Democrats like me would rather see Trump win than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Nancy Pelosi needs to realise that

A middle-of-the-road candidate could mean more than just six more years of Trump — it could mean the ruin of the Democratic Party for years to come

We need a full-blown humanitarian in the White House. And that's not who Pelosi and her pals are championing (Getty Images)

A day before the highly anticipated Democratic debates start this Wednesday, millions of left-leaning voters are looking to the candidates for properly progressive policies and solid plans to implement them.

With pundits debating what’s the “best direction” for the Democratic Party to go in order to take back the White House in 2020, one thing has become clear: there is too much emphasis on polling and winning back people who voted Republican in the last election, and not enough focus on what the rest of the party wants to see changed.

In the same way that Republicans and independents voted Trump into office because they wanted to "shake up" the establishment, everyday Democrats now want to see the same kind of drastic change — just in the opposite direction.

In 2016, one in ten Democrats who voted for Sanders in the primaries ended up voting for Trump in the presidential elections. Why? Their message was resolute: no more carbon-copy politicians; no more status quo.

Party leaders need to understand that this election is about much more than just winning back voters who went rogue in the last presidential election. It’s about taking an honest look at why Americans are so disillusioned with politics that Trump could get elected in the first place.

There are millions of Democrats who are unwilling to sacrifice their moral values, their outrage at the status quo and a sense of urgency for change in order to get Trump out of office. We know that if we vote for a Democrat we don’t believe in simply because of their party affiliation, we won’t see the transformation we want. And voters are tired of not being heard.

If we feel forced to vote for a candidate that we don’t want, then we are tacitly acknowledging the hegemony of what has become an absolute two-party system.

If Democratic strategists didn't learn this lesson in the last election, then they had better learn it before the next one: people are tired of the “electable”, middle-of-the road nominee.

We don't want a candidate who makes light of his inappropriate touching of women; we don't want a former prosecutor who wants to send parents to jail for their kids missing school; we don't want another politician telling us Israel is our “biggest ally in the Middle East” when the international community has repeatedly condemned that state’s systematic human rights violations against Palestinians and Palestinian land rights.

Progressives want a true advocate for human rights: someone has a track record that proves they believe healthcare is a human right and no one should have to choose between a doctor’s visit or paying their electricity bill. We want a feminist (male or female) who believes the government has no right to decide what happens to a woman’s body in the event of a pregnancy – end of discussion.

We want a candidate who is going to protect our planet because they understand the imminent danger posed by the global climate change crisis. We want someone who is going to protect our children and public spaces by taking military assault weapons off the streets and by taking away guns from domestic violence offenders, among other critical measures.

We want a leader who sees the value in our immigrant families and is determined to give asylum seekers full access to their rights under federal and international law, instead of leaving them to fend for themselves in terrible conditions in glorified concentration camps.

We want a candidate who believes that our nation was built over stolen land and on the backs of enslaved people — and that we must somehow endeavour to ameliorate a wrong that continues to have consequences to this day for millions of black people and native Americans.

We want a freedom fighter and a humanitarian with the right preparation for the job who is determined to guide our nation back together as much as possible, despite our ideological differences.

What we don't want, and who we won't vote for, is the middle-of-the-road candidate with nothing new to offer. And let me make this clear: we are willing to give America and the world six more years of Trumpism if that's what it will take to teach the Democratic establishment their lesson.

So, listen up Nancy Pelosi and friends: we're not going to vote for the Bidens, the Harrises, the O'Rourkes, the Gilibrands, the Bennets. We’re not going to vote for your tepid Democratic candidate just because they check the party box. And if high-profile Democrats don’t listen to left-leaning voters like this one, the Democratic party is lost for good.