Peas in a Pod

Speaking of politics, there was a big to-do about Bernie Sanders going to a conference at the Vatican and meeting the Pope. It wasn't really an endorsement, and I can shrug it off because Pope Francis does have much in common with Bernie. The pope does advocate strongly against climate change, the evils of unfettered capitalism, and economic equality, while still failing to evolve on birth control and same-sex marriage. Though people say Francis is more compassionate and welcoming to LGBT people, it seems to me that he's simply for the same old tolerance of "love the sinner, hate the sin." Bernie is Jewish, and not really religious, but he also is passionate about climate change and economic equality, to the point where he doesn't think other issues are as important. I mean, sure, he'll vote pro-choice, learn to say "black lives matter", and argue that Palestinians deserve justice, but these are merely secondary issues to him. (And he still has a bad record on gun control.) So fine, philosophically Bernie and the Pope go together, but I don't think it matters.

If I had any confidence that Bernie actually had a plan to punish Israel or bring about a two-state solution, I would definitely be tempted to support him over Hillary on this issue. But as revealed by his disastrous newspaper interview, I'm afraid Bernie is all talk and no plans to follow-through. And he's railed against the whole Democratic party as corrupt instead of working to try to elect more Democrats to Congress, so I don't see any of his pie-in-the-sky promises coming true. I don't like Hillary's stance on Israel, but there's always hope she can be pushed left with more time, like this primary has pushed her left. She's apologized for that crime bill and pledged to fix it; I don't mind people evolving, like they did over gay rights and marriage equality. When I was an uninformed kid I liked Republicans until I learned more; people can change for the better. At least Hillary's got detailed policies in a wide range of issues, and she's got plans and actions to elect more Democrats and get her agenda done. I just hope this primary ends soon, because it's taken too damn long and I'm sick of it.