Well I hope you’ll vote for the democratic candidate who is chosen by the majority as a leader of the party, it’s particularly critical right now. Of course in the primaries it’s important to vote for the candidate of your choice.I’ll be voting for Warren — although I like Castro as well. As for grass-roots organizing I say yes to that and putting pressure on the centre to move it more to the left, absolutely.

I am an old-time progressive from the seventies, and Bernie is not saying anything different from our views then. I met Chavez and some of the Panthers who were what we, together with ourselves, called revolutionaries.

Since Nixon and the beginning of the progressive movement, we’ve had Ronald Reagan and most significantly Bush (who was not the elected candidate either through the electoral college or popular vote. Imagine how different it would be now had Gore become President). On the other side we’ve had Clinton, Carter and Obama none of whom could be called progressives. Clinton destroyed welfare and also the bananna industry in the Caribbean (close to my heart since I am a Vincentian as well as a US citizen and originally British). Carter of course was rendered ineffective by the Iranian situation, but what a truly great human being.

Anyway I know where you’re coming from, but I’m with Tom Friedman and believe the only thing that matters now is getting Trump and the Republicans out of office. We’ll never get rid of the forty percent of white racists that live and vote in US, and they’ll always be raising their ugly heads in one way or another. We’ve got to grab the moderate independents because they’re the ones who’ll swing the election one way or the other. (That’s of course if we don’t have another Comey or the Russians and their dirty little fingers— but remember we’ve interefered in other country’s elections for years.)

Being a student and a writer on the effects of climate change I put this issue above all others as I consider who my candidate will be. Anyway nice to dialogue with you.