I really want to like Bernie Sanders.

I enjoy his fiery speeches promoting a better future for us millennials, his reputation for being stubborn and sticking to his guns; his intense dislike for the establishment. These qualities have endeared this once obscure Senator from Vermont to millions of young people.

In fact, despite his loss to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries (which elicited accusations of election fraud), he has announced that he is running for president again in 2020. This is despite two very important issues of his that will affect his ability to be an effective leader, and no, neither involve the word “socialism.”

Sanders is stubborn about his beliefs (free health care, living wages, climate change) and I think that is usually a great quality for a person to have, but not the leader of the most powerful country on Earth. People don’t like it when politicians flip-flop on issues, but the main reason a politician should is to arrange a compromise that will satisfy both parties. Regardless of which party you support, you should be aware that you can’t bully your way through the other party easily unless you own a huge majority in the House and Senate.

I feel Sanders doesn’t want to compromise his beliefs, which works well in normal life, but in politics, “compromise” is the name of the game. Being in politics can be a bit like selling your soul and morals to the devil: you don’t get legislation passed just by being stubborn about it.

Look how well that’s working for Donald Trump and his wall.

If you just want to overrule the other party because they want to stop you from doing something potentially wasteful, then at that point we would no longer have a political system of checks and balances, we would have a one-party system. That would not be good for a republic like the U.S.

Sanders’ second issue is, as a result of this stubbornness (which isn’t dissimilar from what the Republican party already exudes), he probably wouldn’t get much accomplished in Congress. I like his ideas, but it worries me that he wouldn’t even have a Democratic majority under his presidency. In fact, I get the feeling that a lot of Democrats don’t like his bold ideas about changing the system, which is probably why he didn’t win the 2016 Democratic nomination, though I think that has softened since 2018. There isn’t any point in having a president who can’t accomplish anything, is there? A man with noble intentions can become a great divider instead of the great uniter.

Then again, Sanders is probably more of a symptom of the growing political divide in America than the cause. I like some of what he stands for, but unless politics become less partisan, he probably wouldn’t get anything accomplished during his tenure.

Right now, I think it is to early to tell who will come out on top on the Democratic side. Vote with your heart, and if you think Sanders is best, who am I to judge? I personally wouldn’t vote for him in the primary because of the above-mentioned reasons, but he is still a bazillion times better than Trump ever will be. If he wins (somehow), I will try to support him the best I can.

Reed McCoy can be reached at [email protected] or @ReedMcCoy6 on Twitter.