I have been thinking about it, and I think that perhaps my first blog for the New Year should be about why I am so dedicated to voting for Hillary Clinton and not Bernie Sanders. I think that there are a lot of important factors that people who are voting for Bernie are not considering.
First of all, when Bernie goes on a national stage and flat out admits that he is a socialist, this is bad. If he wins the nomination, and he is running against Donald Trump, this puts us in a very divisive place. We have a very conservative, divisive person, running against a self proclaimed socialist. When you think about our last election, where we debated firing Big Bird, this seems like this is a dangerous scenario. Especially when there are many who proclaim that if Hillary doesn't win the ticket, they won't vote at all.
I am concerned that Bernie has no real plan. When he is asked how he will push through his grand ideas, he says that he will rely on the masses to rise up and have a revolution. This doesn't make sense to me. This isn't how we get things done in America. We don't just have protests and revolt, that's not the whole process. What about what happens next? We still have to make new laws and actually change things. He is too divisive, he won't be able to work with the Republicans in congress and get anything done. He doesn't know how to do that and he has no desire to do that. I don't see anything he promises actually coming to pass.
I am also concerned that Bernie has no experience. He simply does not have the resume that Hillary does. He has not had the opportunity to meet with and develop the relationships with the overseas leaders that Hillary has, and he does not have the intricate knowledge of their relationships with each other that she does. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton developed and maintained these relationships and has key knowledge that Bernie simply does not have. In a world teetering on the edge of possible world wars... this knowledge is too good to pass up.
In 2008, I was disappointed when Barrack Obama won the election, because I felt that too many times women like Hillary Clinton have been passed over for jobs that they were well qualified for, by men who were younger and less qualified. I was eventually won over by Barrack Obama, and happy to have him as my president... but I am just as happy right now to have Hillary as my candidate right now in 2016.
I feel that Hillary has the best resume, the most experience, the best chance of passing the most effective legislation while acting as president, and the best chance of getting reelected. When she was asked about how she felt about Bernie's stance on socialism she said that she respected it but that she believed that she supported capitalism and finding ways to support small business in America. I think that that is the right answer. That is the smart answer. That is the answer that can beat Donald Trump. That is the answer that can follow an election where they debated whether we should fire Big Bird, and win.
When Hillary is asked how she will get things done, she says she will work with both sides of the aisle to enact legislation that works. That sounds like an impossible thing to do. And in very nearly is, but I believe that if anyone can do it, she can. I also believe that this is the right answer. It is better than Donald Trump's bullying. It's better than Bernie's revolution. It's the way we get things done in America.
Hillary's experience and resume top every candidate running across the board. Nobody can beat her. She has been a First Lady, a Senator, and a Secretary of State to list a few of her many accomplishments. Her experiences have prepared her in a very unique way for the presidency. She can bring to the White House what no one else can, first hand knowledge of the White House, knowledge of the Senate, and knowledge of the Secretary of State's office and the art of diplomacy. We certainly need someone versed in the art of diplomacy right now.
When you also consider issues like women's rights, and the fact that Hillary will work tirelessly to close gun show loopholes, I cannot help but stand by my candidate. Of course, I know that not voting for Bernie, should he win the nomination, is essentially voting for the Republican nominee. So, should he win the nomination, I will vote for Bernie. I highly encourage every Democrat to seriously think about this as well. If your candidate does not win the nomination, you should still vote for the other candidate, because not voting is like choosing to vote for the Republican - and nobody wants that.
1 comment:
What you say makes sense. It does seem to me that Hillary has supported use of the military too easily. And I am worried about her closeness to Wall Street and the big banks. And I think that Bernie seems naive and I am very uncomfortable with the words "socialist" and "revolution", regardless of what he means by them. I think it's a mistake to use them. But I think it is good that Bernie has pushed Hillary to take more liberal positions than she otherwise might have. It isn't clear this would hold up if she was in office, but it also might be impossible to move us faster back to a decent path anyway. We have slid far away from decency and caring for the common good.
I am still totally undecided, and I may pass on the primary. Our primaries are so late that usually it is decided by then anyway. What I know for sure is that I will vote for whoever is the Democratic candidate.
I do hate to see Hillary and Bernie supporters slinging insults at each other. It's depressing.
Jan in NM
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