Hey, Bernie, where’s my fucking money?

I donated $2,000.00 to your campaign, Bernie—money I could barely afford. I would have donated the limit and volunteered most of my waking hours to help your presidential campaign.

Bernie, now I have a question for you. Where’s my fucking money?

I know you’re a decent guy, Bernie, but you didn’t seem to understand that you have to fight to win a revolution. A revolution can be decent, but it can’t be nice. A revolution doesn’t have to be violent, but it does have to be tough, hard-boiled. and a revolution has to recognize its enemies—those who would thwart its basic ideals and goals.

Do you have to attack your enemies on a personal basis, no. You knew that, but you didn’t know, or you were too decent to know that your political enemies will always eliminate you if they can.

Bernie, remember this scene in Godfather II?

Imagine Biden and the real boss, Obama, off-camera and Tom Hagen played by Elizabeth Warren. If you fuck with the established order and those newly made mob members, you’re out.

You’re out like Tesio, because you didn’t think you could openly challenge the establishment and instead nibbled away at the edges.

Biden may have been your personal friend (I can’t understand why, but no matter), but he was not your political friend.

Perhaps you were unaware of Alexander Cockburn’s statement, “The first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations which use the tiny state as a drop box and legal sanctuary. Biden has never failed his masters in this primary task. Find any bill that sticks it to the ordinary folk on behalf of the Money Power and you’ll likely detect Biden’s hand at work.” Bernie, you could have cut and pasted that into your stump speech.

You knew that Joe Biden was one of the major champions of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), successfully erecting all kinds of roadblocks for Americans struggling with debt, and doing so just before the financial crisis of 2008.

The statute made it almost impossible to completely eradicate debt under Chapter 7, and completely impossible to discharge student debt, despite a debtor’s personal circumstances. In fact, the Federal Government can garnish retirement benefits to pay federally guaranteed student loans. The BAPCPA  may very be the single piece of legislation most responsible for putting the U.S. in the current student debt crisis.

Bernie, you failed to remind us every day and at every debate that Biden is a puppet on a string.

The list is too long to litigate here: Biden’s support for the Iraq War; Biden’s desire to cut Social Security; Biden’s opposition to Universal Health Care.

Bernie, you knew, after the dust settled, Biden would be your main opponent to beat. You knew he was Obama’s caporegime. You could have picked a topic per week and railed away. You also knew that Biden would fly off the handle in a debate. You should have aggressively come after Biden every chance you had, picking at every wound.

Unfortunately your decency doomed you. You forgot that your ideas were decent, fair and humane on their own. It never was about your personal decency.

Monday morning quarterbacking, water under the bridge, tears in the rain.

It is not Monday morning, however, with respect to smart political strategy. Bernie, you could have waited until the convention, if there is one, to endorse Biden and you could have, should have, continued to campaign.

In fact, you could have kept them guessing that a third party might be looming in their future.

Krystal Ball lamented Bernie’s early departure from the race and commented on his appearance to endorse Biden:

“It appears that the revolutionary rhetoric has been just that—rhetoric. And now the revolutionary was trying to sell us on the transformational change of some task forces, seemingly abandoning his legacy of unvarnished truth-telling to be like all the rest; willing to sacrifice every principle and forty-year long ideal in service of beating Trump; fully buying into the lesser of two evils framework that leads to endless hell and the fundamental impossibility of real change

After all why would the corporatists offer anything better, if they can be slightly better than the bad guys.

They weaponized Bernie’s basic decency to crush his own movement in a way he alone could do.”

I am Jack’s broken heart. And, come to think of it, I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.

Bernie, I want a $2,000 refund. Where’s my fucking money?