I wasn't always Bernie or Bust but I am now
When this election cycle started. I was very open to who would get my support on the democratic ticket. I've been an independent for years but my views are definitely more to the left, so voting republican was out of the question. I supported Hillary back in 2008, and when it started she was more likely than not to get my vote this time. I watched the first series of debates and I really liked Martin O'Malley and was disappointed h didn't get more time to speak. I thought he had a lot of good ideas and I appreciated his earnestness. I could tell it wasn't his time due to no fault of his own, taking on the Clinton political machine is no easy task, and I sincerely hope that he stays active in politics and finds a way to get back in.
I also knew who Bernie Sanders was, if only vaguely. My college roommate in 1989-90 was from Burlington, VT and I remember even now him telling me about what a great mayor he was and how progressive his ideas were. I'd heard his name come up from time to time since then, but was only aware peripherally of who he was and what he was doing.
Also, while I was in college I wrote a paper about how I believed the good old USA was turning into an oligarchy and that it would ultimately be the downfall of this country when it got there. I felt some vindication a few months back when Princeton came to the conclusion that we are indeed an oligarchy. When I started researching Bernie, I couldn't believe what I was reading and seeing online when I watched his speeches on YouTube. He and I have virtually the same opinions and ideas about politics and what is wrong with with the country. How he differs from me, is that he knows how to fix it, or at least I believe he does. Since my paper in college, I've dwelled from time to time on what could be done to restore our democracy to the ideals and principles of which it was intended but I've never been able to come up with a solution. In college, I also learned quite a bit about Martin Luther King JR's principals of social justice and civil disobedience. I had written a paper on him when I was in the 9th grade, but that was more about the civil rights movement and his assassination. It never occurred to me to try to get a political revolution using this idea of civil disobedience and using grass roots politics to get the message across. I feel like given the education I had and what my political ideals are, I should have been able to. Now, however the how has been figured out out by one Senator Bernie Sanders.
As I said, I supported Hillary back in 2008. I really wanted her to win and sure she was going to. I was living in Chicago at the time, and I actually had an invitation to go to an Obama event for free and I blew it off because I was pro-Hillary. Note to self: if you ever get an invitation to go to another event for a perspective president, go. It will be a great story if they happen to win. ::facepalm::
In that election cycle, I also switched to Obama. I became disillusioned with Hillary because of what I deemed to be underhanded politics like her campaign circulating the picture of Obama in traditional Nigerian garb, the waffling back and forth at debates, and so on. Obama also really impressed me as a debater. I wasn't sure how much I'd like him as president, but I began to distrust Hillary Clinton.
Her we are in 2016, and I'd really hoped that she'd learned from 2008. Thanks to social media playing a lot of those sneaky political games don't work any more. Bernie was not against the auto bail out. Bernie does not support the vigilante group "Minutemen." Bernie was right next to you helping you fight for health care in 93-94. Nancy Reagan was about as far from a crusader against AIDS as you could find. It takes all of two seconds to fact check anything these days, and Hillary has yet to figure that out.
The big obvious difference from Hillary of 2008 and Hillary of 2016 is her record as Secretary of State. Even the Washington Post agrees with me that it is not exactly a record to be proud of. Libya, Honduras, Plan Colombia, the mess that exists in Syria now is largely because of her. Still until recently I was willing to vote for her if she gets the nomination.
Now there is no chance of that, and honestly it a has much to do with her supporters as it does with her. I've asked several of my friends to give me one thing she did as Secretary of State that shows good judgement. No one, not one of them can give me one. What's really funny about this to me, is I actually know one, but you'll have to find it on your own. And no, it has nothing to do with Bin Laden, which also I view as the easiest decision ever. We know where Bin Laden is, should we get him? The answers easily "yes, absolutely," I'm very disappointed in the way Hillary supporters defend their candidate. If she makes a false claim or does something that makes her look bad, it's no big deal. The Ashley Williams moment., the afore mentioned Nancy Reagan gaffe, when she said we didn't lose anyone in Libya, etc. Bernie does something like point out her fossil fuel donations and they explode, calling him a liar, and disingenuous. All this while greenpeace, mother jones, Huffington Post, and factcheck.org all say that she has, but the amounts. With the exception of greenpeace, the other sources say that while the amount of money looks substantial on paper, in the big picture it's a very small percentage of what she's taken.
Hilary supporters attacking me on social media have called me "kid" and I've been told I need to "grow up." I've been called stupid and uninformed and that I "don't get it." I'm 44 years old, have a great education, and since I've been in the insurance and financial planning industry, before and after the ACA, and the green energy industry, I feel like I've got a pretty good grasp of a lot of things that have been going on in politics the last few years. You tell me I need to "vote blue no matter who," not realizing that no less than 5 democrats just voted for North Carolina's anti gay law. It goes deeper than party loyalty, and I'd argue that kind of thinking gets you mayors like Rahm Emanuel. No thank you. I'm a very principled person, and my integrity is everything to me. I will of be intimidated into voting for Hillary because you are worried about Donald Trump. If you are so worried about Donald Trump, then you should vote for Bernie because he does better in the polls against him. Yes, I realize that Supreme Court justices are at stake. Well, maybe you should have thought of that before your dismissive elitist attitudes started helping to divide was already an unstable voter base. The whole pragmatic argument is ridiculous because this country never gets anywhere by being pragmatic. The slaves never would have been freed, women and minorities wouldn't be able to vote, and the ACA never would have happened. The only reason you don't want to go the idealistic route is because you're afraid to work to get those things, and it's easier to just sit on your hands and keep the status quo going. Hillary has no intention of fixing our democracy to the extent that it needs to be, and if you look at her language, it's quite clear. She says she wants to "limit special interest money," "reign in the big banks," she won't ban fracking or GMOs. Instead of belittling me and people who feel as I do, it would be better to figure out why we feet he way we do and not make us feel like uneducated idealistic children. That being said, # BernieorBust.
I would never tell someone how to vote and I believe everyone should vote as they see fit. This post is not to persuade you to my point of view, only to get you to understand it.