Super-delegates should switch to back Bernie

Our governor and the majority of other Washington state Democratic Party super-delegates have committed to vote for Hillary Clinton. The people of the state have caucused overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders. I have asked Jay Inslee to publicly confirm that he will change his vote to reflect the will of the people, and publicly encourage other super-delegates to do the same.

Failing to do so gives outsize influence to a few establishment politicians. What happened to “one person, one vote”?

Personally, I am for Bernie because I am a serious climate hawk. Hillary supports fracking for natural gas, and takes money from fossil fuel interests. Bernie refuses to take their money, a turning point in American politics. He knows we must begin the U.S. transition off of fossil fuels now, in earnest, and complete it in a few decades, or it's game over for the planet. We don't have four more years for half-measures.

It has become clear that Democratic National Committee money, large sums of which are from the pharmaceutical industry and fossil fuel industry, are used to coerce establishment politicians to support the candidate the DNC favors. I have voted Democratic for decades now, but I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election because of her support of natural gas and other fossil fuel industries.

Is Jay Inslee serious about climate change? Does he believe in the will of the people? We will soon find out.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Super-delegates should switch to back Bernie."