Whether or not Bernie can change the Democratic Party will come down to follow through. We can’t know the future, and so it is pointless to try and game plan what Sanders may mean to the Party five, ten, or even twenty years from now. Instead, we can look at the facts as they stand today. Many are doing that and digging into their pockets to support Sanders in spite of the long odds of success. Why is that? I can’t say it any better than Booman said it.
A Vote for Sanders Won’t Be Wasted
by BooMan
Mon Feb 29th, 2016 at 10:47:21 PM ESTWell, one group of individuals that has not given up is Sanders’s army of small donors. The Sanders campaign just announced that they raised more than $40 million in February and are now trying to get to $45 million by midnight.
In case you don’t know, those are insane numbers. If he accomplishes little else, Sanders has proven the concept that you can run a presidential election funded by regular folks.
I don’t even know what they can do with all that money. But he’s got no reason to drop out.
I’ll tell you, it makes sense to want two seemingly contradictory things at the same time. You might want Clinton to be the nominee and still want Sanders to have as close to half of the delegates at the convention as possible. In other words, you may want to vote for Sanders even if you don’t actually want him to win.
Why would you want this?
Because you want a progressive party with a progressive platform and progressive rules changes, but you’re not ready to roll the dice on Sanders as the nominee.
If the polls are anywhere near correct, it’s a risk-free proposition with no downside.