March 22, 2020 by Deborah Ierace
Dear Bernie,
Firstly, thank you so much for all you have done for the world. I want to say how much I respect you. As your campaign slogan so well explains, it’s “Not Me. Us.” Today I’m compelled to write to you about us.
Bernie Sanders rally, Chicago, IL March 7, 2020 Photo: Action Items for Bernie 2020
I can’t tell you how desperate the last few weeks have made me feel, and I’m not alone. All of us who have believed so strongly in your—our—movement have been in mourning. We’re struggling to allow ourselves to believe that our hope has died. We’re in denial, because we can’t believe the villain wins in the end and the hero gives up.
Let me be clear about who the villain is here: it’s not Trump. It’s the subjugation of our election process by the DNC to throw the election for Joe Biden.
It would be one thing if we believed you were losing because so many Americans, especially Democrats, were really just making poor voting choices that are against their own best interests. But that isn’t convincing anymore. We know better.
It’s not just wishful thinking that you’re the most popular candidate. The recent Morning Consult poll rated you the country’s most beloved senator for the last 11 years in a row. The massive numbers of supporters at your rallies is clear evidence. Add to that how many working Americans have scraped the bottom of the barrel of their unstable bank accounts over and over again to donate over $134,000,000 to your campaign in order to elect a person that works for us, not the corporations.
Bernie, exit polls show discrepancies well outside the margin of error when compared to electronic vote totals that always favor Biden, not you. And why have you won everywhere there has been a caucus and not electronic voting? Why did you lose in states you were polled to be winning in? There’s a reason why Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and other countries around the world have banned these hackable machines. When this happens in third-world countries, the United States has not held back from weighing in on the illegitimacy of those elections.
You know they’re cheating you. We know they’re cheating you. A good deal of the rest of the world know, too. But Bernie, they are cheating us, and you are our chosen steward. You made this about us. You said if you lost fairly, you would support the winner.
But you did not lose fairly. For us, all bets are off.
If you allow them to cheat you, you allow them to cheat us. Those of us who worked so hard to support you with our time and money will be less inclined to do it again. Do you really think these same working-class people who supported your campaign, only to have you allow yourself to be cheated—twice now—will be inspired to support you or other progressive candidates in the future? Even if they don’t take corporate cash, if the DNC is just going to cheat us out of our rightful win again, what’s the point?
Let me tell you my personal story. I was active in a fundamentalist religion for many years that held that voting was being wrongfully involved in worldly governments and that “man has dominated man to his harm.” It was my view that anyone seeking power over others was not someone who should have it; imperfect humans can’t be trusted. I also believed that the bad decisions of those we vote for are a responsibility we would also bear.
Because of this, I only voted for President once in my life—Jimmy Carter—before I became a member of that religion. When he ran as incumbent against Ronald Reagan I felt he was much less likely to get us into a war. You are the only other person I will have voted for. You are the only other candidate who inspires me to want to stand up and fight for us, too.
Even though I’m no longer a part of that religion, I still cannot feel compelled to vote for a “lesser evil.” Again, I’m not alone in this. Many, many of us will not vote for a candidate we feel will taint us with their legacy.
Which brings me to your legacy. Maybe you don’t want to be “the guy who spoiled the election for Joe Biden and got Trump re-elected.” But no matter how much support you give Biden, when he loses, the pundits and DNC will say it’s your fault, just like Hillary did. She stabbed you in the back; were you really surprised? We weren’t. Do you really believe that if you relinquish your leverage by denying what they’ve done to us and supporting them that they’ll let you guide policy that hurts their corporate masters?
We know you didn’t need to run. You could have retired comfortably, enjoying your family, not worrying about getting assassinated by those corporatists who stand to lose so much if your policies are implemented. But you have to finish this now.
Bernie, I know you’re concerned about Trump being re-elected. But honestly, if you’re not the Democratic nominee, he’s going to be re-elected anyway. Cheating didn’t work for Hillary, and it won’t work for Joe.
This is not the time to abandon us, Bernie. You must use every legal means available to you to challenge the election results and run as a third party if necessary for you to be on the ballot. Because Biden won’t win, and we simply cannot have four more years of Trump.
And it’s not that we are bitter and will withhold our vote for him out of spite. It’s because too many people feel as I do—we cannot support the people who stole our votes. Nor should we. We don’t want blood on our hands of the people who will die in the needless and costly wars or our neighbors who are dying without health care.
Nothing will change with either Trump or Biden as president; it’s only a Bernie Sanders presidency that will work to minimize the impending damage. It’s not even just about these things anymore; if the corporatists respond to the global pandemic by giving more taxpayer dollars to corporations instead of working Americans, millions more are going to die, not just from war and disease, but hunger.
You may feel that you have bigger fish to fry. All of these incredibly momentous issues that have impending grave consequences must be all weighing heavily on your heart and mind, and rightly so. But you must not ignore the elephant in the room while you’re trying to solve these problems: our democracy is being stolen, and those doing the stealing will not listen to us until we deal with that.
I believe this is a pivotal moment in world history. I know you believe this too. It’s not time for half-measures. It’s not time to be cowed by the corporate sell-outs in our highest offices. They are bullies of the same order as Trump; they just pretend to care about us a little more. But their actions prove otherwise.
We can’t do it without you, Bernie, since only the damaged candidate can make the required demands.
At this moment, the whole world desperately needs a President Sanders. Earth is making it known to us that we need your visionary, compassionate and steady management style if we want to keep living here with Her.
It’s not a revolution if you don’t get dirty. If you don’t continue what you started, it’s not just American and global citizens whose lives are at stake. It’s our very freedom. If you let them steal this, we lose our very democracy.
Please do this Bernie. Challenge them on the vote totals. You must be on the Presidential ballot in November. Our very lives and the democracy we love depend on it.
Sincerely,
One of Us
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative 
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