the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. They never had any intention of allowing him to win. Hillary Clinton lied and said she’d pursue a progressive agenda but, now that Sanders is off the center stage, she is moving back to the right. That’s where she always planned to be.
Working against those who want to advance Sanders’ policies by moving to Jill Stein does Bernie Sanders a great injustice. It is selfish. It is counter productive. And nothing good can come of it. Period. If, by some good fortune, Hillary Clinton finally sinks herself and Sanders becomes the nominee, we’ll take it from there. It may well be that Julian Assange has what it takes to finally sink Clinton’s ship. We will welcome that. But we cannot count on it. We cannot stand still in case it does sink. We must move forward and, regardless of what Bernie Sanders does or says, we need to move this revolution along. That will not happen within the Democratic Party. So, allow me to reiterate: You owe the Democratic Party absolutely nothing. (Neither does Bernie Sanders after what was done to him to ensure the installation of Hillary Clinton, but he chooses not to act on that.) This entire revolution isn’t about “party loyalty” or loyalty to any one “politician.” It’s about loyalty to our nation and our Democracy.
It is time to #DemExit. It is time to move along and ensure that, even though we will not elect Jill Stein or any other third party candidate in 2016, we send a powerful message to the Democratic Party and lay the groundwork for 2020. We need a new party, a party that does the bidding of the American people, not a party that serves as the lapdog for the wealthiest one percent in America. It is time to stand up for the greater good and stop voting for the lesser evil. You have one job. It starts now.
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Revolutionary Radar 
Your most important point is that “we” owe the democratic party nothing. They are not a party, but rather an inward gazing clique. And they think we owe them something, which makes them a group of entitlement oriented oligarchical misfits.
What you failed to mention is that the “two party” system is a broken vehicle, sitting in a ditch, by the side of the road. It has lost relevance, effectiveness, and discouraged discourse and promoted racism (on the right) and economic stultification (on the left).
I don’t know what Bernie is thinking, but I do know that the one-time left is no longer left and the malformed monster which the GOP has become, are both not good for children and other living things.
But big money is driving both of the ugly beasts, and unless and until that chain of command is broken up (as should be the banks), and the general populace is made aware of the dangers of xenophobic nature of militaristic imperialism, and all of the nastiness which that all entails, and can then choose to reject it all, at the wholesale level, “berning” a torch for anyone will be a giant battle and frustrating as hell.
We need to re-instate the practical elements of a genuine democracy and stop perpetrating ideological cults of power.
It is said that human beings are the only animals on the planet with the capacity for their own destruction. We’re doing a great job of working toward that end.