I am a Democrat, a liberal one at that. I am also a political and news junkie. While many people have fallen in love with Bernie Sanders this year, I was admiring him from when he was in the House. People will say socialism can never work here because of this reason or that. I don’t know enough about economics to know but people in Netherlands where they have one of the happiest populations on earth seem ok with it.

But at the end of the day I am a Democrat. While I agree with Sanders on some economic inequality issues, I am voting for Hillary Clinton in November and voted for her in the Florida primary. I am voting for her because I am a Democrat and Sanders is not and here is why that matters.

The presidential campaign is not the only race we need to worry about this year. We have a House and Senate in the balance. If we want to get anything done in Washington, we need Democratic control of both Houses of Congress. While Hillary is out supporting down ticket candidates, Sanders is not. He refuses to raise money for anyone but himself. That is selfish and not fair of him. The Party that may nominate him gets no support for him.

To drag up a George W. Bush quote, and I never expected to quote him, we need a “uniter not divider.” Sanders talks a good game but none of his policies will make it through Congress. Moreover, he just gave the GOP field a great soundbite in “Hillary is not qualified.” What happened to the congenial campaign plan? What happened to not writing the GOP political ads for them?

I am a Democrat because I support a woman’s right to choose to have responsibility for her own body. Sanders seemed to think this is a “trivial issue.” Not to me, it isn’t. For years, I was a one issue voter and that issue was abortion. If you think we live in a country where it is readily available, you would be wrong. According to the Guttmacher Institute, it is already practically unavailable in most states. You can check out an overview here. When Donald Trump runs his mouth about abortion, I want the candidate backed by Planned Parenthood.

I am a Democrat because I believe the Violence Against Women Act enforced. The chief executive has broad authority over the running of the federal government. When W. was president, he put the Concerned Women of America in charge of that. For the uninitiated, they are a right wing organization that cares about as much about women as fish care about pizza. When I worked in the Senate, they were instrumental in blocking the UN resolution on the rights of the child. Yeah, we want them policing Americas laws protecting women.

I am a Democrat because I believe in a government of the people, by the people and for the people, not just some of them. I think need to have a society where we are judged by our actions, not our gender, sexual gender or identity, not by our race. I do not think our government was founded to limit our personal freedom but to expand it. Who said when a government fears its people it is democracy but when the people fear their government it is tyranny? Hate filled laws in North Carolina look a lot like tyranny to me.

I am a Democrat and will vote for Hillary because I think she can get things done more effectively. She will be ready on day one to deal with the myriad of domestic and foreign policy problems and concerns. I cannot say that about Sanders. I was happy when he got into the race because I don’t think we want a coronation but some of his comments have been over the line for me. And to the people who blindly follow him and #feelthebern, I say “Good for you. Blindly following someone is easier than thinking.”

I generally liked Sanders and support a lot of his issues but I am a Democrat and I want the White House to stay blue. I do not think that would happen with Sanders. I think Hillary has a better chance in the fall, would be a better leader and get more done.

Caveat: I did do Advance work for the Clintons (1996-2001) and radio and TV booking for her 2008 campaign.