#BernieOrBust
The only Justice in this world
is the Justice we fight for.
By J.M. Hamilton 4-2-2016
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asked if they were
“crazy?” N.Y. Times columnist, Charles Blow, asserted that Senator Sanders’ supporters were both petulant and
privileged, if they did not vote for presumed Dem nominee – Madame Hillary
Clinton.
But who’s really crazy, privileged, and
petulant?
Is it crazy for a democrat, liberal or
independent to NOT vote for Madame Hillary Clinton, who supported exporting
millions of U.S. jobs offshore, via free trade agreements?
Is it petulant NOT to support Madame
Hillary Clinton, who voted for the Iraq War and is to the right of President
Obama on most foreign policy issues?
Petulant behavior, arguably, is the belief that America can solve all of
our foreign policy problems with guns and bayonets, the very foreign policy
prescriptions that bankrupted this nation.
And some within the “Dem establishment,” such as Messrs. Hayes and Blow,
maybe wondering why Neocons are lining up to support Ms. Clinton in the general
election.
Gee I wonder why?
More to the point, are Senator Sanders’
supporters privileged for wanting someone who is honest and demonstrates
consistency and integrity over the span of decades, as opposed to Madame
Hillary Clinton, who shapeshifts with whichever direction the political wind
is blowing (and is perennially under investigation)?
Who’s actually privileged and
crazy? Elite reporters insisting that
the American public vote their way?
Didn’t some of these same reporters recently make the case that
Black-Americans don’t vote as a block?
Yes, I believe Mr. Blow has made that argument on several occasions.
So why would Mr. Blow expect Mr. Sanders’
supporters to vote as a block for Madame Hillary Clinton? If it is suddenly okay to expect Mr. Sanders' supporters and Black voters, to vote in lock step…. Then I guess it allows me to
raise the following question:
How come Black voters would support the
Clintons, who were responsible in no small way for: exporting jobs offshore; mass
incarceration – that has preyed upon Blacks & Hispanics; gutting the safety
net; and supporting a Wall Street cartel – that destroyed the global economy?
While the question is fair, it would be
petulant of me – perhaps crazy - to think that Black voters are not
individuals, as multivariate in their opinions as the petals on a rose, just as
Senator Sanders voters are. Each voter
an individual with their own beliefs and value system. Mr. Blow had it right the first time. It would be fatuous to believe Blacks should vote in a unified block for Mr. Sanders (even though some within the Black
community have made that case), just as it would be equally fatuous to believe
Senator Sanders' supporters too, should vote as a unified block for the fatally
flawed, Ms. Hillary Clinton.
One detects in Messrs. Hayes
and Blow a lot of emotion… they are afraid, and they are genuinely
scared that the limited social progress this nation has made, might vanish
under a Trumpian presidency.
It’s a legitimate concern. I too am a huge fan of equal rights for
women, for gays, for minorities. Mr.
Sanders' supporters are also huge fans of democracy, as opposed to oligarchy.
I, and many Senator Sanders supporters,
are not fans of the billionaire class that would seek to own the U.S.
government for yet another four years, via their – bought and paid for - nominee, Madame Hillary Clinton.
Will Mr. Trump overturn gay rights? Would he make things worse for women? Would Mr. Trump ignore the needs of the poor,
and working poor, any more than President Obama (aka Captain Free Trade) did for
the last eight years?
Perhaps, but it would also be the last
nail in the GOP’s coffin. The GOP is in
its death throes, and Messrs. Trump’ & Cruz’ rants are little more than the
Party’s death rattle. A Trump presidency
will finish the party off.
For many liberals and progressives a
completely discredited Republican party is better than a Pro-Establishment Clinton presidency. Hillary will keep it just
soft enough around the edges of her reign, particularly on social policy, so
that the Oligarchy remains in power and continues to call the shots,
economically and on foreign policy.
Hillary is the establishment; she’s “lose – lose”; she’s GOP. Seething to breakout of Hillary’s shell is
the Goldwater girl, the Demo-Hawk, both petulant and crazed. And she’s bound and determined to show us just
how bad of a b---- she can be. Hillary, in
her own mind, has earned it. She’s warped the DNC, the primary system –
itself, and the Superdelegate math to assure her own victory. She never dreamed in a hundred years that a
Socialist Senator from Vermont, would beat her like a gong, every step of the way to her
coronation.
The United States is facing some of the
gravest challenges in its history… the oligarchy and the billionaire class have
run this nation into the ground and the people are rebelling against the established order. Do we want a
Republican in power when it hits the fan, or do we want a faux-democrat? Do we want four more years of war w/out end
under a Clinton presidency? The
resurrection of free trade ideology that is surely to follow her into the White
House, biz as usual? The Wall Street
cartel calling the shots in the Clinton White House, via the Treasury and the
Fed?
That answer is assuredly, NOT.
I could leave it there, but there remains
one final key point. Voter participation
has been sliding in this country for a very long time. Yes, Obama did inspire us in 2008, but well, the POTUS came up short. He turned
out to be nearly as subservient to the plutocrats as the Clintons; in fact,
Obama is the modern day manifestation of Clintonian politics or GOP- Lite. No doubt, it could have been worse under a
President Romney, but we really are talking a matter of degrees. Both Romney, Clinton and Obama, at the end of
the day, serve the same master: ultra-wealthy campaign contributors, dark
money, and Super PACs.
And hence, my final point is this….
When we vote, not only do we
appoint somebody to office, but we also give legitimacy to our government and
our democracy.
Not voting, deliberately not voting…. Sends as powerful a message as voting. When all the candidates are bought and paid for, and when all the candidates are owned by billionaires, or are billionaires, not voting – not legitimizing – a corrupt and crony system may in fact be the best alternative.
Our system of government is rotten to its core, because it has made the graft and corruption – that we often laugh at in
third world countries – legal and allegedly, legitimate in these United States. And we only have the wealthy, the powerful,
and our feckless politicians to blame for this situation; but the citizenry has
to own up to it, as well.
Not voting for the Establishment’s candidate, Ms. Clinton, might be that first step in taking responsibility
for the nation’s sorry state of affairs.
Mr. Sanders' supporters are smart enough and idealistic enough to know better. The WSJ says one-third of Mr. Sanders’
supporters won’t be turning out for Madame Clinton. And – given her character and the state of
affairs in this country – that’s probably a good thing. Why legitimize the Oligarchy? Why legitimize the Establishment? Why give the Queen her crown? Why indeed?
Perhaps the journalistic establishment’s, Messrs. Hayes' and Blow's,
question should be turned around. The
question shouldn’t be, why won’t Senator Sanders' supporters vote for Ms.
Clinton? But rather, why would Clinton
supporters not vote for the more honest candidate, with the greatest integrity? The candidate they actually trust? Why would they risk turning the White House over to Trump, when they can have someone of Mr. Sanders' eminent qualifications and integrity?
Selah.
Copyright JM Hamilton
Publishing 2016
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