Where Is Atheist Leadership When it Counts?

I'm going to talk Presidential politics folks. Atheist intellectuals and activists are failing us when it comes to something that may do more for atheist causes than anything else we can do, or say. Atheist leadership should lead. So far they are failing us. I'm talking about leaders like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Michael Shermer, Valerie Tarico, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dan Barker, David Silverman, Russell Blackford, Hemant Mehta, Daniel Dennett, Jerry Coyne, Peter Boghossian, Barbara Forrest, DJ Grothe, Phil Zuckerman and others, some of whom I am personal friends with, and all of whom I respect for their contributions. What am I saying? We should all be speaking out in support of Bernie Sanders for President for these reasons!

I'm not naive about this. I'm up to date on the controversies and the polls. If you value my opinion at all, getting Sanders elected as the next president of the US may be the most important thing we can do. I know politics is dirty business. There are compromises that must be made. For if we get involved in politics at all, rather than remain passive bystanders, we must fully support a candidate. We cannot vote 35% for one candidate and 65% for a different one, even though that's how we might think. I also know people don't like supporting a candidate who doesn't win in the end, since we want to pick winners. So think of it this way instead if you must: Even if Bernie doesn't win you'll be on the right side of history. Eventually his proposals will win the day. Nonetheless, I'm here to say Bernie Sanders can and will win. He just needs to win the democratic primaries. That's where the general election for the top political office will be decided, in the primaries, since polls show that in the general election he'll beat any of the potential Republican candidates by wider margins than Hillary Clinton. It will be too late to support Bernie after he wins the democratic nomination. He needs your support now, when it's important in the primaries. Supporting him afterward will be nice but not proactive, which is not what leadership is about on this most important issue.

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On Facebook Phil Torres says: "As a Sanders supporter myself, I strongly agree with this post about the need for atheist leaders to voice support for Sanders' campaign!"

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