Some Sanders supporters continue to keep camp on their ideals
PHILADELPHIA >> Two days after Bernie Sanders called on his supporters to back Hillary Clinton, the love for the septuagenarian was still alive and strong as a few dozen continued to camp across from the Wells Fargo Center.
The domed tents were spotted throughout Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park Wednesday afternoon in the aftermath of thousands who had pressed up against fences to express their First Amendment right.
Disheartened by Sanders’ loss and compounded by the leaked DNC emails, his supporters were determined to carry on.
Justin Lee, a recent University of Maryland graduate, talked about how Sanders changed the political process.
“’I’m a firm believer in the political revolution and what Bernie has brought to the table and how his commitment to change changed the way we see politics and it changed the way we interact with politics,” he said.
The emails themselves were bad enough but it was the aftermath that continues to burn, some Sanders supporters said.
“I think it’s changed for the worse,” Lee said. “It’s very clear that the Democratic Party as well as Hillary supporters are not trying to show empathy for us, they’re not trying to unite the entire coalition but rather saying, ‘Oh, we don’t need you guys.’
“It almost feels like they’re setting us up … to be scapegoats for if, knock on wood, Trump does become president,” he continued. “We’ll be the ones to blame.”
Mandy Stussman, another Sanders supporter and University of Maryland student, shared her perspective.
“We see it as the DNC’s fault if Trump became president because they failed the working class,” she said.
Stussman said Clinton’s positioning after the email reveal was troubling.
“Hillary just taking Debbie Wasserman Schultz under her shoulder … literally a day later, it was just a blow to the gut to a lot of Bernie supporters,” she said.
Fellow University of Maryland student J.T. Stanley said democracy has been circumnavigated.
“(The media has) given a lot of airtime to DNC apologists who say this is Russia’s fault,” he said. “Russia didn’t write the emails.”
He said other countries have responded to such discontent in other ways.
“This happening in another country could easily prompt a revolution,” Stanley said.
His friends said more needs to be done, that the momentum must now continue.
“On the point of the youth, we have to stay politically engaged,” Lee said. “Bernie Sanders is not the only politician. There will always be politicians fighting for working people, for the middle class. Unfortunately, this was our chance and not to say we blew it, we did start a political revolution.”
Both he and Stussman said the Sanders campaign fueled a lot of those who felt disconnected to the system, and now the focus has to turn to local elections.
“Start small, your vote can matter,” Stussman said. “I think (the Sanders campaign) fired up a lot of people and I don’t want that flame to just go off and die with this campaign. We’ve got to start on the local level and elect Green Parties and Progressives into office.”