Is There a Good Reason for Sanders to Continue in the Primaries?

[Nous]

Wall Street reform for one

Here is what the current Democratic party platform says about Wall Street reform:

A strong middle class can only exist in an economy where everyone plays by the same rules, from Wall Street to Main Street. That's why President Obama and Democrats in Congress overcame fierce opposition from the financial industry to pass the most far-reaching Wall Street reform in generations.

The failed policies of the past decade and hands-off approach toward the excesses of the financial industry helped create the deepest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. In the fall of 2008, when the financial system and economy were on the verge of catastrophic collapse, the last administration put in place the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Obama administration has ensured that big banks repay these loans with interest, and its rigorous stewardship has brought transparency and accountability to the program. We enacted Wall Street reform to end all future taxpayer-funded bank bailouts.

Today Democrats are holding Wall Street accountable, bringing new transparency to financial markets, and ending taxpayer-funded bank bailouts and the era of "too big to fail." President Obama put in place new rules of the road that refocus the financial sector on getting capital to entrepreneurs and small and mid-sized businesses who create jobs and financing to millions of families who want to buy a home or send their kids to college.

We've created a single consumer watchdog agency whose sole job is looking out for working families by protecting them from deceptive and unfair lending practices of mortgage brokers, payday lenders, debt collectors, and other financial institutions. Democrats are not only fighting to protect consumers from practices that can hurt their pocketbooks and add to their debt, but also working to put an end to practices that helped cause the mortgage crisis.​

https://www.democrats.org/party-platform#wall-street-reform

What changes might be made to that program under Sanders' guidance?

but also more of a reluctance to get embroiled in another war type of position.

The platform already has multitudes of paragraphs of assertions under these headings:

Stronger in the World, Safer and More Secure At Home
□Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq
□Disrupting, Dismantling, and Defeating Al-Qaeda
□Responsibly Ending the War in Afghanistan
□Preventing the Spread and Use of Nuclear Weapons
□Countering Emerging Threats
□Strengthening Alliances, Expanding Partnerships, and Reinvigorating International Institutions
□Promoting Global Prosperity and Development
□Maintaining the Strongest Military in the World
□Advancing Universal Values

Gee, it's difficult to see how Sanders' additions or subtractions could make a more viable candidate.

She's no idiot, and her seeing where Bernie's enthusiastic support is coming from and why has to have an influence on her.

Since she isn't an idiot, and has campaigned against Sanders for months now (and has more delegates than he could possibly get), presumably she already knows his positions well. His remaining in the race and causing her and her funders to spend money trying to defeat him rather than trying to defeat Trump doesn't actually help her to understand his positions, does it?

 

[Nous]

I think it's good for Sanders to stay in to help maintain the infinitely tenuous illusion, for a bit longer, that our political system and process is at all valid or meaningful for the population at large.

That's what everyone is kind of saying here--Sanders remaining in the race helps to maintain an illusion. And there is no reason to believe that it helps to keep Trump out of the White House.

In fact, it might be better for Sanders' supporters to go ahead and deal with the reality about Clinton being the nominee, rather than having to come to terms with that fact at the convention.

 

[Nous]

It is important to avoid the frustration that comes with the idea that a candidate that people actually like has no chance of attaining proeminence.

That alone is a good reason for him to continue for as long as reasonably possible.

Does that "frustration avoidance"--if Sanders continuing in the primaries will actually achieve that--help to defeat Trump in the general election?

 

[GoodbyeDave]

Is there a good reason for Sanders to continue in the primaries? Vanity? Self-righteousness?

 

[Penumbra]

Sanders has still been winning states. And plenty of people still are looking to vote in primaries. Why would he drop out, even if the math can't realistically help him anymore?

When Hillary ran against Obama in 2008, she stayed in the race until June, and she specifically argued that her staying in was beneficial to the unity of the party rather than a cause of splintering it. There's not really any evidence that long primaries negatively impact the eventual primary winner. The narrative that Bernie is acting any differently than a typical candidate should about this is not really based on fact.

Certainly when my state's turn to vote comes, I want to be able to actually vote. It would be lame to be disenfranchised from the primary process just because I'm not in one of the earlier voting states.

Bernie has drastically higher favorability and trust ratings than Hillary, gets more votes from independents despite being the more leftist candidate, likely has stronger odds against Trump in the general, and isn't currently being investigated by the FBI. Might as well go all the way to the last primary at least.

 

[LittlePinky82]

Everyone deserves to vote in the primary's even if nothing changes for him. At least people get to vote. Anything could happen and Sanders has issues to bring up too.