Voting for Bernie

Yesterday, there was a parade that made its way through down town Brattleboro.  This parade was part of the annual Strolling of the Heifers; among participants in this year’s parade were Bernie Sanders, and Vermont’s Governor, Peter Shumlin.  Bernie took the stage in Brattleboro’s town common as the parade wound to a close.  Around him, as he made his way towards the pavilion where he’d speak was a cluster of journalists—some dressed in expensive suits.

At first, this seemed an opportunity not to miss, but as Bernie was being introduced—and the parade was still going on—I saw a friend marching with a banner which said “white silence = violence.”  I decided to join my friend, and fellow anarchist, rather than stand by in a crowd to hear a presidential candidate speak.

The parade finished just past the town common; I stayed with my friend as he took the banner he had been holding to a tent.  Afterwards, we both got root beer floats and walked back to his car talking about radical politics—and the 2016 presidential election.  Back and forth we went, with ideas like voting against the American people’s best interest with the hope to spur revolution.  I argued that the possibility of our country’s citizens being apathetic towards bad government was too great to vote for the wrong candidate.

The brief moment where I was at the town common, in the presence of a presidential candidate, disillusioned me to the electoral process.  I feel that democracy, unfortunately, sells out the best interests of voting citizens to prostituted campaigns promoting people, not politics. 

I am going to vote in 2016; and I’ll vote for Bernie Sanders.  But my politics, my social responsibilities are to uproot the conventional notions which corporatized political campaigns sell.  Voting a good candidate into office will not alleviate the discord and injustice within the global social-economic structure.   Our calling as voting citizens, within the political arena has to be, first, to each other.  Democracy cannot ever serve the people until the people align, not to serve democracy, but to fight for liberation.