Taking Back Democracy- how I never did leave the Democratic party, it left me.

While in DC on the weekend of Oct 22-23, 2016, I and about 700 other folks took to the Streets of Washington…from the Lincoln Memorial Steps, up around the White House, alongside of the Washington Monument, all while chanting and shouting, because we’re fed up. We’re done, we’ve had enough already!

But, let me back up a bit. Never a good idea to start a story in the middle without giving some background, eh?

I’m a lifelong progressive. And up until this year, I’ve also self-identified as a Democrat. My mother was a Democrat; she always fought for things that mattered to me like education, and healthcare, and reproductive rights. Civil Rights. Fair wages. All pretty progressive stuff, no? Stuff I believe in, too.

At my precinct Democratic caucus this year in Washington State I was picked to be a delegate for Bernie Sanders. I was THRILLED-my mom was a delegate 20 years ago and now I would get to follow in her footsteps. What an opportunity; I was not only going to honor her memory, but I was going to help get Bernie elected by representing my precinct’s wishes!

Then I was selected to be an alternate in the next go-round at the legislative district-level. Now it was getting serious; I had attended a “delegate boot camp” and learned that we would be providing our own funds if we made it all the way to the national level and that it would cost roughly $5000 to go. I also learned that it was not uncommon for supporters to attend (just that they would not be allowed on the delegate floor). So I reached out to my friends and loved ones, started a gofundme, sold a car, and scrimped and began raising money to go to Philadelphia for the 2016 DNC with the intent of handing over any extra funds to the Bernie camp (as it turned out, there were no extra funds, and I did not make it to the national level. But, my plane tickets, rental car and lodging were already purchased so I decided to go and support the Bernie delegates who did make it to nationals).

The first strong indicator that something was rotten in DEM-mark was at our Legislative caucuses, when Washington held a 73% average in favor of Bernie Sanders statewide. Every single legislative district voted to have Bernie be our WA state Dem’s candidate. Every one. Yet the media never reflected this.

Also, word was going around that every one of our state’s super-delegates indicated that they planned to support Hillary with their super-delegate vote (not their personal vote). Despite who their constituencies voted for (remember, it’s Bernie), they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. We certainly saw this at our Pierce County Dems meeting-when our reps were questioned, they fumbled for answers but could never explain why they didn’t support the wishes of those voters who had put them in office and for whom they work.

Then came our State Convention. Among other things, we voted to have our state formally endorse Bernie Sanders and ONLY Bernie Sanders (the wording was very specific. We even shot down a proposal to also endorse Hillary!) first by voice, then by raised hand and finally (when the State’s leadership still wasn’t getting the results they wanted)  by paper ballot.

Yet that evening, when the press release came out, the State Chair for the party Jaxon Ravens issued this comment to the press:

“It’s not surprising, due to the support and enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders at our caucuses,” said Jaxon Ravens, Washington State Democrats Chair. “I’m glad they could make their voices heard. However, Hillary Clinton will be our nominee, and we will do all that we can to ensure Donald Trump never becomes President.”

Wait, what? How is that okay? That’s not what we voted for and he damn well knew it. What a jackwagon. . .

Then came the reports of what was happening in other states…Nevada, where voting was taking place off-schedule before delegates had arrived, and lies were being spread about Sanders’ delegates/supporters reaction to this (Chair-throwing, anyone??). California, where votes were coming up missing. New York, more missing votes. And on and on and on. And they all shared a common factor:

Little to no media coverage!

In fact, Bernie himself was getting less than 10% of the media coverage that Hillary was, despite his growing popularity in left-leaning states and even some right-ones, too (I’m looking at you, Utah!). Here’s this guy taking no corporate donations AT ALL, raising unprecedented amounts of money, and bringing in new voters like never before in our nation’s history. Filling stadiums with Superbowl-sized crowds. Getting young folks energized, and educated. But nothing but crickets from the media…

But none of this prepared me for what was going to happen in Philly at the DNC.

Holy hell.

We saw the man behind the curtain.

Bernie delegates were ejected, and seat-fillers were brought in (5:55) , some sections were blacked out (8:20), counter-cheers were passed out to Hillary delegates to drown out Bernie supporters (9:37 because saying NO MORE WAR is somehow bad???).

I spoke with delegates who were ejected because they had. to. pee. Seriously, one woman who came out to us at FDR Park was crying because they took her credentials when she had to wait in line for the bathroom. She had held it for hours because she was afraid of this happening and then it did. And the Hillary delegates around her booed her and called her names as she was told to leave the building. Volunteers who showed support for Bernie had their credentials stripped immediately after Hillary was selected (not elected).

And another thing...while in Philly, I was provided with an opportunity to volunteer for Planned Parenthood on Tuesday (well before the roll-call). Having worked for them before I knew the drill...check your politics/beliefs/opinions at the door,  you're here to help people. So,  I did. Changed out of my Captain America Bernie t-shirt into a pink PP one and awaited instructions. But this was not what was going to happen. Nope, instead of providing factual, non-judgmental information we were going to be canvassing for PP. Okay I can do that. But then things got shady, really quickly.

 A Pennsylvania State Senator came in the room and specifically told us we had to push Hillary while out canvassing.

W T everlovin' F???

I was super not-okay with this! Then I looked at the swag we were supposed to hand out and started to feel sick. Even more so when I looked around the room and realized I was DEEP in Hilltopia.

Uhh…what? Is something missing here, or specifically someone??

When I expressed my concern the coordinators told me to give the Pink Out the Vote pins to Bernie supporters. Now,  if you look at the photo you'll see that there’s only one non-Hillary button. I think in roughly 500 buttons, I found a total of three non-candidate buttons, and ZERO Bernie ones. When I asked about that, I was told to avoid the Bernie demonstrators and that we should canvass in teams, “just in case things got weird”.

At that point, I left because things were already gettin’ weird.

And how about those tickets to the Lady Gaga/Lenny Kravitz concert across the river in Camden, NJ? The one where media wasn’t allowed? The one where those tickets were being specifically handed out to Bernie Supporters to draw them AWAY from the convention and FDR Park?

Here’s mine!

I already knew that Hillary wasn’t the right candidate for me for a host of reasons, but this was an eye opening experience about what has happened to the Democratic party as well. I didn’t leave them though. . .with their actions this year, they actually left me. And speaking on behalf of thousands of Progressive voters across the United States, as Pete Townshend of The Who said, “We won’t be fooled again”.

So that’s it, that’s the launch of this site, this blog, this mess I’m making. I hope my wordpress/blogging/etc skills grow and that I’ll be able to articulate my progressive self more concisely in the future.

Stay cool and stay tuned.