Progressives storm Democratic primaries

[Sophia4]

227. Shunning divisiveness is commendable.

But is we want to have a strong Democratic Party, we need to advocate for inclusion.

People supported candidates other than Hillary for their reasons.

I'm in California. How I voted makes no difference. It made no difference at the time.

I wish that those who are so keen to address the divisions in the Democratic Party by worsening them would spend their energy addressing the problem of the electoral college.

Hillary did not lose because of the Bernie Bros. Hillary lost because of the electoral college which deprived so many of her voters of a meaningful vote.

California voted overwhelmingly for Hillary. How I or other voters voted in California is irrelevant since California's margin for Hillary was utterly invisible in the final tally at the electoral college.

The Democratic Party used to be the party of the big tent. Where is that tent now that we need unity?

I see so much disparagement here of people who vote their conscience but did not vote as the majority here voted in 2016. It seems that many here enjoy the dissonance, the fighting and conflict within the Democratic Party.

Why? Why encourage excluding people who did not vote for Hillary? How does that build unity and strength and a big enough majority to overcome Russian interference and Republicans like Trump in the future?

Trump is a horrible president, but many, many Americans especially in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, former Democratic strongholds when unions were strong, did not come out to vote for Hillary. And that is why she lost. We in California are not to blame for Hillary's loss no matter how we voted.

It's those Democrat who voted for Trump or did not vote in the key states who are responsible for Trump.

I do not want to offend you or anyone on DU. Clearly, you voted for Hillary and did not vote for Trump. But, if you didn't live in California, you knew your vote would count. I personally urged people living in swing or uncertain states to vote for Hillary. Had they followed my advice (for which I got into a lot of trouble on another website), Hillary would have won.

But the lesson that must be learned is that we have to be unified as Democrats if we are to win in the future -- and that means listening to and working with people we don't agree with on every issue or every personality. It also means giving Californians an equal vote in presidential elections with the people in tiny, mostly conservative states like Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, etc.

Many of the Bernie Bros who are so detested here are very young. They are, like it or not, going to be a decisive voice, the decisive votes in future elections. Many, many of them registered in California as not declaring a party (our version of Independent), so Democrats need to win them over. Unwillingness to walk that extra mile and convince them to join with Democrats is the challenge the Democratic Party faces now and for the foreseeable future.

Will we Democrats meet that challenge?