Bernie or Bust is a challenge. Working ourselves to pieces is honorable. Then moving on to establish a movement with forward motion is honorable. Voting as we each wish is honorable. Quietly not participating is honorable. Yelling is not honorable.

To make an effective statement, I support the establishment and nurture of a movement. In my opinion, Bernie or Bust has the potential of backfiring.

One opinion.

like Feel the Bern

more like we have no other choice. it's either the Liberal or the Conservative. and we won't vote for the Conservative. if your more Liberal your voting for Bernie, if your more conservative your voting for Hillary. Thats how it is. and I've been saying it since we lost in 2010 after the Conservadems didn't do squat for 2 yrs the people figure this out. so we got burned in 2010, 2014 and probably 2016 again if we still haven't learned that simple truth. The historical truth is Abraham Lincoln was a Republican but a Liberal. Democrats then were very Conservative and we had a Wig party. Think Democrats were mostly conservative up until the change off during the Racism stuff in the 60's. Then we switched. Maybe Democrats are going back to where they used to be before 1960. But I'm good I'll just go back to being independent which is where I should have stayed if not for the extra credit class. I'll still consider myself a Liberal. Maybe come in here from time to time to check on breaking news etc. But I'll stay away from politics

IMO, it seems like both political parties are losing touch with the people, and are losing their viability. Bernie Sanders may technically be an Independent running as a Democrat in this race, but he is much more of a true, classical New Deal, working class style Democrat than Hillary, and everyone knows it. What Bernie is making painfully clear is how far the Democratic party has moved to the right in recent years, and how it has been corrupted by corporate money, against the interests of the people and the core constituencies of the Democratic party. Bernie does best in primaries in which Independents are allowed to vote, and it's my guess that ex-Democrats, who are disillusioned with the way the party has gone in recent years, make up a sizable portion of those who call themselves Independent. The Republican party has been riddled with holes and crippled into a lame @$$ version of its former self. The traditional base of the Republican party has been the big business and corporate interests, but increasingly, it has been divided and fractionalized with wedge issues put forth by behind the scenes corporate front groups. And so, not surprisingly, you have gotten the "clown car" stable of candidates on the Republican side, either of whom would spell disaster in the Oval Office. Donald Trump embodies the divisiveness of wedge issue politics. And Ted Cruz is a caricature of the religious right, one of the key Republican constituencies. When Charles Koch came out and said that Hillary wouldn't be that bad, he could have been showing the true nature of the behind the scenes strategy of the corporate kingmakers: compared to the Republican clowns and extremists, Hillary seems to be a very sane and rational choice - and besides, she's one of us, says Charles Koch.

If the people really wake up in this election, no matter what its outcome, what is all too clear and apparent is that corporate donors are really running the show, and both parties, Democrat and Republican, no longer represent the interests of the vast majority of people in this country. Then the next step is figuring out how to take our country back.

1) I'm 72 and will soon be 73. Based on my experience, I would say that we should not count our chickens before they hatch. (I believe Bernie said that too. That is something you learn when you live a pretty long time.) We do not know what will happen between now and November. It is far too early to be talking about whether Bernie voters will vote for Hillary or vice versa.

2) How Bernie supporters vote in November will depend on what happens between now and November. If Hillary moves to the right, she will lose any chance of attracting votes from Bernie supporters. If she in any way crosses Bernie or treats Bernie or his supporters with the kind of contempt for us that she has shown thus far and if she demonstrates an unwillingness to fight for some of Bernie's key policies and political views, then she will not attract Bernie voters. Also, different Bernie supporters have different lines in the sand. For some it is free tuition at state colleges and universities. For others it might be no surveillance. And others it might be universal, single-payer healthcare and something more affordable than the Affordable Care Act has turned out to be. Each of us will have a different litmus test. If Hillary needs and wants our votes, she will have to move toward us.

That will be tricky. Her political history suggests she will try to move to the right. The problem there is that the Republican rank and file have been immunized against Hillary. Republican media and leadership utterly despise her. She will not easily get a lot of Republican votes. And the harder she tries to please them on the policy level, the more she will offend Bernie voters. So she is in a double-bind on that account.

3. A lot will depend on whether you are in a firmly blue or red state. I am in California. Let me assure you. If Trump is the candidate, California will vote against him. California will not be voting for anyone. If Trump is the candidate, he will lose big time in California. In fact, California is very, very likely to vote Democratic in this presidential race no matter who the candidates are. If Hillary is the candidate, she will carry California. Same for Bernie. And if Hillary cannot carry California without my vote, then she can't win the election either in California or anywhere else in the country. I am therefore free to vote or not vote as I please.

So Bernie or Bust is a realistic alternative for me.

I have compromised with conservative Democrats in so many elections. At my age, I just don't think I want to do it again.

Hillary is a war monger. As I have said many times on DU, I had to read Kissinger's first book when I was in college in the 1960s. It was disgusting to me. His view on the world is still disgusting to me. His theories have cost lives unnecessarily.

In good conscience, I cannot vote for Hillary. I'm going to keep hoping for a miracle and a Bernie win in the convention until that convention is over. Stranger things have happened. Read the story of Theodore Roosevelt.

I would like to say something irrelevant about George McGovern. People say he lost in 1972 because he was too liberal. That is not really true. In addition to dirty tricks by Nixon, McGovern lost because he did not vet the mental health history of his vice presidential candidate well enough. Voters had an incumbent and a challenger to choose between, and McGovern's choice for vice president did not inspire the voters' confidence. They picked the candidate they knew and did not try the alternative. In addition, 1972 was, I believe a big year for the Southern Strategy of Nixon, a shameful, racist blot on our history that is still a determining factor in our presidential elections in recent years.

So that is where this BernieBro stands. (I'm also a woman.)