This is democratic underground

[RiverNoord]

84. I've seen that exact line tossed around so much it's become a parody of itself.

First - I agree that no one who declares that they will vote for Trump belongs on DU.

It's that simple.

However, that bizarre claim has got to go, at least among people who actually represent themselves as doing their own thinking.

I'm nowhere near a 'more privileged' poster. I have a substantially negative 'net worth,' due to student loan debt that I am paying off, as well as I can. However, it'll probably be a couple of decades before I pull it off, and I'm 45.

In addition, I spent 7 years of my life surviving and (as a result of getting very, very lucky) recovering from a severe, debilitating health condition. I survived exclusively, during that time, on SSDI benefits which enabled me to keep a very small room's worth of a roof over my head and not eat so poorly as to become malnourished on top of everything else.

Now I'm lucky enough to have had opportunities to build the fundamentals of a life for myself, and, maybe, before time makes the decision for me, a small family.

And I'll be damned if someone calls me a 'more privileged poster' on DU, after working harder than I ever imagined I could just to survive, then working 60-70 hour weeks for years to establish a hopeful basis of a career, or, at least, a trade, for myself.

I do understand how bad reality can get. I've seen others in the same boat as me not make it. I carry an obligation to honor those who weren't as fortunate as I was to conduct my life in the manner of an honorable, decent human being. THAT's why I back Bernie Sanders and why I won't vote for Hillary Clinton to become the President of the United States.

Of course, I won't vote for Donald-friggin'-Trump. But all of this 'more privileged' crap is bullshit. 'Yeah, you'll be fine in a Trump presidency but, oh, think of the poor Latinos and Muslims...' That's the argument of a racist using the specter of what they consider other peoples' lesser status to manipulate others into doing what they argue is the appropriate thing for a responsible 'white,' 'privileged' person.

If Donald Trump somehow instituted an utterly unconstitutional ban on Muslims traveling to the United States and pushed for a mass deportation (which would be absurd and insane, and you'd have to persuade all of the new cops who would be charged with the task that it's right) of persons whose presence in the United States is, in fact, illegal, then I'll be right there in the trenches as soon as the first raid is conducted. I've always had friends who are ethnic and religious 'minorities,' and if I need to be a 'human shield' to stand in the way of, oh, mosque raids, I'll damn well be there as soon as the scent of raids is in the air. Not that it would be something new - I'm a semi-regular presence at the only mosque in my area (I'm an atheist), and well before Donald Trump took his obscenely rotten act national there were groups of assholes stopping by to show their most sincere disrespects to people whose probable only real differences with the bastards was that they work harder and pray more often.

I don't know what your socioeconomic status or ethnic background is. I don't care about either, as I really don't care for what you have to say, and have no interest in getting to know you.

But, if you were someone targeted by an armed, racist lynch mob, I'd have your back. Maybe because I'm not 'privileged,' maybe that's got nothing to do with it. It certainly has nothing to do with my support of Bernie Sanders and grave concerns about the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who has helped herself to whole heap of 'privilege' on a routine basis for years and years.