There is an undercurrent in the Democratic Party that will resurface again and again till we have a real catharsis. We need to take the scab off and get into a hyperbaric chamber for some fast healing. We have got to come together.
A friend placed the following post on my wall. It is a link to the New York Times article titled “Supreme Court Says Police May Use Evidence Found After Illegal Stops” with the lede “But some so-called progressives enabled Trump by Hillary-bashing” that touched a nerve.
Her message did not upset me. It got me very worried. I am seeing more and more of the rebirth of the Bernie/Hillary debate that I do think needs to be rehashed because both sides have been talking at each other instead of trying to understand their positions.
I responded to my friend with the following message.
I voted for Hillary. I did my job first as a loyal U.S. citizen, second as a Progressive, and third as a loyal Democrat. I wanted Bernie’s policies. We did not win. I did the right thing and not only voted for Hillary but tried to get as many of my Bernie cohort to vote for her for exactly the reason you state. Additionally, I am yearning to be governed by a woman President, yes I said it because I think at this time in history testosterone is not a hormone that leads to virtues that serve us well. We can all supersede hormones and our animal hormones, but it takes intentional effort. I think I have most of the times but most men cannot. That is the necessary prologue to a statement that will likely upset many of my Hillary Clinton fan friends. I mean it with no ill-intent.
Hillary Clinton IMHO was simply the wrong choice. First of all, while sexism was instrumental in her “loss,” she has become an inherent part of the Plutocracy and all that it represents. I revered her for what she did in South Texas and in other places. But the reality is the White House changed the Clintons’ priorities and values. Some would say it brought them out. But I stick with the facts. BTW, I am starting to see some of the same change in the Obamas.
I think Washington changes people and being showered by lobbyist can influence those that allow themselves to be captured. That is why we do not fall for people in politics. We fall for policy.
I see our corporations, the plutocracy, continue to capture, coerce, and enslave, the new kind of “benign slavery” I talk about. Sadly, it hurts most people as some walk away with the bucks.
On an off note, how many who adore Michelle Obama, would love to just see her in the flesh in those large venues. If I were a celebrity, I would be doing this tour first with 5 and 10 dollar tickets in huge venues for the average person first. It would be like a thank you for having given us the opportunity to serve at the highest level. Then I would talk about having expensive closeups to raise money for charities. The average American is constantly forgotten even by those who use them for the vote, service, and everything else.
Indoctrination is a bad thing.
In 2014 I wrote an article titled, “Is Hillary Clinton The President We Need At This Time?” where I wrote the following.
The problem isn’t that Hillary Clinton received $400,000 for two speeches. It would be naïve to believe that politicians or most would not capitalize on the power to earn off of their stature. The problem is that that extraordinary sum came from Goldman Sachs. Are they hedging their bets?
More damning, however, is Hillary Clinton’s choice of words. Calling banker-bashing unproductive and foolish is unproductive and foolish. It is not foolish to aggressively bash those that caused the near collapse of the entire economy. It is not unproductive to keep that reality in the psyche of Americans continuously to ensure they do not continue to elect those who would appease this sector at their own detriment.
The entire article is worth a read
It is that tone-deafness and apparent inability to empathize as she did before that played into the Right Wing narrative that bled through — I would say justifiably. That said, Progressives did not get the job done. We can put blame on the dirty tricks by the Democratic Party, the Russians, the media, and many others who, in fact, had a negative impact on the race. But politics is a blood sport. Nobody gives you anything. You fight for what you believe in. If you lose, you make the best choices to live to fight another day. In my humble opinion, that is what a part of my Bernie faction forgot. Hillary would have been orders of magnitude better even as a plutocrat.
I also understand the Hillary supporters who must live the reality that a woman won the popular vote by millions of vote, played the game better than any man, and still lost. I get it. Many baby boomer women saw it as the last chance in their lifetime for a woman to win. To that I say hell no. If Progressives and Democrats do our job, we should, can, and must accomplish this feat in 2020.
It is not necessary to agree on the Bernie/Hillary fiasco. What we must do is make sure that we do not splinter along those lines but work with the good ideas from all sides. Where disagreement about policy occur, fight it out in the primary and let Democrats at large decide. Democrats must do this now if we are to win 2020.