"That when the Dodger, and his accomplished friend Master Bates, joined in the hue-and-cry which was raised at Oliver's heels, in consequence of their executing an illegal conveyance of Mr. Brownlow's personal property, as has already been described, they were actuated by a very laudable and becoming regard for themselves; and forasmuch as the freedom of the subject and the liberty of the individual are among the first and proudest boasts of a true-hearted Englishman, so, I need hardly beg the reader to observe, that this action should tend to exalt them in the opinion of all public and patriotic men, in almost as great a degree as this strong proof of their anxiety for their own preservation and safety goes to corroborate and confirm the little code of laws which certain profound and sound-judging philosophers have laid down as the mainsprings of all Nature's deeds and actions: the said philosophers very wisely reducing the good lady's proceedings to matters of maxim and theory: and, by a very neat and pretty compliment to her exalted wisdom and understanding, putting entirely out of sight any considerations of heart, or generous impulse and feeling. For, these are matters totally beneath a female who is acknowledged by universal admission to be far above the numerous little foibles and weaknesses of her sex"--Oliver Twist
I've started reading Oliver Twist for my book club. I'm also going to read The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction for the History Meetup.
The other week they leaked a ruling suggesting that the United States Supreme Court is about to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion, as a result of Donald Trump appointing three right-wing justices. Then there came a flurry of social media posts blaming the state of things on Bernie Sanders for getting in the way of Hillary Clinton defeating Trump!
Firstly, this is blatantly unfair. Sanders could have double-crossed the Democratic Party and defected to the Green ticket, and he might then have won the three-way race! (At the very least, he likely would have reduced Clinton to the dreaded "spoiler" role.) But he played it safe, campaigned for Clinton and delivered 80% of his supporters on Election Day. For crying out loud, he even warned Hillary that she needed to pay more attention to states like Wisconsin....
If you consider normal figures for supporters of an unsuccessful primary candidate not voting for the eventual nominee, in Sanders' case it's actually a lower number than usual. (Expecting such supporters to vote for the nominee unanimously is like herding cats!) And it's worth emphasizing that Sanders supporters actually voted for Clinton somewhat more solidly than Clinton supporters had voted for Obama in 2008.
Secondly, two can play the blame game. During the primary, polls already showed Clinton leading Trump by a couple of points, the same dicey margin she'd have in November. But these polls also showed Sanders leading Trump by close to ten points. Was the Supreme Court's future less important then? Should it have been of greater concern to Democrats who voted to nominate Clinton because Sanders was a white male? (Clintonites today are still using that "Bernie Bros" cliche, a soundbite worthy of Hillary's role model Richard Nixon.) To those who chose Hillary because "Bernie's not a Democrat"? When the Senate voted to invade Iraq, of course, Bernie was a truer Democrat than Hillary or Clueless Joe--but the Iraq disaster's only relevant when demanding that everyone vote Democrat in November...
Not to mention the black voters on Super Tuesday who overwhelmingly voted for Hillary out of personal loyalty to the Clintons, giving her a crucial edge. (Some of them didn't even know who was running against her!) Should they have cared more about the Supreme Court then? But if you question the black community's wisdom you'll be accused of racism--and yet, stupid is as stupid does.
Clintonites fault Sanders for staying in the race all the way to the convention, though their heroine had done the same thing in 2008. What it comes down to is that they blame Bernie for undermining Hillary's support by running against her at all! "Everyone would have been happy with Hillary if only Bernie hadn't said all those Mean Things!" If she couldn't afford the challenge of having Bernie running against her, it follows that she was a poor choice for the nomination. Some Democrats at the time actually warned against nominating Hillary, only to be accused of sexism! And even today her admirers are turning a blind eye to all the weaknesses that the general election made clear...
