I totally agree about not putting people on pedestals, but I think you are mixing subjects with idolatry and granting authority — at least for me. I obviously do not speak for others.

Yes, Bernie was a huge disappointment for me. Not because I placed authority in him over what is right and wrong. I kept that for myself. He was a disappointment because we still (sort of) vote and have an ostensible democracy, and he lead me to believe he would fight harder for the things we were both advocating for.

It is important to get explicit concessions when you lose, just as it is important to make explicit demands for your vote before the election. The only way to make politicians pay is to make their fraud explicit. We have agreed to run our society based on elected representatives. Only by making our agreements with candidates explicit is there any chance for accountability.

I am not disappointed in Sanders because I idolized him. I am disappointed in Sanders because he explicitly stated he was leading our political revolution. I took him at his word that it was “us” not him. When it came down to a choice for Bernie of potentially (if he lost) becoming a political pariah fighting for us or quitting, he quit. Not just quit, but he also unconditionally surrendered without negotiating our loss with the winners and having at least some of our goals explicitly agreed to by the winners as a condition of surrender.