I supported Bernie Sanders in the primary because I looked at his policies, and wanted what he was offering. How could he get there? That is a question about governing, and forces beyond anyone's control--what the other party's leadership will allow to happen. I didn't just talk about it on Facebook, I made a 35-dollar donation to his campaign. People called for a "revolution," and I rolled my eyes. It's empty rhetoric for a man with a proven track-record in Congress, been there since 1990, and is 74-years-old.
The fact is, we have stared down these problems before--Theodore Roosevelt and his breaking up of big oil, monopoly laws put in-place, mirrors Sanders plans to break up the big banks. His investments in the American people, nothing not done outside of the New Deal under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His idea to build a 21st-century infrastructure in the United States--bullet trains and a smart electric grid, green technology and sustainable roads--no different than Eisenhower building the Interstate system. His ideas to take care of our veterans when they come home from war, no different than the GI Bill. His ideas to curb carbon emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by the end of his first term, no different than facing down other existential threats to the United States--Fascism in Europe, the British in the War of 1812. His ideas to establish a single-payer health insurance system, no different than what has been done across Europe and Canada, no different than what Barack Obama set out to do in 2009. His ideas to end our uneven justice system, no different than forcing the equal protection under the law of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and so on. His ideas to raise taxes, the tax code restored to sanity, and yes, I was willing to pay higher taxes for all we could accomplish.
I never stopped listening to Hillary Clinton. I kept up with her updates, her media spots, the media's coverage of her. In another year, if Bernie wasn't running, a man I have respected for at least 10 years before this campaign, I would've supported her. The fact is, I have great respect for her and what she has accomplished. And although his campaign may have failed, his ideas have not. The party most likely to gain the office and get done what that statesman wanted to do, is still Hillary Clinton. I supported her in 2008, over Barack Obama, because I wanted someone who was more experienced than a 1-term, not even fulfilled, Senator. I wanted HIM to run in 2016, not the other way around.
Now, I know that we like to have our philosophical debates. We like to talk about rugged individualism, man made by himself, versus any government spending, that isn't rewarding a business, being Communism. I know we like to wax poetically about how people don't need the government controlling healthcare. I know we'd like to believe that we all did it through hard-work, and determination, and that we are perfect, never needing a leg up into prosperity, and when we don't get it, well, it must be because of affirmative action or some social safety net program someone created somewhere that left behind the majority of Americans. I get it. It's fun to think in abstractions.
But politics isn't a game. It's not a philosophy. Governing is about affecting people's lives, for the better, or the worse. When you strip transportation subsidies out of the Farm bill, people go without transportation, or local communities raise taxes. That's what happened to me in my community. When you have a stimulus package aimed at putting more money into the pocket of poor and working people, you are asked to spend it, as I did, with the ten dollars a month more I received in food stamps a month because of the Recovery Act. Up and down the board, when you make a decision, you are affecting people's lives. What they can go to jail for, what they are allowed to say in the public square, what they can do with their time and money, if a product is safe or not, if the environment remains protected, or not. If they have access to education, or not. This is not a vanity exercise. It's important because self-government requires that people participate, be informed as much as you can, and learn the lessons of history.
So, put down the labels every time you go to the polls. It truly is about what kind of country you want for you, your neighbor, your children, their children, and understanding the greatness of our country--that we respect each others' lives, that from a barn-raising 250 years ago, to the way we treat our fellow humans on the internet, we are only as strong as our community will allow, and resolve, that, no matter the election results, we may complain, we may complain loudly, but we allow a peaceful transfer of power--it's not about the size of our wealth or our military. It's about ideas and innovation, people working together for a shared prosperity.
Those are my thoughts on this election. I will be voting for Hillary Clinton, for better, or for worse. I do not want to see Donald Trump in that office because I don't think he's going to lead us to a better tomorrow. Jill Stein denies science. Gary Johnson promises the world. The only other choice is to not vote in this election, and that's just ceding power to whomever does vote. It's denying the sacrifices, the ingenuity to set up the government and keeping it functioning, borne of previous generations. So, no, I will not be voting for my favorite candidate, but I am voting for the best available. And that is all I can hope for--that she will do the most good in that office.
