Open Letter to Bernie Sanders' Supporters

Dear friends and supporters of Bernie Sanders,

I know this is hard to hear, but it’s over. It is essentially mathematically impossible for him to become the Democratic presidential candidate and even more so to become the President of the United States. I’m sure a lot of you are angry and disillusioned with politics because the person you believed could be the hope and change the country needs was beaten by an “establishment” politician. I understand that but it’s time to think about your next move.

I’ve heard a lot of people talking about voting for a third party candidate like Jill Stein. I’ve heard others say that Bernie needs to enter the race as an independent. I’ve heard others say that they’ll stay home rather than vote for Hillary.

How selfish can you be?

This is one of the most important elections that we will ever see and not for any good reasons. This is the election that could very well send Donald J Trump to the Oval Office. This is the election that could make Trump the face of our nation. The person in charge of our military. The person in charge of our diplomacy. The person with veto power. The person responsible for potentially nominating Supreme Court judges who will hear cases over equality, abortion, immigration, and other groundbreaking cases over the next few years.

So I ask again, how selfish can you be?

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that we live in a two party system and that will not change during this election cycle. Either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States. Voting for a third party candidate is essentially the same as throwing your ballot away. Bernie running as an independent will split the liberal vote essentially ensuring Trump waltzes into the White House. Staying at home rather than voting means you are complicit in the election of Trump.

Please toss aside your naiveté or a sense of moral responsibility and look at the reality which we are facing. You fought for Bernie for months because you believed he could change America. You need to join the fight now to keep America from changing the way Trump wants it to. You may not like Hillary—from what I’ve seen from a lot of you, you actually seem to hate her—but you still need to vote for her. I don’t care what you think about Hillary’s support of the 1994 crime bill (a bill Bernie Sanders voted for). I don’t care that you don’t think Hillary “deserves” the black vote. I don’t care that you think she came to support marriage equality too late in the game. I don’t care that you think the vote in Arizona was tampered with. I don’t even care that you just don’t like her personality. You need to vote for her.

I said it earlier but I will say it again to drive home the point: the reality is that this election will come down to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. And no matter how disillusioned you are with America right now, I challenge to to tell me in good faith that Donald Trump is a better alternative. The hope that some magical, better option will present itself to you is nothing but a pipe dream. You, as an American, have a duty to ensure that someone who continually spews hate, disrespect, and a supreme misunderstanding of American values like Trump is not in a position to "lead" us.

I could go on at length enumerating how awful Trump is and how disastrous his election would be but if you support Bernie Sanders, I know that you’re smart enough to know those reasons on your own. I’m not asking you to like Hillary. Lord knows most people have their minds made up one way or the other already. I’m asking that you (however begrudgingly) vote for her. Some of us will vote for her because she’s our first choice. Others will vote for her because they believe it’s important to keep a Democrat in the White House. Others will vote for her because she’s “the lesser evil.” Others will throw their vote away or stay home out of misguided moral superiority.

For the last group, I hope you can cling to that moral superiority for the next four years as the madman you were complicit in electing reeks havoc on our nation and our world.