While I was and continue to be no fan of Hillary Clinton (I fall under the intentionally divisive moniker of “BernieBro” I suppose), it does prove elections have consequences. In the general, I voted for Hillary with my nose held shut, and I’d do it again.
It’s true under Hillary that the same pro-oligarchy, pro-war, pro-income inequality policies would continue to be enacted, instead with the tacit support of those who I count as being on “my side” (though I might define “my side” as being a little more flexible than many). It would again be more of the slow boiling frog, but at least it would be slow enough that we’d have some hope of pushing back. Instead now we seem to be at a very fast track to the bottom.
Maybe that’s what it will take to wake up people, and I’m finally seeing backlash outside of the typically liberal circles. Still, I don’t see things like Net Neutrality or a nuclear exchange with North Korea as being an option on Clinton’s watch.
Granted she was willing, and seems to continue to be willing to risk a neuveux Cold War over “red baiting” the election, when even if yes, it (Russia) probably had a negative impact (like a thousand other things — Comey, Berney, email scandal, sexism, etc., etc.), she seems to have ultimately ignored she just wasn’t a great candidate due to her deserved or not toxicity, not running an adequate campaign, alienated much of her base, and worst of all being an “insider/status quo” candidate in an election that was calling desperately for outsiders. Yes, she died from a thousand little cuts, but if the “buck stops here”, she needs to take more direct responsibility and stop ending every contrition to that loss with a “but…”. If she was the right candidate, and everything did everything correctly but still just lost (against the most unelectable opponent ever), then either they didn’t get everything right or they (Clinton and our party leadership) misjudged the risks and inevitable attacks that would be leveled against her. After all, even veering into liberal circles, fairly or not, everyone knew she was the most hated candidate out there. All you had to do is speak to your neighbors and that would become painfully obvious. In short, it is a truism, that had Hillary been the right candidate, she would have won — dirty tricks or no because it wasn’t rocket science to know those dirty tricks were going to come like wildfire given the general hate of her within the populous.
Anyway, I digress — my ultimate point is quite the opposite:
All of you who voted against Hillary because she was such a flawed candidate (no argument), need to realize that that calculation had real consequences, from Net Neutrality to an insane tax bill coming up. It’s great to be on your high horse, and believe me I wanted to join you, but the stakes are a lot higher than it seems from the outside. Just as Hillary was taken down from a 1,000 nicks and cuts, so can be the nation and what we value about it.
And those cuts are coming fast.
