There are those on the Left who don’t like Bernie Sanders because they see him as too moderate and/or not a strategic way to engage with the working class. Those are also those on the Left who do like Bernie Sanders because they do see him as a strategic way to engage with the working class.

I’m not talking about any of those people here: I’m talking about, there’s a minority on the Left who support Bernie Sanders out of respect, who’ve read some of the truly radical stuff he wrote in his 20s and 30s and so respect that for decades he has tried his best to remain true to his values and make actual change. (People like Cornel West, some of your FB friends, etc.) I don’t know, maybe I’m just projecting projections onto projections, but this Respect reaction strikes me as deeply, fundamentally sad — for in it is the tacit acknowledgement that, give it a few decades, You Don’t Make It In The End. Your Radicalism Is Your Youth. And You Should Be Scared.

We all have Leftist friends who take more joy in critiquing Bernie Sanders than actually organizing against oppression. From what I can tell, maybe this Fear informs some of the Left’s deep, visceral emotional reaction to Bernie.