I’m never going to vote for Bernie Sanders. Not only is he pretty old (liberals who made fun of McCain’s age conveniently forget that he was older than Jack was when he ran for President back in ‘08), but also his political views are pretty darn far-removed from mine. He’s a caricature of the Vermont liberals who helped him propel to political superstardom. But much as I like to poke fun at “Comrade Bernie” and his supporters, the guy does have heart. That’s one of the reasons he was able to go so much further in his 2016 Presidential run than he ever should have, helping divide the Democrats, a party he’s not even part of (he’s registered as an “Independent”, and only registered as a Dem for the 2016 Election).
With Bernie’s 2018 senatorial re-election bid coming up, an opponent has arisen. Much like the rest of this country (apart, of course, from the limousine liberal teens smoking pot at liberal arts college across the country), Democrat Jon Svitavsky is fed up with what he calls the aging hippie socialist’s “Robin Hood shtick”. But while he’s bashing Bernie for basking too much in the limelight, I don’t know if he’s a better option: an aging first-time candidate who claims to be even more anti-establishment and “far more liberal”. So, Vermont is of course going to love him. He is, however, a strong advocate for the homeless, which I do respect. While he claims to already have some name recognition in the state, a simple Google search has come up with little info on him from before he announced his plans to oust Bernie.
Jon Svitavsky
Svitavsky claims, not without good reason, that Bernie divided the Dems enough to give Trump the edge and win the election back in November. He also states that an FBI investigation into a commercial real estate loan Bernie’s wife orchestrated has left him, who relishes in his image as an “incorruptible” politician, in a pretty tough spot. Bernie is still very popular in his state (shocker) and beyond, but this scandal could be an issue. His wife has been accused of overstating financial pledges and grants to get at least $6.7 million in financing for the now-defunct Burlington College back in 2010. It’s also possible that Bernie used his political influence to get the loan approved.
Svitavsky has yet to get the Democratic nomination, but he seems to be gaining popularity in a grassroots movement. I think it’s pretty amusing to watch two guys leaning so far left that they’ve almost fallen over duke it out over whose more liberal, but it’s also pretty scary. Everybody is going more and more extreme and further away from the center. It’s almost like moderate candidates are simply getting ignored, and the only way to get people riled up is by being the most firebrand. But of course that’s dangerous, and is going to do little to unite our country.