We have a hatred problem on this site.

[lovemydog]

61. Few will read this or care, but I'd like to add

that it's gotten much worse in the past couple of weeks. Some Sanders supporters say 'you're an idiot if you judge a candidate by the company they keep' but I do. We should for Donald Trump and Ted Cruz as well. I very much consider the company one keeps as a factor in how I cast my vote. There is no question in my mind that the Hillary supporters at this site have been drowned out in a sea of personal hostility and cliquish mob mentality that I despise. Almost anything positive said about Clinton or even her personality is attacked as being a 'meme' sent out as 'instruction in an email' or some such ludicrous hogwash. I'm not denying there are trolls and campaign operative posting here, but I don't know who they're working for, how many of them there are, or why people who post here cannot seem to understand that many here like me are actually real human beings, individuals who care about the direction in which we're headed, and who enjoy talking with other progressives, democrats and leftists and sometimes agreeing and sometimes agreeing to disagree, but treating one another as real people.

Last night I watched the debate between two good candidates. I posted a couple of things, basically saying that I can and will support both candidates in their runs in both the primaries and the general election. I was saddened to see that nearly none of my online friends in the African American group were posting. I'm very interested in hearing their thoughts about the debate and sharing our feelings about a lot of other things too. I didn't see them posting very much in the General Election: Primaries section of this site either. I saddens me when I look for my online friends and can't find them.

I think we all need to think about the mark we leave both in person and online. Considering every honest attempt among leftists and progressives and democrats that doesn't fit one's narrow view as a conspiracy of evil will merely shrink rather than grow the base of support we need to win all elections, especially at local and congressional levels where it truly matters.

This is not meant as an attack on Bernie Sanders; it's just an expression that both Hillary and Bernie have strong points and weak points and that neither is perfect. I don't believe anyone perfect has even inhabited this earth, and I don't think either Clinton or Sanders is the kind of corporate shill murderous sellout that some on one side of this fence describe. I think Bernie's running an excellent campaign. I'm just concerned - and will will continue to express as long as I'm allowed here - that we all benefit from looking beyond the primaries toward the kind of party or parties we want to inhabit and the kind of ways in which we want to express ourselves.