An Open Letter to Bernie Sanders

Our family on voting day.

Dear Bernie,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I write you today on behalf of tens of millions of Americans and untold numbers worldwide.

I write first and foremost to say “Thank you.”.

Thank you for taking the time to serve your country and humankind.

I, like you, have often chosen service over material gains.

As a result, I am a 43 year old man, with under $1000 to my name.

I am not worried about it.

It is a choice I have made to have a rich, full life, rather than play a game that someone else has laid out for me.

I may not have much money, but every single day I am able to touch the lives of many people.

I have traveled around the country with my family volunteering for you.

It has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

Several times I was close enough to you to reach out and touch you and every time I chose instead to help others to reach you and meet you.

Had I been able to shake your hand, all I would have said is “Thank you”.

And in the firm squeeze of your palm I would have hoped to convey the following;

Thank you for speaking the truth, when it was more profitable to lie.

Thank you for inspiring my children to care about the American political system.

Thank you for being decent and kind and never resorting to the mudslinging of your opposition.

And thank you for calling attention to the real issues facing America today in a profound and genuine way that will reverberate infinitely.

I want you to know that you have made a significant change in our country and your message is being felt and practiced on a daily basis by millions of Americans.

At the campaign office in Columbus, Ohio.

I often think of how tired you must be.

I watch you move and speak day after day and often wonder where you find the energy.

I suspect you are like me, tired, but inspired to serve something greater than yourself.

I suspect you are like me, in the fact that you are often working and missing your loved ones.

I suspect you are like me and sometimes wonder if the mountain is too steep to climb, but know that there really isn’t any choice, for there are millions who cannot even take the first step without our help.

 

I know you are about to have a meeting with Hillary Clinton and I know that there is tremendous pressure on you to “unite the party”.

I know that there are people who you call friends who have not been there for you, when you needed them most.

I also know that you face being ostracized by the establishment that you have worked within for the last 40 years.

I know that if you say the words that they want you to say, then you can go back to Vermont, continue to serve your constitutes and make a real difference in their lives.

But, with outrageous audacity, I dare ask you an incredible favor.

Collecting signatures to get Bernie on the ballot in a Republican stronghold in Indiana

I am writing today to ask you to fight on.

I have no right to ask this of you.

My meager donations of time and money are nothing in the face of your great service.

No one would blame you if you decided to return home to cuddle with your grand kids and watch cartoons.

No one would blame you if you decided that you had began a movement and that it was up to US to continue it.

Should you choose to rest, know that we will continue to fan the flames that you have ignited.

Wherever there is injustice, we will stand up in defense of the outcast and downtrodden.

Wherever there is someone in need, we will lift them up.

Wherever someone has had their voice stolen, we will be twice as loud to make sure that they are heard.

We will do what you have always done, Bernie.

We will stand up.

Despite all that you have done, We The People of the United States of America must ask a huge favor of you.

We must ask that you continue on and become the President of the United States.

Chloe and I, canvassing our home state.

If you walk away, and we are left with the “choice” between two historically corrupt candidates, then our battle becomes so much more difficult.

Yes, we will still vote in midterm elections.

Yes, we will replace the House and Senate with true Progressives.

And yes, we will eventually write a constitutional amendment that will overturn Citizens United.

I know you want to fight against Trump, but you cannot do that by asking your followers to support a candidate who is directly opposed to their values.

You have taught us well, Bernie and just as I have raised my children to never blindly accept authority, we will never vote for Hillary Clinton, even if you asked us to.

So, you see, there is only one way out of this spectacular mess.

We must finish what we have started.

You must become the next President of the United States.

 

You have more support than your two opponents combined.

If you run through to November, we will put the finest minds our country has, to finding a way to make sure that every vote is counted and you will win by a margin of historic proportions.

If you have a way to win the convention then by all means, fight on to Philadelphia.

I am a delegate.

I will be inside fighting for you.

I do not care how you do it, please know that we have only just begun to fight.

If you run on The Green Party ticket with Jill Stein, I will head up the effort to get The Green Party on the ballot in the remaining 30 states.

If you run as an Independent, I will collect whatever signatures are needed and show up in any court room that is required to make sure that people can vote for you in November.

 

Bernie, you are not in this alone and it is not your job to unite a party that is corrupt beyond repair.

In this, your darkest hour, please know that tens of millions stand united beside you.

You are my President, Bernie Sanders.

Run through until November and you will be our nation’s President.

We’re still with you.

Sincerely,

Our Family