I haven’t written a diary in, like, forever, so please be kind. But I’ve been a member here for 11 years and even though I don’t contribute all that much anymore, I do lurk a lot. And, I’ve been following all these internal arguments for awhile, and they’ve sure been passionate and fun! I voted for Bernie Sanders in Illinois in March enthusiastically — primarily because I want to see all of his (and others’) ideas get implemented: (1) free school beyond just 12 years (12 years is so 20th century; 14-16 years is 21st century); (2) quality school lunches; (3) a humane prison system; (4) the enforcement of marriage equality throughout the country; (5) an Employee Free Choice Act; (6) a comprehensive Immigration Act, with citizenship, particularly for the Dreamers; (7) an Energy Conservation Act (modeled after the one in California); (8) longer paid vacation and longer paid maternity/paternity leave; (9) a Disability Rights Act; (10) an Employment Non-Discrimination Act; (11) a Voting Rights Act extension, with renewed enforcement rights; (12) a new pro-choice pro-union USSC Justice; (13) an updated Dodd-Frank-like reform Act, that is stronger and engineers a more competitive financial industry; (14) an Infrastructure Investment Act; (15) a $15 minimum wage; (16) a Gun Regulation Act, with background checks, an end to the gun show loophole and a ban on assault weapons; (17) federal marijuana deregulation and I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Lots and lots of liberal ideas that would improve our country significantly!! We need all these things! Now! And at the time of my vote, I liked Bernie because he seemed to argue most strongly for this stuff.
But luckily, Hillary Clinton supports most of these ideas too! And lately, it looks like she’s going to win the nomination. If she does, she may not push all of the things I’m for, but she’s very likely to push for quite a few of them. And that is SO much better than what Trump would do, which includes (if he can be believed): (1) deporting 11 million people; including children; (2) building a useless wall in the middle of the Big Bend for $10 billion and with another $18 billion per year in upkeep and maintenance; (3) dismantling NATO and our Asia-Pacific alliances; (4) nuking the Middle East and maybe Europe; (5) punishing women for exercising their liberty; (6) deliberately starting a trade war and imposing 35% tariffs on everything Americans buy; (7) destroying unions; (8) destroying pensions; (9) allowing states to demonize GLBT people (and African-Americans, Latinos; Asian-Americans; immigrants generally; Native Americans and many others); (10) resticting voting rights; (11) banning all Muslims and, like above, I could go on.
I was a Bernie supporter, but lately, I’ve been agreeing more with the Hillary side of the various arguments here. I don’t regret my vote (in the least), but I’m beginning to believe that it’s time for us to put aside some of these internal arguments. This surprises me because I was VERY much for Obama and against Clinton 8 short years ago. But I’ve seen her grow as Obama’s Secretary of State and believe that she is less hawkish than she was when she voted to authorize the Iraq War, which was my main issue then. I’ve also seen her (like Obama) change on many issues like marriage equality and trade and on regulating the financial sector. A famous example might be applicable: before and during WWI, Winston Churchill suppressed a labour strike (Tonypandy) and was heavily involved in really disastrous military policy in Gallipoli, which led to many useless deaths. He was pilloried and hated for these actions for decades. But by 1940, he had learned something and specifically included the British left in a national Government and was far more reticent about committing troops and lives to precipitous military action so much so that he successfully avoided invading Northern France until his new allies — the U.S. — was ready to do so. And he switched parties, from a Tory, to a Liberal, to a Constutionalist and back to a Tory, and then to a disaffected Tory who got along best with Labour and the Liberals. It’s possible that Hillary will similarly adapt and really be a great leader. She’ll be the first woman ever as President, she’s taken everything the Republicans can throw at her for decades and virtually all of those were faux scandals.
Regardless, Trump is an insulting, juvenile, ill-informed proto-Fascist who reminds me of Mussolini. America would decidedly decline under his leadership, both domestically and internationally. Already, we are seeing disturbing signs of civil strife. Our foreign friends and allies are utterly aghast. It would be a terrible development for him to ever hold the nuclear football and be C-I-C of our military. He’s a plutocrat who has zero experience of living with no means. He does not sympathize with poor or middle class Americans. He is a policy imbecile. He has no answers for and has not even suggested policies for virtually everything this country is currently dealing with. We simply cannot let him be elected.
After California, New Jersey and D.C, our primary will be over and we need to unite behind the winner — regardless of whether it is Hillary or Bernie. 2008 was an anomaly for me — I usually support the loser in these things, from Kennedy (in 1980), to Hart (in 1984) to Simon (in 1988) and on and on. And then I end up supporting the actual nominee. I strongly urge my fellow Bernie supporters (if Hillary wins) and the Hillary supporters (if Bernie wins) to stop arguing between ourselves so much and get down to the business of beating Trump. This is very important for our country. Please, please, please calm down, listen to each other, embrace one another, work with one another and unify our collective efforts for the betterment of humankind!