As I checked my emails this morning, I happened to read the Kos’ solicitation to write why they are willing to switch their vote from Hilary to Bernie (or vice versa), or what would lead to a switch. In my honest opinion, I’ve already had my opinion set in stone for quite some time...it’s the general election I worry about, when the odds are we the people will more than likely be saddled with a pair of candidates that none of us want to elect president. It would be choosing the lesser of two evils, but as I heard Jesse Ventura say, “You’re still choosing evil”. And if Hilary made it to the final round, I’d be hard pressed to vote for her, even if (God forbid) Trump or Cruz were the opposition.
While I don’t agree with everything Bernie Sanders stands for (he is a bit left of center after all), he strikes me as both earnest and honest, particularly when it comes to the bane of our political system: campaign contributions, and the organizations that funnel them like a Mexican drug cartel. Nothing is more toxic to democracy than undue political influence (read James Madison’s take in the Federalist Papers #10...what was true about political factions in the 18th century has only gotten worse in the 21st), where the will of the people are subsumed by moneyed interests (like ALEC). Sanders has made it a point of rejecting money from “big donors”...and that message has clearly had legs, since despite political pundits wishing and willing that he just “go away”, that he is polling either withing striking distance or even ahead of Hilary.
For me, Hilary is just another politician that wants to be elected president, and is willing to use the same system that has given us a dysfunctional and gridlocked congress (and ironically giving the Tea Party political ammunition). She is loaded with political baggage, particularly with her husband, the former commander in chief, who left a sour taste in many mouths and essentially cost Al Gore the “third term”, and allowed the GOP to create a political backblast that is still resonating. That same baggage allowed Barak Obama to claim the White House for two terms...people prefer to elect people they perceive as “with clean hands” (whether that is actually the case or not!). Hilary elicits as much a negative response as a positive one...in a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 51% of voters can’t stand her, and 61% of voters say she is not honest and trustworthy. Not a very good place to start from.
On that note, speaking for myself (full disclosure, an Independent), I just find it very hard to muster voting for Hilary, even if someone like Ted Cruz or Donald Trump was the opposition. While I certainly have no intention of voting for the frontrunning GOP ding-dongs, I would seriously ponder not voting at all (which would also mean not voting for any would-be Democratic candidates in House and Senate races in the Presidential Election), a double-whammy. Barring an 11th hour reveal of negative information on Bernie...he just doesn’t elicit the fear and loathing I’m picking up from the Clinton camp, and the attacks on him by Bill and Chelsea are not changing my mind, but reinforcing the image that Hilary is just in it for herself.
Recently my state’s Democratic Party has made an effort to reach out to Independents by allowing them to vote in the state primaries. Hopefully they will make an effort to distinguish themselves as the “party of the people” they claim to be, and allow the rank and file to choose who the want to run (even if it’s Bernie) instead of push who they think is “electable” (read: Hilary and the “Superdelegates). The next four years are the Democrats to lose. My advice? Choose wisely.