I don't like Jill Stein or support the Green "spoiler strategy" but let's be honest about it. [View all]

Personally I agree with the post-primary Bernie Sanders....It is wrongheaded not to support Clinton and other Democrats to defeat Trump and the GOP in this election. There's too much at stake.

But let's not mischaracterize and demonize Greens and others on "the left" who perceive it otherwise and can't see their way to doing that. Aside from some GOP plants and right-wing dirty tricksters, the supporters of the Green Party are not Trump allies or right-wingers.

They are sincere and honest progressives (and not necessarily "privileged&quot who are extremely frustrated and angry with a government and political system that has been bought and paid for by the Corporate Elites, and which has been intractable and resistant to real reform for far too long.

I have a couple of friends who are in that category. I've had heated discussions with them about the self-defeating foolishness of contributing to the possibility of a Trump/GOP win. But I also understand (and share) their frustration and anger with the system.

I'm also not crazy about Jill Stein. She is annoying. But she is not a Trump supporter, nor a right-winger.

I don't care if people criticize the "spoiler" strategy and those who are following it.

But I'd also hate to see the baby being thrown out with the bathwater. The Greens and Stein should not be used as an excuse to close the doors to the liberal/progresive analysis and reform that Bernie and his supporters advocated and still believe in.

Nor should it become another excuse for "left bashing" or to narrow the "acceptable" Democratic spectrum.....Taken to an extreme, that sort of behavior is, to be frank, very Trumplike itself in tone.

Obviously the Greens are not gong away, and there will always be an actual purist "fringe" that has written off the current system....But that is just the reality of a multi-faceted democracy in a complex society.

But the real enemy is Trump. The real opposition is the GOP.

IMO the best way for the Democratic Party to marginalize the Green Party is to listen and be more honestly open and receptive to the valid aspects of their message and goals, which many "mainstream" Democrats actually share and agree with.