There are days, though, when it is almost worth all of that, just to see the look on people's face when politics are brought up. Bernie Sanders' campaign had people beating the streets for him today, each wearing a bright, shiny new pin stating their support for the candidate that the Democrat machine wishes would simply go away. Or die. Whichever one makes it easier to foist Ms. Clinton on to the general public as their *official* candidate, much like the RNC did with John McCain in 2008. Call it the lifetime *achievement* award for political parties. Why either party would want to do that, I have no idea, neither candidate is viable in a general election, but I digress.
I had two separate encounters with Sanders' supporters today. The first one came on my daily constitutional (the dated, noun definition), but my look of disdain as I saw their shiny pins kept them from engaging me. The second occurred hours later, as I was leaving my place of residence. There was a younger gentleman, and an older one, too. Both of them were consulting (I'm assuming) voter lists. Strange to me was the fact that they were intentionally ignoring residences that I knew contained minority voters, given the rhetoric that I always read/hear about in the media. Because of this, I may have stared at them as they moved their way down the street a little longer than I would have done otherwise, which encouraged the older gentleman to call out to me. His words were:
I hope I can depend on your vote for Bernie Sanders.I laughed at him before I said anything. Immediately I realized how rude that might be perceived, so I responded with "No, sorry, you can't." Not content to leave well enough alone, I couldn't stop my mouth from continuing on, when he looked back at me with an inquiring look upon his face. It may also have been simple confusion, I didn't stop to ask. I continued by saying "I wouldn't vote for him if he was the only candidate on the party. He is by far the worst candidate running for President this election cycle."
The man looked as if I had mortally wounded him with my words. He had no direct reply for me, but I could (just barely) hear him when he replied to his younger cohort "He must be a F*@%ing Republican."
It could have been worse, I suppose. He could have accused me of supporting Ms. Clinton. That would have been hurtful.
So while Massachusetts will be an afterthought come November (it's been 32 years since the state cast its delegates with a Republican Presidential candidate), but in the moment, with *contested* primaries for both *major* political parties, it's a more interesting place to be. Even as a supporter of the minority party.
