I know I didn’t post anything about Donald’s speech, the end of the RNC. What else can anybody say about the second coming of Il Duce?

But after Day 1 of the DNC there’s much to say.  I’ll start with the pain of the Bernie Babies.

I get it.  I don’t share it, but I get it, and the way I understand it is to think back to the first time my heart got crushed.  It’s always about context, both political context and emotional context, and for young people what they lack is context. It’s the combination of youth and angst and having your emotions toyed with, without the context of having lived through it before to buffer the pain and allow you to accept the half a loaf and be satisfied.

For those of us who were Bernie guys with some tread on our tires, it was easy to move on when the outcome was inevitable.  It’s easy for me and Mrs. Polislice, almost everyone I know of my age group who lived through the 2000 debacle, and saw how Ralph Nader gave us President George W. Bush and Nader’s legacy was profoundly tarnished.

Even if you have the context of understanding that the stakes in November are way too high to just take your ball and walk away. That there is no real choice here – you have to support Secretary Clinton and get her elected to have even a glimmer of a chance to see the policies Bernie Sanders stands for get any sort of hearing. Even if you do register that the fight wasn’t completely lost, that Bernie won the platform fight. His voice was heard! Your voice was heard in the halls of power.  It really was!

Even if you do understand that, you may well still be suffering with a simmering anger and feeling of betrayal.  These Bernie Babies, like Bernie, did not start as Democrats. And they may well lack the historical context to have positive feelings towards the party. They just see it as the entity that screwed Bernie and screwed them, and Hillary was the beneficiary of the malfeasance and betrayal.

So I do understand the anger and the pain, even if I sound like I’m a little impatient with it. That’s just my crustiness speaking. Sorry, if I called you a brat last night.

However, if you’re there in the room heckling the people on stage, your anger does not excuse your boorish behavior.

If you’re there and you do not understand, like a few very young and naive people interviewed last night, that the roll call is Tuesday and the results are already known to all, then you need to get educated. You need to speak to people who do have context and not disrespect them. People who are trying to teach you are not  condescending to you, they’re helping you.

If you think they disrespected Bernie by giving him the last speaking spot of the night then you may be beyond teaching. Facepalm!

Likewise, if you listened to Bernie last night say “vote for Hillary” and you say “I’m not convinced yet,” it’s not about Bernie, it’s about you.

I’ll give you time to process your grief.  But understand that if in November you decide not to vote or vote for anybody other than Hillary, if it doesn’t work out, you will have to live with it just like the people who voted for Nader in Florida in 2000 have to live with the legacy of Iraq and Justices Alito and Roberts.  Your great intentions will not have mattered one jot.

Then, your voices and Bernie’s voice will have truly been silenced and irrelevant.