The white male privilege of Bernie or Bust

Some disclaimers:

1. I know that many Bernie or Bust-ers are neither white nor male. That being said, everyone in my social circle who's still Bernie or Bust is white and male. That's an admittedly small sample size of 8. But still. 
2. I wholeheartedly agree that some of the shit that's gone down in the DNC is very fucked up. No argument there. Both the internal politicking and the Russian hacking... all very fucked up. But still.

After numerous conversations the past few days I'm thoroughly frustrated with the whole thing. First, let's be reasonable. You don't get to say #nevertrump and also #neverhillary. That's not how it works. In this case, #neverhillary just is Trump. And you can rail against the system (and I'll agree) and throw a giant tantrum (preferably not in my ear, but I've tolerated it before and can probably handle it again), but at the end of the day you still can't have it both ways. Depending on the state you live in, a #neverhillary vote amounts to a vote for Trump.

So maybe you're OK with that. Maybe you think we deserve a Trump presidency, or you want to kick-start the revolution, or you just want revenge on the DNC. The problem is, that's revenge on all of us. And it's disproportionate revenge on women, minorities, LGBTQI folks, and the working poor. A Trump presidency combined with a Republican Congress combined with a Trump supreme court justice spells the end of access to comprehensive reproductive care, for example. Maybe they can't make it illegal, but they can make it inaccessible, and that amounts to the same thing. A Trump presidency amounts to unequal pay (because, after all, women would get the same pay if they did as good of a job as men). A Trump presidency amounts to All Lives Matter. I could keep going here, but you get my point.

The privilege to not care where the chips fall is every bit as powerful as the economic and social privileges that come with being white and male. As a woman, I cannot afford to be Bernie or Bust. And as supporters of Bernie, all the B or B-ers should ask themselves "what would Bernie do?"

I think Bernie would stand with me.

#imwithher