OVER. NOT OVER.

Dear All,

The primary is OVER. Vice President Joe Biden won the primary.

Also, everything about the convention is NOT OVER. As I have explained in a few threads, Bernie was looking for assurances that progressives have due influence in the Party. In fact, I will go further--these last few weeks it was already over and Bernie was looking for that assurance. Joe Biden has made overtures and both are on good terms.

This isn't about anyone leaving the Democratic Party. It's an internal struggle for...very specific items in the PARTY PLATFORM.

What you will see next from some people will be the circular left firing squad while many others call for it to stop. You will see continued bashing by both sides and from Trump. BUT you will also see many calls for people to be nice to each other.

Why will there be continued bashing? and who is doing this bashing?

I believe there are 4 categories of person doing this:
1. Individual Moderates with an ideological axe to grind who want progressives to have no say at all--this may be because they believe progressive ideas are unpopular and unelectable. Most moderates don't do this but some do.
2. The opposite: individual far lefties with an ideological axe to grind who want the party to adopt specific items. Most progressives don't do this, but some do.
3. Russianpublican trolls who want to create division so Trump can win. They will play on the division and make it worse through exaggeration and the giant Republican Spin Machine and corporate media.
4. Innocent bystanders who fall prey to all these categories of person believing disinformation campaigns.

Simply put, even though the primary is OVER, there remain challenges both inside the Democratic Party and outside that will hinder cooperation.

What can we individual bystanders actually do to help Joe Biden win and Trump lose.

My opinion:
1. Hold the line. Stay a Democrat no matter what you hear.
2. Stand up for what you believe in a professional way. Be respectful and argue using reason, not bashing.
3. If you see bashing, be first and foremost skeptical of its accuracy. Examine primary sources. Examine context of quotes. Think critically about what bashing you hear.
4. Don't accept hasty generalizations about groups of people, like "Moderates want people to die" or "Bernie supporters are a cult."
5. Ask people to be nice and respectful to each other.

That's all I have for now.

Go Unity!