I like tomatoes.  Pete and Bernie remind me of tomatoes.

Pete is like the tomato at the supermarket. Perfectly round, shiny, bright red, no blemishes.  No signs of bugs.  Markets love it because you can truck it, store it, crate it, stack it, dump it into a bin and it never seems to go bad or show bruises.  Tons of capital and technology  went into its generic engineering.  And as far as you can tell, everything looks right — until you buy it.  After you take it home, you find out it has no taste.  Just mush.  You don’t actually know if it is even ripe.  (Maybe if it had been allowed to ripen, it could have had potential.)  You feed it to your kids, trying not to think about the pesticides.

Bernie is like the tomato your grandparents give you.  It was grown in the backyard pretty much just as they have for years.  It has cracks, crannies and brown spots.  Some say its ugly or are even afraid.  A worm might have bitten a corner.  There might be some dirt.  The dirt washes off and it is not covered with chemicals. And it tastes fresh and sweet and tangy and wholesome.

You can see this when you look at the candidates.  It’s a silly comparison.  For something more serious, please read our recent post comparing all the major candidates’ ability to win a general election here.