Article: "I'm a Bernie backer and I refuse to support Hillary"
I'm a Bernie backer and I refuse to support Hillary”
Article in “The Hill” published 08/21/2016
Some snippets from the article:
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I used to think that the Democrats were the good guys and the Republicans were the bad guys. That's why I've only ever been registered and identified as a Democrat. The Democratic Party is the party of social justice that looks out for the less fortunate, right? The party of the middle class, advocating for equality and progress, while the Republican Party, is ... well ... stuck in the distant past.
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I was correct about the Republican Party. But I was incredibly wrong about the Democratic Party....
... And now, the question on many progressives' minds: Can Clinton, the Democratic nominee, represent progressive voters and issues important to progressives?
No. She can't....
...She supported the 2008 Wall Street bailout. She supports the former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.). She is not only pandering to Republicans for their support, but she is seeking the endorsement of President Nixon's former secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. She favors a federal $12 minimum wage, rather than $15.
She is pro-death-penalty. She appointed pro-TPP, pro-fracking former senator, Ken Salazar (Colo.), as chair of her presidential transition team. She is open to constitutional restrictions on abortion. She has deep ties to Wal-Mart, and served on its corporate board during the '90s. Wal-mart has also been a big campaign donor....
...She has ties to Monsanto, which has made oh-so generous donations to the Clinton Foundation, and is a supporter of genetically modified organisms.
The list goes on: Her international arms deals as secretary of State. Her campaign finance scheme where some state parties are "essentially ... money laundering conduits," as Politico reported. Her campaign's involvement with the Correct the Record super-PAC.
Her support of the war in Iraq (and let me be very clear: she is a war hawk); her advocacy of a no-fly zone in Syria, and her call for more U.S. special forces there. Her refusal to embrace single-payer universal healthcare and her acceptance of donations from pharmaceutical and health insurance companies....
...I know what you're thinking, "But, but, but — all her recent speeches and statements seem progressive. Look at her nomination acceptance speech."...
...Now, maybe you're thinking that it's Clinton and her crony politics that are the problem, not the entire Democratic Party. I'll give you that. It's not the entire party. It's just too much of the party to make staying and fighting worth it.
It's like a good friend of mine says: It's an abusive relationship. You know it is so unhealthy to stay with this abusive person and that you deserve better. You know in reality that this person are not going to change. Yet, you stay.
Why? Fear is at the core.
You stay, that is, until that magical day when enough is enough. Well guess what, my friends? That day has come. Hope can be a beautiful thing. Hope can also be extremely destructive and blinding.
For me, that moment came when the DNC and Wasserman Schultz colluded against Sanders, stacking the deck against him and manipulating the odds in favor of Clinton during the Democratic primary. That was the moment when enough really became enough. Clinton and the entire Democratic establishment are antithetical to the foundation of the United States and to true progressive values.
The entire article is @:
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/292140-im-a-bernie-backer-and-i-refuse-to-support-hillary
Re: Article: "I'm a Bernie backer and I refuse to support Hillary"
this article is SO right on. yet the ALTERNATIVE, as usual, is even more horrendous. helluva decision. jude
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Posted in reply to the post by Hotspring 44:
Re: Article: "I'm a Bernie backer and I refuse to support Hillary"
hi there, thank you for taking the time to write your article....i really liked and was moved by some of Bernie's ideas....then i looked at his voting record, and was appalled to find many times he didn't even bother to show up to vote on issues, couldn't work with others to make things happen, etc etc....not quite walking the talk....then i watched him on camera, and he was so demeaning to Hillary, that i again, was quite taken aback....also, i never heard how he planned to put into effect the good ideas he was talking....so i began to see him as just another angry white guy without a plan.....many people have good ideas, regardless of the party they represent. i tend to want to vote for someone that can work with other folks, and has the political savvy to make the plans a reality. so i am back to voting for Hillary.
thanks for opening this up!
cw
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Posted in reply to the post by Jude Iam:
this article is SO right on. yet the ALTERNATIVE, as usual, is even more horrendous. helluva decision. jude
