Reply #7: I suffered through two terms of 'no hope'

[bigtree]

false hope, to me, would be expecting the general election nominee for president to be an ideal choice. Given the nature of the electorate, the nominee is not likely to be as progressive as we might wish. It never has, in my lifetime -- or any other, I believe; not even the gregarious and peace-talking Mr. Carter who got my vote over John Anderson even though I supported the independent through the primary season.

At some point, we are challenged to choose between the two. I'm not buying the notion that there's no difference between parties in power either. I've been there and done that. I won't sit back and risk another republican administration in the WH and I'm sure not comfortable with any republican majority to be complacent about electing Democrats to Congress either.

Once we achieve the elevation of our party in office, we are still challenged to press for the things we voted for.

Not everyone is going to agree with everything a candidate does in office, or agree with all of their promises, but we can't afford to wait for some uncertain prospect of an ideal legislature just because our candidate isn't the type of progressive we might have wanted -- we can certainly fight for one, but it's not likely, in my view. It never has been in my lifetime, but that quest for a perfect candidate never stopped negative influences from persisting, and it shouldn't dissuade us either from coalescing or challenging the folks we manage to advance into office under our Democratic banner. It's a far better prospect than the alternative -- which can be absolutely catastrophic.