A simple observation about some who support Sanders.

Bernie Sanders is commonly identified as the furthest left of the major possible Democratic candidates for President. That has various policy implications for sure, but it also has political implications as to who might be drawn toward supporting him and why. As with all candidates, Sanders has supporters who align themselves closely with the positions he takes and the manner in which he seeks to advance them. But as the candidate viewed as occupying the edge of one side of the viable political spectrum, Sanders also draws support from some who may not so much feel closely aligned with Sanders specifically as much as they view him as the closest thing to a true "leftist" running, as they define that term.

Sanders by default inherits the support of most of those to the left of him who for whatever reason want to influence who wins the Democratic nomination. And yes that extends all the way out to some who many may be tempted to define as "the fringe". As a life long social justice and anti-war activist, I know that type well. To be frank they often have been the bane of many of my organizing efforts. As John Lennon once put it;

"But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow."

Many many fine people are drawn to grass roots social justice organizing efforts in general. But back in the day I always knew that members of the Revolutionary Communist Party would show up at our rallies also. Which is not necessarily to say that none of them were "fine people" too, but they had their own agenda which was not always on the same page with the goals of our protests. They were there to make their views known loud and clear and they were not much concerned about triggering off a backlash among the public who encountered them. I could fairly have been called a part of "The New Left" back then, but I no more thought that the Weather Underground represented me at the time than I did the KKK.

America has a truncated political spectrum. Virtually all of our elected politicians are more or less centrists by world standards. For one thing essentially every one of them is willing to swear to uphold our Constitution. Personally I am fond of our Constitution in general, I think it is pretty darn good as far as constitutions go but that doesn't make it perfect. There are many other models for how the politics, freedoms and economies of nations can be organized other than the one America functions with. Some are to the right and some are to the left of ours. And some people feel at home operating at the fringes of a society that fails to embrace their world view, while others don't like being relegated to the outskirts. The latter sometimes choose to engage with people closer to the center. Some seem to do so skillfully, and others can come across as obnoxious to non true believers.

Personally my pragmatic politics are best represented by the left flank of Social Democrats. That is the base from which I believe I can still have a hand in directly influencing the direction of our national elections. But I am a life long Collectivist. Frankly, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need" seems like a good starting point for discussions in my view. So does "Tax the Rich to feed the Poor". I believe in worker self management. I believe in bottom up decision making structures. I believe in a model for society that coexists in places with our mainstream culture but differs substantially in parts from it. But we need to control the Presidency and Congress today in order to avoid disastrous wars and to effectively confront global warming, and so much more. I can't wait for some utopian social order to first emerge, I have to be active in this one.

All my life I have shared protests rallies and marches with those on the left who scorn working with the establishment in one way or another, to any of varying extents. I know those people. Some of them vote, some of them don't. Some of them vote third party when they do, and some are willing to entertain voting for whichever left of center politician is as left as one can get and still have a chance of actually getting elected. It is, as they say, a free country. Bernie Sanders stands near the left pole of accepted American mainstream politics. Knowing that dynamic well, I know enough not to judge Sanders by the worst case examples of those further left than him who refuse in any way to play nice with those they consider centrists.