Young Hillary Clinton Supporters Decry ‘Ideological Purity’

[BlueMTexpat]

http://time.com/4290265/hillary-clinton-millennial-new-york-primary-voters-brooklyn/

This is an interesting read. It is also heartening to see that not all millennials have been taken in by promises of free things for everyone.

As in other states, Bernie Sanders is winning younger voters in New York decisively. But Hillary Clinton’s millennial supporters in the Big Apple aren’t willing to concede the fight yet.

Take Edward Delman, a 25-year-old writer and volunteer, who on a recent Monday was wearing black-rimmed glasses and a T-shirt that said “Yas Queen”—a reference to the comedy show Broad City—above a drawing of Clinton. He organized a Millennials for Hillary event at a Brooklyn bar specifically to fight the “narrative that the kids are for Bernie.”

Like other younger Clinton supporters, Delman says he’s troubled by the views of some of his Sanders-supporting peers, who he says are obsessed with “ideological purity.”

“There’s a culture that’s developed where we are assigning moral values to political positions,” he said. “I think they see it as ‘if you haven’t had a spotless record, if you’ve ever changed your mind on anything, you must be tainted.’”

[yallerdawg]

1. I swear.

I don't know what the attraction is.

The finger-pointing and -shaking alone never works on the yutes around me!

[BlueMTexpat]

2. There's a lot of peer pressure,

I think. Bernie is considered by the majority of millennials as the "bright, shiny, new thing" - the irony being that he is more "Establishment" (25 years in DC and politics his ONLY full-time job) than Hillary, as well as being 74 and counting.

IMO, too many of these young ones really do not know what it is to struggle since their lives have been comparatively easy so far, with too much instant gratification. What they do see ahead - rather than a continuation of the "Good Life" their parents gifted them - is an economy where it may be very difficult for them to get and keep well-paying jobs with benefits. And a future where they will live longer but may have difficulty making ends meet in their golden years.

So of course, they look towards a candidate who is promising what look like easy and quick solutions, without realizing that NOTHING is ever quick and easy. It likely wasn't quick and easy for most of their parents and it certainly wasn't quick and easy for their grandparents before them. But it has been all too easy for them so far. It's frightening to see that the gravy train is about to end.

This is very likely a too superficial, broad-brush, and glib assessment of too many. But it is what I have seen firsthand among my grandsons and their friends who are Bernie supporters. The difference between them and the "Bernie Bro-swarmer-name-calling types" is that those I know WILL support the eventual Dem nominee.

[kjones]

3. Blue, you don't really like millennials at all do you haha

I think you're getting an overly negative impression because of the
people you see re: Bernie.

I think any kind of campaign like Bernie's (social media, internet,
rallies, etc) is biased towards youth no matter it's content
(or lack thereof...ha). It's the kind of stuff that has, and always
will, spread around campuses with ease...not because of what
he says, but because of tone, mode, and the environment of
campuses. Also, the older individuals supporting Bernie are
a lot less visible...less likely to be involved in the rallies, marches,
whatever they come up with.

[BlueMTexpat]

5. I actually love "millennials"

especially since they include several of my own college-age grandchildren, LOL. The youngest (5, 7 & 9) I absolutely adore, although only the oldest of that bunch is somewhat politically aware (pro-Hillary, btw)!! They are so much fun, if a bit exhausting for this aging "grand." The older ones help to keep me in touch with their reality and are also pretty sweet.

At the beginning, I loved what Bernie was saying and I loved that it allowed Hillary to move the political dialogue further left (her inner liberal self). What I disliked even then about Bernie was his "latter-day" change to "D" and his continued attacks on Democratic party institutions when they don't immediately work to his benefit. Still, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and tried to focus on the energy and enthusiasm in his campaign as good and healthy things.

But the ongoing whining about CTs, the constant desperate smearing of HRC with GOPer TPs, the alert-stalking of HRC supporters on DU, the hypocritical complaints about SDs (OK if they support Bernie, not OK if they support Hillary), the OTT descriptions of Bernie as a political "Second Coming," nasty comments and dismissal of minorities and whole parts of the country simply because they voted overwhelmingly for HRC, and swarms of nasties against HRC endorsers (both individuals and institutions) were eroding my liking for Bernie generally.

Finally, the antics in NV (attempting to overturn caucus results) tipped me over the edge once and for all. That was nothing but Rovian. Since then, Bernie's comments about Hillary being "unqualified," his campaign's tactics in MO (more Rovian antics), his "misspeaking" about an invitation from the Pope, and his total tone-deafness about the insertion of religion into a political campaign have firmly tamped that feeling down. I am not alone in this. IMO, Bernie has lost any claim to "high ground."

[kjones]

9. Oh yeah, for sure about Bernie

I had respect for him a year ago, based on my image of him as a real
scrapper. I really didn't know a lot about him, but what I did, I thought
I liked. That's all dropped to around zero now. The worst for me is the
allowing a clearly (at this point) destructive campaign to continue...
really risking serious damage to the party for...???

You know, I don't even care that much if he was late Dem, but now
that he's "here" (used lightly, obviously), I expect him to treat the
party and it's members with the good stewardship you'd expect a
national candidate to practice. He hasn't though, not a bit.
Bernie, you can crash on my couch, but when a self-admitted
"guest" (to the party) decides to redecorate the place...

[Cha]

4. Especially when the so-called "purity" is about the furthest thing from Purity you can get.

Thank you for this, Blue~

They may be "obsessed with purity".. but they need to get start getting a little obsessed with "FACTS"!

[BlueMTexpat]

6. Amen. eom

[creon]

7. excellent

I am glad that there are young people who do not believe in ideological purity.
In politics, ideological purity will cause real problems.
Look at the GOP.
That party is bitterly divided; mostly owing to ideological purity.

Senator Mitchell once asked: "do you want to make a statement? Or do you want to make a law?"

[LAS14]

8. Thanks for finding this. And thanks to Delman! nt