I grew up in a household of Democrats. My parents immigrated to America when the first Bush was ending his presidency and they got to see the entirety of Bill Clinton's presidency, and from what they tell me, they loved it. They supported Bill Clinton as a President, they later supported Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. They also voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.

I was literally raised to believe that the Democrats were the good guys who wanted to help as many Americans as they could while the Republicans and Conservatives only cared for themselves and the rich. Granted, my parents also wanted me to do my own research and learn for myself, and you know what, I did.

I'm currently in my sophomore year of college and I voted for the first time in the 2016 primaries for Senator Bernie Sanders in the state of North Carolina.

Well, Senator Sanders ended up losing, or as some say, the election was stolen from him. I got to watch a man who has been socially progressive way before it was cool, and the most economically progressive man I've heard of since Roosevelt, lose to Hillary Clinton. As of now, I still have no clue who I'm going to vote for (definitely not Trump).

Anyway, since the primaries have ended, Senator Sanders has helped shape the most progressive DNC platform of all time and later endorsed Secretary Clinton before she received the nomination.

Now, here's where it gets really dirty. After the DNC Leak occurred, there was clear evidence that Secretary Clinton was the favored nominee by the DNC. A lot of turmoil occurred within the DNC, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz having to step down as the DNC chair after proof surfaced showing that she was the ringleader of election fraud.

Of course, now the election goes on. Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton vs. Gary Johnson vs. Jill Stein and a few other even smaller players throwing their cards on the table, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.

I mentioned earlier that the DNC adopted one of the most progressive platforms ever thanks to Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton even changed her stance on multiple issues because of the primary race to appeal to more Sanders' supporters.

Look, but here's the problem with all this. Senator Sanders sparked a movement and we've seen many more progressives win primaries in their state for House and Senate seats, but at the same time, we just watched one of the most corrupt and dirty politician win her primary, Debbie Wasserman Schultz beat Tim Canova, a progressive endorsed by Senator Sanders. It raises the question, how did someone so blatantly corrupt beat someone so obviously progressive? I don't know, but let's look at the core of the issue.

Here's the problem with the Democratic Party now: sure, we're seeing some progressives win their primaries, but a very well-known progressive just lost to the ultimate corporate lapdog. Yes, most Democrats consider themselves socially progressive, but that simply isn't enough anymore. Saying you're socially progressive and being economically moderate, or even leaning towards economically conservative, is like backstabbing your own socially progressive values. For example, can someone claim to be socially progressive and still support for-profit prisons? They can't, because for-profit prisons make money by locking up minorities and keeping them in the system. That is what the top of the Democratic Party looks like now. Progressives are being thrown to the side while Secretary Clinton and other Democrats that hold her up yell proudly how they support socially progressive movements, but then quietly, in their dark little corners in Washington, they sign the bills that create the suffering of millions and profits their corporate overlords who fund their campaigns.

So tell me, are we going to keep playing this game? If you claim you're a progressive, you don't get to play halfsies anymore. Being socially progressive isn't enough if you're not economically progressive. Maybe it's time for politicians to start looking like NASCAR race cars, with stickers of all their corporate sponsors plastered all over them.