I appreciate your thoughtful response, but my problem with Democrats isn’t just that they offer more moderate incremental policies that are less than ideal — it’s that they do not understand how to do politics. Republicans are shrewder and more ruthless in the pursuit of their agenda, which is why they keep winning.

The Democrats’ theory of change, to the extent that they even have one, is some kind of “West Wing” fantasy. They believe that if they just craft the perfect policy and make the right speech, they’ll win over enough “moderate Republicans” to their side. But this ignores the political reality of polarization and the extent to which the GOP has shifted to the right and hardened ideologically.

A perfect example is Biden, who said after the impeachment farce that he had not lost faith in working with Republicans. Or consider the government shut down deal that Schumer and Pelosi offered where they told Trump they would raise funds for the fascist ICE agency and grant Trump the money for the wall in exchange for preserving DACA. Had Trump been rational in the slightest, they would have given him a huge W on the centerpiece of his campaign platform.

Some of the greatest advances in history have happened in spite — not because — of who was sitting in the Oval Office. Nixon passed an incredibly progressive agenda, which Obama described as even more progressive than anything he ever did.

Nixon passed that agenda because he was pushed from below by a grassroots movement. And that’s Bernie’s theory of change. We’ll overcome Republican obstruction not by giving them the farm, but by pressuring them from below. In doing so, we’ll achieve deep systemic change that can’t be rolled back in four years like the incremental reforms you described.

But I’m glad you’re backing Bernie’s nomination. Hope I’ve given you something to think about. Thanks.