The Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia this past week, as many tuned in for the nomination to be given to predicted candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton— some watched to see if revolutionary Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had a fighting chance among the state delegates to take the nomination. Hillary took the nomination by a land slide, leaving Bernie supporters “Feelin’ the Bern” from the sting of an unfair system. But, as the week went on the divided blue party became closer by finding less differences and more similarities in what was wanted by not only democrats, but by all Americans.
Sanders moved to nominate Clinton for POTUS, and once that had happened “Bernie or Bust” supporters had a fit. I understand, I was “Feelin’ the Bern” just as much as the next liberal college student, but I thought of all my options before I threw my hands up, and was about to throw my vote away. I was not about to vote for someone who I believed that was not going to do anything while in office, nor was I going to opt for voting for the clueless Donald Trump and his campaign. I continued to watch the rest of the convention, which I hope a lot of millennials did. Eventually, many Bernie supporters, some, not all, were “Standing with Her." It didn’t matter what you wanted whether it was universal health care, free college or women’s rights. They were all there for the same reason—to show that love always trumps hate.
The vouchers for the Clinton/Kaine campaign were hitting the right notes during the four-day long convention. Shout outs to the passionate Senator Sanders and his supporters made it clear that the revolution that was started by and for the people did not go unnoticed by the Democratic party. As days passed the democrats made cracks at Republican candidate Donald Trump on, well almost everything. From Tim Kane and his spot on impression of Trump and VP Joe Biden reminding the party how utterly clueless Trump is when it comes to, well, everything once again—to a Muslim-American father of a fallen solider, Khizr Khan, offering Mr. Trump his copy of the constitution. This party started out divided, but one of the things that I saw brought them together was the fact that they absolutely didn’t want Trump to be leader of this country, and they will do anything to get him out of any democrat’s road to the White House—even if that meant Bernie supporters taking a step back to let Hillary start the long road ahead of her.
Love was a huge platform for this convention. Love of each other, love of our freedoms and love of our country. There was amazing patriotism at what was the Democratic convention, that soon became the people’s convention. There were Republicans endorsing democrats, independents leaning toward the left, billionaires bashing on other “billionaires” (Michael Bloomberg V. Trump) and first time voters joining the democratic party—for one of the following two reasons: Hillary and the making of history, or the revolutionary Bernie Sanders leading the way toward a new progressive era. The peoples’ party is what we got from the DNC this year. Repeatedly, we heard it not being about voting right or left anymore—now it’s about voting for what is right against what is wrong.
Finally, something that resonated with me during the convention, and hopefully with many others, is when Barack Obama said these famous words as democrats booed at remarks made by Donald Trump, “Don’t boo, Vote!." This was something that made me smile, and reminded me that a lot of us complain, but don’t exercise our rights. We boo, but most don’t take action. Even though your candidate, my candidate, Bernie Sanders is not running toward the White House does not mean you should let your vote go to waste. If Bernie stands with Hillary who am I to not trust his judgement. He has made many young people that have never been involved in politics before, realize that we have a voice—we can make change happen. This November, if you think about complaining, crying or whining, think back to these three great words, “Don’t boo, vote!” We can’t let what we have worked so hard for go to waste. This is for the millennial that will always be “Feelin’ the Bern," but also believes we are “Stronger Together."
