A campaign ends...the struggle goes on.(UPDATED)

Last edited Tue Jul 12, 2016, 06:25 PM - Edit history (2)

As he always vowed to do if she prevailed and won the nomination, Bernie Sanders has enthusiastically endorsed Secretary Clinton for the presidency.

While the presidential campaign we joined in by the millions is over, it was crucial that it be waged.

Millions of the voiceless gained a voice. Issues no one else would have discussed were raised with great eloquence.

Voters who had lost faith were given, as the great Sixties tune said "A reason to believe".

While some people who supposedly supported Bernie said unacceptable things(and were roundly condemned for those words by the vast majority of Sanders supporters, the overwhelming majority who were and are people of ideals and sincere good will), there is no need to apologize for the Sanders campaign's existence.

Bernie was right to run.

Those who backed him were right to do so.

Everything is better in this party and will be better in the country because of the Sanders campaign and the dreams it embodied-dreams the Sanders movement will continue to fight for, while learning from mistakes and reaching out to all who felt they could not support Bernie as a candidate. We seek change, we will learn and grow, we will fight on for what Bruce Springsteen once called "the country in our hearts" and for the world we need.

I now give my personal endorsement to Hillary Rodham Clinton and urge all Sanders primary voters to campaign hard for her in the fall. It will be the votes of Sanders supporters, in alliance with other people of good will and honorable intent that determine whether the country can be saved from xenophobia, hate politics, depression and quite possibly a race war.

In closing, let me quote the lyrics of the late, great Phil Ochs(changing the verb tense from singular to plural):

When the river of rebellion overflows, we'll be there...

When the seed of discontent plants and grows, we'll be there...

Searching for the sun through the dark and rainy morn,

Looking for the keys to the dungeons old and worn,

Let me tell you, We'll be there!

When the shadow of the tyrant falls and sweeps across the land

And when some would steal from others with a paper in their hand

When people search for answers and the answers never come

When their troubles would be over if they thought and fought as one,

Let me tell you we'll be there.