Let me begin this editorial by congratulating all the candidates for their Super Tuesday performances. There are still many delegates to obtain, and the overarching goal is to remove the pathogen out of our country; and I’m not talking about the coronavirus. That said, I can’t help but be bothered by what has been going on behind the scenes of the Democratic machine.

In case you’ve decided to isolate yourself for fear of getting SARS, three major Democratic candidates dropped out of the race last week and decided to gang up on Sen. Bernie Sanders. This arguably hindered his chances of dominating Super Tuesday, and now, he falls to a close second place behind Biden.

Why are Democrats repeating the same mistake that they made in 2016 when they derided Sanders’ campaign in favor of Hilary Clinton? Did they really think that Hillary was going to be their white knight? A Gallup poll from late August to early September of 2016 showed that her favorable rating was at 38%; and that was long before we elected President Putin.

It’s not like Trump is going to beat Bernie in November—without interference of course. A Quinnipiac University poll from February showed that, with all registered voters, literally all the Democratic candidates at that time led Trump in general election matchups, with Bernie defeating Trump 51-43%. Literally anyone has a shot at beating him, so why to fall back on a white, Catholic man? Even Jack, Bobby and Ted would’ve said, “No, not him.”

The answer is obvious: the moderates are afraid of Bernie’s Progressive agenda. His battle cries of free public post-secondary education, Medicare for All, pot legalization and safe and easy access to abortion differ from Joe’s campaigns for free community college, the Affordable Care Act, letting the states decide on pot laws and abortion limits. That’s not close enough. Our neighbors up in the true north figured these progressive ideas out, some of them long before Bernie and Biden were even elected to the Senate! We make fun of them for their accents and mannerisms; they make fun of us for having to go into their country in order to literally survive.

It makes sense to me as to why the DNC is so opposed to Sanders’ “radical” agenda. Moderate Democrats are just closeted Conservatives. When Bill Clinton was in office, for example, there were several pieces of legislation he signed into law that were just a middle finger to civil liberties; including the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on openly gay people serving in the military and the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited the government from recognizing same sex marriages. By the way, Biden voted in favor of both those policies. You want to know who voted against them?

And don’t tell me that it’s only Republicans who are the rich, privileged ones. The Pew Research Center conducted a study in 2014 on adults with a household income of over $100,000. In the Liberal safe havens of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey—which are all ranked among the top 10 wealthiest states in the nation. The study found that, respectively, 49%, 54%, 62% and 57% of adults identified as or leaned Democrat. In those same states, the people who had no lean to either major party sat at 12%, 11%, 10% and 9% of the population.

These are the Liberals who say, “Be charitable to the less fortunate” while purchasing frivolous items from Amazon on their $1,500 MacBook.

But we can’t blame the establishment for ruining Bernie’s chances of bringing the United States into the 20th century. He is beloved by Millennials and the Gen Z. A Newsweek article showed that 47% of Gen Z voters look up to him; almost three times as much as Biden.

Millennials were just as high with 40% of them supporting the Vermont Senator. The problem is that despite being 60.5% of the population, young people don’t vote. On Super Tuesday, of all the people who voted in Vermont, also known as Bernie Country, the percentage of people under the age of 30 was only 11%; 70% were over the age of 45.

This was quite evident on campus that day. I remember walking around and being the only person under 30-years-old with an “I Voted Today” sticker slapped onto my chest. There was nothing in the Campus Center that influenced people to make the two-minute drive to the fire station and vote; no tables with people who could register students, no flyers. I’m pretty sure the only notification we received was an email sent by Prof. Richard Clark; and let’s be honest, nobody takes the time to read a mass email.

Don’t give the archaic excuse of, “Oh, I didn’t have the time to do it.” Well, when there’s the potential to take financial burdens off your chests and the chance for social justice, you can make the time.

We can’t let Bernie fight this battle on his own. He literally doesn’t have the heart to do it—too soon? I can only hope that youngsters in the remaining states don’t make the same mistake as Vermont did. And if Biden gets the nomination, let’s not pout and boycott the election. The past four years have been long enough, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to continue down the same path.

-Duncan Campbell