Saying No To Hillary Clinton
Neoliberalism and conservatism walk hand-in-hand, sideways and backwards, while we desperately need to walk forward
Hillary Clinton’s campaign continues to try to push Bernie Sanders out of the race before New York — which they are crassly calling HRC’s “home state.” It’s almost as if Bernie Sanders wasn’t born there seven decades ago (he was). It’s almost like Bernie Sanders isn’t a native to the state and city which was legitimately just a politically convenient stepping stone for his competition (he is). It’s almost as if it’s getting harder and harder to mask that the Democratic race is the real one for the soul of America, that “neoliberal v. progressive” is actually a more important fight to have than “fascist v. anything else” being the former is a harder one to win than the latter (it is).
People interested in progressive leadership should have but one thing to say: “no.”
No to neoliberalism, which is a close cousin of “compassionate conservatism” — which is what the Bush campaign used to co-opt many of the Clinton administration’s popular policies to attempt to appeal to that demographic without alienating conservatives. Deregulating corporate interests and banking, siding with reckless speculation, gutting social programs, and doing all the same harmful shit conservatives do — albeit with a smile — isn’t going to help this country any more than it has been for several decades.
No to warmongering when we, despite being a very large and powerful nation, have no reason to be interfering with other nations affairs and picking places we don’t like how they run things to overthrow. We have a massive military budget that could be significantly less while our interests remain the same level of safe — or perhaps more, as we are (more often than not) the antagonists in most world conflict on a military level.
No to fracking, which can cause anything from earthquakes to the poisoning of groundwater. Speaking of which, no to Flint being one of the two places in Michigan where Hillary Clinton won with a solid margin but she isn’t bringing up their plight and continually raising awareness around the country about their awful problems — which Bernie Sanders does daily.
No to taking all day to mention NC’s discriminatory anti-trans law passing, likely due to not wanting the media to question endorsements from Democrats there who conveniently weren’t there while it passed (“not present” equals a vote for “yes”).
No to welfare reform and omnibus crime bills that Hillary Clinton endlessly stumped for in the ’90s that have hurt African Americans, people she loves to literally lay claim to.
No to private insurance and to the idea that someone could get hit by a drunk driver and wake up three days later tens of thousands in debt.
No to endorsing marriage equality after Dick Cheney did.
No to saying undocumented immigrants “have to learn english” and no to fining them — both contained in this clip (recorded March 21, 2016) — which is none other than the Neoliberal Oppression With A Smile “totally not racist” way of setting immigrants up for deportation. And no to bragging about voting to “build a barrier” in March 2015, just a little before Trump announced his candidacy.
No to giving a really good speech on racial justice in Harlem then almost immediately afterward kicking out a BLM activist from a $500-a-head private fundraiser and then dismissing the question they raised by saying “alright, let’s get back to the issues.” No to telling a person of color questioning her that she “should just run for something herself then.”
No to convoluted ideas about college tuition that would essentially add a second bureaucracy on top of the current one without an actual end result of negating tuition any differently than grants and scholarships do today — and requiring students to work rather than focus on school. In fact, No to any convoluted, long proposals that we are meant to forget in the general election so Clinton doesn’t seem like a liar.
No to someone who is currently trying to scare people into voting for them, lest a demagogue take power — piggyback demagoguery.
No to anyone who is to Donald Trump’s right on the Israel/Palestine situation.
Just… no.
If you refuse to acknowledge MOUNTAIN of legitimate reasons to be against more neoliberal capitalist leadership, well, all I can really ask is that you please start to consider that we refuse to support a candidate based on a long list of policy decisions and actions that make up a record people like myself are no longer comfortable voting for.
If you are fine with neoliberal capitalism, well… it’s fine if you don’t want to change the world. I don’t hold it against you. At least you are honest up to this point. But if you want to sit and tell me or someone like myself that I’m a BernieBro, an ObamaBoy (which is more than a bit racist) anything other than a progressive who is to Hillary Clinton’s left on every issue I’ve brought up today— as well as many more — please enjoy the middle finger you can’t see me giving you right now.
Thanks, but I voted progressive.
