COUNT ME OUT, BERNIE!
NO MORE $3 CONTRIBUTIONS!

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​March 2, 2016
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​Dear Senator Sanders:
 
No more $3 contributions from me until you drop the Democratic Party tag and go independent. Hillary has a lock on the party insiders anyway. You, yourself, said it was the biggest political machine in the country. So get out now! Then you can drop the velvet gloves about party loyalty. Shatter the Clinton pretense as an independent!
 
Your strengths are the Democrats' weaknesses: youth, women and trustworthiness. You have plenty of money to fly alone. And you will get a lot more as an independent. Bernie, you have proven yourself. Now trust yourself, and us.
 
Head-to-head you are a better candidate than Clinton-versus-Trump, a fact never elaborated on by CNN last night. Why? We know why. CNN and the Democratic Party are sold-out. You said so. The media, remember? You are doomed with both the media and the Democrats unless you shatter their complacent superiority. Go independent, Bernie. Return home.
 
You have the power and the reputation. You lost Massachusetts by an eyelash. Clearly, you are a winner in the big population states. States like California and New York have lots of young people and young students all fed-up with the Democratic machine. Energized, free and clear of the Democratic Party, you can win in an “independent” walk. 

Let Hillary and her husband gape and preen. Their shallowness shows more every day. Remind the voters of her disaster as Secretary of State. And how her incompetence and carelessness flow directly from her yes-vote on the Iraq War. And even grade-schoolers know of her outrageous ties to Wall Street cash. Does America really need a deceptive bumbler like Hillary Clinton in the White House? Hasn’t America had enough of the dark shadows that exemplify Clinton politics?   
 
While you were a Freedom Rider in the south she was campaigning for Barry Goldwater! Go for the throat, Bernie! Your and our vision for America depends on it. And you can only realize it by running as an independent. The first actual INDEPENDENDENT president of the United States. Now that’s the kind of history worth making! And it will win back the world.
 
Think of this scenario. You, Hillary and The Donald in a three-horse race. An even match? I think so. If perfectly matched at 33.3% each, whoever gets 33.4% of the vote gets the White House. But Bernie, you will get much more. You will get all the Democratic voters who can’t stand Hillary. You might even get a good share of those Republican voters who can’t stand Trump and also loathe Hillary. Where will their votes go when their Republican party collapses? Plus, you will galvanize the youth and female vote into a landslide for you. Truly cast off the chains of the old way. Become a true independent.
 
But what if another Republican enters the race, the antidote-candidate to a cast-out, also independent Trump? Michael Bloomberg, for example?
 
Better yet! It’s now a four-horse race, a 25% of the vote game. And you, Bernie, already have a lock on your hard-core constituency. And a world of distressed, disenfranchised voters to win. Because you, Bernie, independent and forthright, will have proven to be an unparalleled paragon of political honesty. You will have brought a new, better world to American politics.
 
The old, corrupted slate will be wiped clean. Surely a new era dawns, a future worth believing. Isn’t that worth at least my three bucks?
 
With great respect,
 
James C. Ryan
Istanbul, Turkey
March 2, 2016