Switch Now! An Open Letter to Bernie Sanders

Bernie, your once-formidable insurgency is no longer about whether you’ll win the presidency. You are toast.

After New York, Bernie, you and the Left are now about the future of America—not the present, sadly.

Off your New York defeat, a new coalition needs to rise from the ashes. Clearly, Bernie, you are not palatable to the carriers of the neoliberal consensus.

You’re a menace, a gnat on the asses of the well-heeled in the Democratic Party.

As we thank you upon your exit, we remember you gave all of us something to think about, something to cheer for while hoping you will not automatically concede that your “political revolution” is dead.

Bernie, do not throw your support to the Queen. Your supporters do not want that to happen, ever.

Now is the time for us to discover your true worth. Tonight, you should create a radical coalition with Jill Stein and take the combined Greens and disgruntled Dems into a new realm.

This may not help us in 2016. But beyond Hillary Clinton, our polity needs answers, adjustments, and a new democratic imperative.

Switch now! Be loud!

We stand with you in solidarity.

Sincerely,

Terry Simons

Terry Simons is the founder of Round Bend Press Books in Portland, Oregon.  This story is excerpted from his memoir of growing up in Oregon, A Marvelous Paranoia.