Why I’m With Her
That’s right, I am with Hillary this election cycle because I have no other choice. Look, I supported Bernie Sanders in the rigged primaries and I am 100% certain that he would have beaten Trump by a landslide.
U.S. politics is dirty and always has been. Big money interests drive legislation and every now and then the little guy may win a skirmish or two. Guys like Bernie come around and attempt to shake our national conscience every now and then, but in reality unless legislation is passed, we are stuck with political muck.
That said, Trump is a very dangerous candidate. His rhetoric is fueling a fire that could engulf our nation and set us into a downward spiral unlike any nation has every seen since pre WWII. His appeal to the a core of racist, anti-government, anti-progress, ‘know nothings’ is a leap back to the 1840’s and the American Party that fueled the American Civil War.
Trump’s plan is to destroy public education. He flat out tells us that he wants to dismantle teachers’ unions and sell off country’s most precious assets, our schools. He wants to hand our children off to entrepreneurs with only profits on their minds. If you think education reforms are devastating now, just wait if he gets elected. Yet, I have colleagues and friends who support Trump? I ask, what the heck are you thinking?
Trump’s latest comments praising Russia’s Putin are beyond the pale. Yet his Tea Party Patriots continue to support his treasonous statements. Why? Pure ignorance that’s why!
The same people that are destroying our schools, reshaping our curriculum, demanding we teach their views on history are now standing at our gates with Trump. Wake up folks!
I am with Hillary, not because she is my #1 choice, but because I have no other choice.
Opine I will 
Not with her. Not with him, either, but of the two, I’d take him. Not because I like much about him, but because there’s one thing I do like: he’s not saber-rattling for war with Russia and China. She is. Her proposed cabinet and advisors on foreign policy are heinous. She is embraced by the likes of Henry Kissinger for a reason. And I don’t believe that his rhetoric will make the slightest difference when it comes to America’s internal racism or retrograde policies. She is the far more dangerous candidate because she continually tries to sell herself based on her willingness to mouth some liberal rhetoric on women’s issues and some others. But to what extent is she deeply committed to any of that? I see her as about very few things: the betterment of Hillary Clinton and her family’s wealth; the grabbing of power by any means necessary; the service of her Wall Street, neoliberal, and neocon masters and pals. Period. Her dirty pool throughout the primaries tells you everything you need to know about her if you didn’t already know from decades of slime and filth just how horrid she is.
So never her. Jill or write in Sanders for me. Still deciding. I will not capitulate to this rigged, dirty system. You do what you think is right, I’ll do what I think is right. I deeply wish that tens of millions of other Americans jump off both their bandwagons and refuse to bow to “the inevitable.”
Trump is fueling a very dangerous fire that will engulf our nation. A vote for Jill is a vote for him.
Ralph, Trump isn’t really fueling some barely-burning fire. It’s always been lit and has been stoked high for a long time. You think it will get WORSE under a Trump presidency? Or better if we elect Hillary? Looking at the big picture, I don’t believe it. I think she’ll take us into more war and international exploitation than he will, but certainly not less. I don’t believe she cares about the 99% further than it serves her to say she does to get elected. I think her advisors are far more about Wall Street and the Military-Industrial Complex than about the middle class, let alone the working poor or the even less fortunate. Some liberal rhetoric here and there? Sure. But loads of the usual neoliberal policies and plans with a frightening mix-in of people like Henry Kissinger and GWB-style neocons.
And finally, we could just as easily say that a vote for Hillary is a vote against progressivism, regardless of which of the top dogs wins. They’re both stealing votes from the new progressive revolution, with Trump serving to scare liberals and moderates into the Clinton camp. Coincidence? Long-time Clinton family friend runs and wins just in time to hand her the White House? Look at the regressive legislation we got from Bill Clinton on welfare, criminal justice (mandatory sentencing on victimless crimes) and trade agreements. Hillary is at least that bad and likely worse in the long haul. Conservatives hate her? Why are so many flocking to her side?
Unfortunately Michael we have no choice. Trump is dangerous and I truly believe his motives are questionable. Trump only knows about negotiating deals that benefit him at least with Clinton, there is a track record.
Trump behaves like the drunk at the end of the bar. That is the last thing we need as president. It is my hope that the entire GOP crashes and burns this election and the Democrats take both Houses of Congress. That is when Progressives with refocus out country.
Well, seven years later. I’m still convinced I was right about Hillary Clinton. I am not thrilled with Joe Biden and his proxy war in Ukraine, his military support of Israeli genocide in Gaza, his failure to firmly commit to anything truly progressive, and his continued backing of regressive policies on free speech. For starters.
Of course, the Trump presidency was no joyride, but much of the misery came, in my opinion, from the media and the absurd witch hunting conducted non-stop by the Democrats for four years (and still going strong another three years later).
You’re still slinging the same hash in your most recent columns and I continue to be utterly unconvinced. Biden’s a train wreck. Hillary Clinton would have been another. Counting up all of Trump’s alleged wrongdoing in office, I conclude that he wasn’t a great president, but he wasn’t worse than Biden has been and in certain ways he was better. To repeat in 2023 my views in 2016/17, there’s no worse choice if it’s Biden vs. Trump again unless it’s perhaps Biden. No one on the horizon of independent candidates or Democratic or Republican hopefuls offers what I’m looking for either, and that includes RFK, Jr., Jill Stein (I think she was traumatized by Clinton/Democratic smears against her for seven years trying to tie Putin around her neck, just as they did to Bernie Sanders, and she has folded politically, just like Bernie Sanders), Cornel West, and every Republican wasting time pretending that s/he can get the nomination away from Trump. So I can’t even think of anyone to write in at this point. I certainly will vote for neither Trump nor Biden, and no matter who tells me (or how many times I hear) that a vote for anyone but Biden is a vote for Trump, I’m not voting for Joe Biden. When I die, if there’s any reckoning, I’ll be able to say proudly that I never voted for a Republican and I stopped voting for neoliberal Democrats once I recognized what they stood for.
Reblogged this on Random Thinking and commented:
The alarm bell is ringing for not just educators but for all of us! Provoking thoughts here!
p.s.: And Ralph, we always have SOME sort of choice. No one is putting a gun to my head in the voting booth. At least not yet.