I'm ready for a revolution

[davidthegnome]

108. You make some good points.

Single payer, college tuition funded by the public, a fifteen dollar minimum wage... those things are not likely to happen with the current government. I don't think that means that we shouldn't fight like mad for them anyway though. Even if it is a losing battle, even if it is one hell of an uphill struggle, it has to be done. I'm not very old, but I'm not in my twenties anymore either - back then I felt like I had time for things, like there was still some chance, some potential... some things I could do that might move me in the direction I wanted to go.

The years since have left me jaded in some regards. I have worked for 7.50 and 8 dollars an hour and 5 dollars an hour. I have worked full time and over time and part time. I have been to college now - a year's worth of education left me in (for me) a decade's worth (or more) of debt. I've been injured, very recently - and haven't been able to work for a few weeks, my savings are disappearing quickly and there's still no way for me to qualify for health insurance, either under the ACA or medicaid because my governor did not pass the expansion.

Ultimately, I'll probably be okay, I'll probably survive. My family has enough money to let me with live with them and feed me, so I'm not likely to end up homeless or starving to death - and I am deeply grateful for that - because I have been in worse situations than I am in now.

The thing is, I'm one of those people screwed by this economy, even left out by some fairly progressive policies that were well meaning - but warped by the right and centrist democrats to take most of the strength out of them. I don't think we can keep doing things by half, by increments. If (and it's a pretty big if) Clinton could get the minimum wage raised to 12 dollars an hour... that's still not a living wage, not even up here in Northern Maine.

I would never, not in a million years, advocate or support a violent revolution. My fear is that it is inevitable if we do not do something to dramatically alter the course this Country is on. Not immediately - but ten, twenty years down the road... with government practice and policies like we have known for the last ten or twenty? I can't even imagine how deep the suffering, anger, resentment and struggle is for those who have it much worse than me.

I can't get by on my own. The notion of financial independence... living on my own... even the idea of going back to school, all of these are so far beyond me I may as well try to reach up and pull down the moon. To say that it sucks is such a dramatic understatement... but it sucks. I have a son I can't see, that I can't afford to support - and it's not because I don't want to, it's because I can't.

I had to tell my girlfriend that any future plans for me moving (she lives in Mass) closer to her or us getting married have to be put on hold. I can't move like I used to anymore, I can't even handle being on my feet for more than an hour or two. I'm looking for some kind of work I can do until (hopefully) my back gets better... but no luck so far. I'm thirty one years old and some times I feel that my life is already over, at least in regards to upward momentum.

It's not just about me though. It's about the millions of people who are in situations like mine, or in situations worse than mine. They can't afford for things to keep going as they are... they need more than incremental change - and they needed it yesterday.

One person, who ever they are, is not the solution by themselves - but what Bernie is calling for; millions of people marching in the streets (I might end up needing a wheelchair, but I'll be there!) to support the changes he's talking about... that might have some chance of actually working. I think he is one of those people that understands, somewhat, just how desperate things have become for a lot of people in this Country.

What Sanders is talking about may be more reform than actual revolution, but there is a great deal of revolutionary thinking going on right now, I think. A revolution in political ideology and philosophy. People who would, years ago, have scoffed at the notion of a strong safety net, healthcare or higher education funded by the public... are now more open to such ideas - and even supporting them. I like Sanders as a person, I think he's honest, genuine - and decent - but that's not why I support his campaign. It's about the ideas, it's about the policies. It's my hope that, somehow, in spite of the odds against it, we can make some of the changes he is talking about - even if it takes a decade... seems like I'm not going anywhere. At least I can keep writing for this movement, for things that I believe in very deeply.

All of that having been said.... I realize that the odds of success are unlikely, but I've become a pretty desperate man, so I'm going to go with the person who I think understands that desperation. It's not so much a matter of being against Clinton anymore, not for me, but it IS a matter of magnitude. We've got to fight for everything and anything we can get, because if we don't, then what has been happening will continue to happen.

I'll vote for Clinton if she wins the nomination and try to work with others to hold her feet to the fire and push her left - but I think Sanders is already where a lot of us are in regards to what needs to happen going forward.