After March 15th, will we still have the freedom to write our opinions on this site?
Yesterday, the head of this site, Kos, said that he will no longer tolerate “malicious attacks on our presumptive presidential nominee or our political efforts,” Hillary Clinton. He goes on to say that we can’t say whom we’re going to vote for, take right-wing punches at Clinton, or be pessimistic about Clinton’s slimmer chances of beating Donald Trump without being specific (A CNN national poll suggests an 8-point margin, while Sanders has a 12 point margin. You can’t have your presidential campaign hanging by a thread.). He also declares points brought up in the primaries are invalid, like a grumpy uncle to a kid who just lost his pet. “He’s dead, get over it.”
But here’s the thing. It ain’t over yet.
We’ve still got 75% of delegates available in the primaries. As we saw in Iowa a couple of weeks ago, huge things can happen in a relatively small amount of time. Sanders launched his campaign on May 25th, 2015. He had almost no support. Fast-forward a couple of months, and he became famous on the internet. Now go to February 2016. He was within 2% of beating Hillary Clinton. Things continue to look great for Sanders. He has won New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Colorado on Super Tuesday. Right now, he has the possibility of winning Kansas and Nebraska. And he still has the possibility of winning huge states like New York and California to speed ahead of Clinton. These primaries still matter, and Daily Kos members should still be able to write about it.
Where’s the money? And is it a malicious attack?
Take a look at opensecrets.com. A mere 17% of Clinton’s donations are from the working class, willing to chip in a couple of bucks to make the former senator from New York president. The rest is from large contributors, millionaires and other rich folk, people with influence. Now take a look at Bernie. About 70 percent of his donations come from small donors, who want to make America a fair nation.
Why does the money matter? It buys influence. At the bottom of the pecking order is the small contributor. They don’t get to shape large trade deals like NAFTA, a hallmark of the Clinton Administration. However, Bernie Sanders is being funded by people who expect to shape his policies as a country, and not just people with the largest sums of money. People are donating to him because they like his message of economic justice for Americans.
This decision to favor Hillary on this site would deem this argument malicious. Is it ethical to only allow Hillary supporters to speak freely, and make Bernie supporters go through piles of criteria just to get their opinion posted?
Bernie is stronger
We need a variety of opinions and facts to make sure the American people get the best idea on who to vote for. Take a look at RealClearPolitics.com, specifically the page about Clinton vs Trump. She between 8 points ahead and 2 points behind Trump. Now take a look at Sander vs Trump. He is between 15 points ahead and 1 point behind Trump. We clearly have a better shot of winning the presidency with Bernie, which is all the more reason Democrats on this website need to be informed about the stances of every democratic candidate.
Daily Kos will be crippled without members that are for Bernie.
Many people on this site are die-hard Bernie supporters. Now that Kos is threatening their right to have their opinions known, they will be kicked off. When that happens, young people, who know more about the internet, and favor Bernie, will find a different place to speak their minds without plowing through a mountain of bull. Kos, be decent, give us back our freedom of speech.