Following the suspension of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, the political left has been plagued with uncertainty.

With only one Democrat remaining Joe Biden, the left has little choice as to what they can do this coming November. As of late, Joe Biden has offered no concessions to the left. Despite this, Biden and his supporters have hounded the Sanders electorate for their vote, touting the tired adage of “vote blue no matter who” as dogma.

This concept is politically reckless, as it undermines America’s concept of democracy by creating an atmosphere of strict party loyalty regardless of the policies a candidate supports. It appears as though the Democratic establishment expects Sanders supporters to concede on every issue.

Given this, Sanders supporters yielding en masse seems unlikely. Biden supporters have also made the claim that the left not aligning itself with Biden would cause a greater evil to win the White House in 2020. This could not be further from the truth. However heinous Democrats envision the incumbent president, allowing a man who proposes no plans for true political progress to take the White House would simply galvanize the Democratic establishment and take away all political progress the left has made.

The Sanders campaign was repeatedly undermined by the Democratic establishment, his victories were diminished, and his media coverage was minimal. Many even went so far as to attack the senator on a personal level, lambasting him as a sexist. All of this contributed to his ultimate defeat.

Yet, the Democrats still ask the left for their vote, because, without it, the election is lost.

Instead of merely handing over the left’s vote to the Biden campaign, it is incumbent upon Sanders’ supporters to either force concessions from Biden or, if need be, cause his defeat in the general election via either a third party or write-in vote. Then, maybe the voice of the left will be taken seriously.

— Joseph Clark

Salisbury