My father sent me his take on the folks who, if HRC wins the nomination, are planning to either stay home or write in Bernie.

If you think Bernie is that smart and wonderful, here are a couple of things he said to which you might want to pay a little heed:

From the MSNBC debate:

“On our worst days I think it is fair to say we are a hundred times better than any Republican candidate.”

From his victory speech in New Hampshire:

“But, I also hope that we all remember — and this is a message not just to our opponents, but to those who support me as well. That we will need to come together in a few months and unite this party, and this nation because the right-wing Republicans we oppose must not be allowed to gain the presidency.”

Switching back to me now.

I want Bernie to win. I really do. He’s right about so much. But the reality is that at this point it would take a miracle. Clinton’s going to get the nomination, not because she cheated, but because more people in the primaries voted for her. That’s Democracy, sometimes your preferred candidate doesn’t win.

But continue to trust Bernie’s judgment. We want Bernie to win because he would be best for the country. Once he’s off the table, keep doing what’s best for the country: keep the Republicans from getting to stack the Supreme Court.

Consider for a moment that the Supreme Court recently put a halt to President Obama’s plans to fight global warming:

The court ruled that the president’s Clean Power Plan could not go forward until all legal challenges were heard. Designed to cut US emissions by 32% by 2030, the scheme put huge emphasis on a shift to renewable energy.

This is one issue among many, so don’t take this as a one off.

Here is George W. Bush affecting our current politics (Roberts and Alito) 7 years after his presidency ended (2009).

Here is George H.W. Bush affecting our current politics (Thomas) 23 years after his presidency ended (1993).

Here is Reagan affecting our current politics (Scalia and Kennedy) 27 years after his presidency ended (1989).

You want to know the real reason same-sex marriage took so long to enact in 2015? It’s because of presidents from two decades before and the people they appointed to the Supreme Court.

When the next President swears in, two of the SCOTUS Justices will be 80. Another will be 78. The next President will likely get to appoint at least two Supreme Court Justices, probably three or four. Imagine you just had a baby. This election will still be affecting that baby when it’s my age.

I want corporate donations capped as much as the next liberal, but that fight isn’t over or even lost just because Bernie probably won’t get the nomination. In the next cycle the candidates will see what Bernie accomplished. This is the way the social rubric is sliding and politicians are well aware of that. Even Hillary Clinton, the quintessential politician, has had to move further left because of Bernie Sanders.

So often atheists give up on changing people’s minds because the change isn’t instantaneous. Changed minds take time. But while those atheists give up on changing people’s minds, slowly religion is losing people and we’re gaining them. Well, social change also takes time. Don’t give up or consider the cause lost just because we didn’t win immediately. The right progress is being made. There’s no need to tank the country and create a Supreme Court that will undermine all the social change for which we’ve worked so hard for decades to come. It won’t fix the problems you want to fix, it will just create new ones.

Bernie’s candidacy didn’t mean nothing if he doesn’t get the nomination, and pragmatic decision-making for the good of the nation (which is all our motivations in supporting Bernie, right?) isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition.

Bernie gets that. I wish all his supporters did too.