Letter from a ‘vagina voter’

I just don’t have the mental energy necessary to sit down and write my own take down, but Laurel Brett’s take is close enough:

The distortions of his campaign and the bullying tactics of his campaign staff are exactly what I’ve been fighting for the past 45 years. A good friend and a kind man recently advised me to emotionally detach from the primary race. This was good advice, but I don’t think this thoughtful guy fully understands that I feel personally attacked by the climate created by Bernie Bro’s, the campaign staff and Sanders himself. These attacks don’t make me angry and self-righteous. They make me feel vulnerable and unsafe.

I must campaign for a world in which I feel I can safely operate and continue to be effective in supporting my family. I am not part of the 1% by any means. I need Wall Street because although I’ve worked for 30 years at the same job, unlike Sanders, I don’t have a pension, just an IRA. I want a world in which I am heard and my concerns are not brushed aside because they are not central to the ideological narrative of his campaign. And more importantly, I feel that issues of health and safety, including safety from guns, are at least as important as money and income distribution. I don’t want the collapse of institutions just when my own children are struggling to establish lives, and I don’t want the poor and homeless to be threatened by massive social upheaval. I may be wrong, but I suspect that these feelings have everything to do with my gender. I also feel that Bernie’s seeming disregard for my concerns has everything to do with the patriarchal manner in which he interprets his gender.