I am one of the millions of Americans who have been alienated by the party loyalists

I am about to say some things that are likely to upset a few people, in fact it is even possible that this post will get me banned from Democratic Underground. I am willing to take the risk of being banned however because I know that I am not alone, I know there are many others both on this site and off that feel the way I do. I also know that there are party loyalists who do not want to hear the things I am about to say and rather than listen and reflect on the current state of the Democratic Party they will want to chase me away. They may succeed in silencing my voice on this site but in doing so they will also prove my point, and the point is that party loyalists are driving people away and causing serious damage to the party.

I am one of the plurality of Americans who considers myself to be an independent. As a left leaning independent I have voted many straight Democratic tickets and I have even volunteered for the party, but I have never felt the party represented me. I have a great deal of respect for many of the grassroots Democrats who have worked hard to pursue progressive policies, but sadly I feel the leadership of the party has turned their backs on progressives and chosen to embrace big money interests instead.

When Bernie Sanders announced that he was running for President I felt for the first time that I finally had a candidate that truly represented me. I knew that Hillary had the full support of the party establishment, but what I did not know is just how far the party would go in smearing those of us who did not accept the status quo.

From the day Bernie entered the race we saw him being attacked on racial issues, while I thought these attacks were unfair I could at least understand that anyone who runs for President was going to face tough criticism.

The problem that the people attacking Bernie on racial issues had however is that Bernie had been an advocate for civil rights for years and he was able to put together a strong racial justice platform. That is when the Hillary campaign turned their attacks on people like me. Bernie supporters were subject to baseless broadbrush allegations that we were racists and misogynists. At first it seemed these attacks were coming from a few random internet posters and while they were upsetting they were easy to brush off, as time went on however it became more and more clear that there was a coordinated effort from the Hillary campaign to smear those who supported Bernie.

The term "Bernie Bros" started to appear not just on internet message boards but in major newspapers, it was a sexist term that completely ignored the millions of women that supported Bernie and tried to stereotype Bernie supporters as white racist and misogynistic men. The Hillary campaign went full steam ahead with pushing this offensive stereotype and smearing Bernie supporters however, it became very clear that she was more than willing to attack Bernie supporters while running for office. That made it very clear to me that if she will attack us during the campaign she will attack us if she gets the Presidency as well.

I am sorry but I can not vote for a candidate who will attack people like me, and I know that both Hillary and Trump are going to continue to treat people like me as the enemy because that is what they have done in the past.

I will continue to support Bernie as long as he is in the race, but if he does not get the nomination then I am going to be voting for Jill Stein and I will encourage others to vote for her as well.

Now I know that there are going to be people who accuse me of "holding my vote hostage" after that statement because many in the party like to act as if they own the votes of the left. My vote is my vote however and I will cast it for the candidate that best represents my values.

While I am bound to get people screaming at me for voting for somebody who I know will not attack people like me as the Hillary campaign did, the people who treat me like the enemy are not going to earn my vote.

This is what many in the party don't seem to understand, the party does not own the votes of independents like me. Just because I am a left leaning independent does not mean that I am going to support the Democrats automatically just because I think the Republicans are worse.

I do think the Republicans are worse, but I also think that if we want things to improve in this country we need to hold both parties accountable to the people. The only way I can see the current situation improving is if the Democrats are put in a position in which they have to earn our votes rather than simply demanding them.

Right now I don't see the party loyalists doing anything to earn the votes of independents, in fact I don't think I have ever seen an election in which the party has shown as much hostility to independents as they have in this election.

We are constantly seeing Bernie torn down because of his history as an independent and make no mistake about it, when Bernie is attacked for being an independent that does not make other independents feel welcome. The Democrats can not win elections anywhere in this country without winning a substantial number of independents, there are more independents in this country than there are Democrats and they are the ones who decide elections.

While the disenfranchisement of independents in primary elections has always been an issue, that issue has been made more clear this year than ever before. Finally independents have a candidate that they are passionate about, but many have not been allowed to vote for him because closed primaries treat them as if their voice should not be heard. If the party wants independent votes in the general then they need to listen to their voices in the primary season. If they don't listen then it is the party's own fault if independents won't vote for them in the general.

My vote in November will be going to either Bernie Sanders or Jill Stein but I will be voting Democratic in down ticket races assuming the candidates in those races don't view people like me as the enemy.

If the party loyalists truly cared about their party they would listen to criticism and try to win back the votes of those they have alienated. Sadly however I don't see that happening, instead I predict the party loyalists will continue to demand loyalty from others while doing everything they can to make the people whose loyalty they are demanding know that their differences of opinion will not be listened to.

The party loyalists are the party's worst enemies and they will be responsible for many lost elections in the future.