12 Reasons to Vote for Hillary That Have Nothing to Do With Trump
12 Reasons to Vote for Hillary That Have Nothing to Do With Trump
She and her platform represent much more than just “the lesser evil.”
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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Washington. (Reuters / Gary Cameron)
The people have spoken: “Don’t try to scare me into voting for Hillary Clinton by talking about how awful Trump is. Make me love her!” I happen to believe that thwarting Trump—a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic fake populist—is an excellent reason to vote for his opponent, a normal human being. If you think Clinton’s evil, which I don’t, let me paraphrase Noam Chomsky: The reason to vote for the lesser evil is that it’s less evil. Also, it’s delusional to think that a Trump presidency would pave the way for a left victory in 2020, much less Susan Sarandon’s “revolution.” It didn’t happen when Humphrey lost to Nixon, it didn’t happen when Carter lost to Reagan, and, just to go there for a moment, it certainly didn’t happen when the German communists scorned the weak-tea socialists in the 1932 election with the slogan “After Hitler, us.” Mostly, right-wing victories pave the way for more right-wing victories.
But since you ask, here are 12 reasons why Hillary deserves your vote on her own merits.
Stopping Trump is more than enough reason to vote for Clinton. But here are another 12 arguments in her favor:
1. Reproductive rights. I’m putting this first because they’re crucial to everything you care about: women’s rights, economic equality, family well-being, access to education, to say nothing of simple human happiness. Hillary is great on this issue: She supports funding for Planned Parenthood, fact-based sex education, and widespread access to birth control (including emergency contraception). She’s also broken new ground by calling for an end to the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal Medicaid funds to pay for poor women’s abortions. (President Obama, whom I’m guessing many Hillary holdouts supported, accepted the amendment as “an American tradition.”) The contrast with Trump, who wants to ban abortion and has filled his campaign with hard-core anti-choicers, couldn’t be starker.
2. Health care. As first lady, Clinton worked to pass the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which funds health care for 6 million children. Now she wants to get resistant red states to expand Medicaid; add a public option to the Affordable Care Act; let those 55 and over buy into Medicare; and offer coverage to undocumented immigrants. She wants to rein in drug companies, and has detailed plans to improve access to care for HIV, mental illness, and more.
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5. Children and families. Hillary supports 12 weeks of paid parental and family leave; 12 weeks to recover from a serious illness; universal preschool; doubling Head Start; and affordable child care that costs no family more than 10 percent of its income. She also wants to raise the pay of child-care workers and add quality child-care centers to college campuses.
6. Education. She supports debt-free public college and free community college, with debt relief for current borrowers. She’s also pledged $25 billion for historically black colleges and universities and other institutions that serve minorities.
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A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for all these good policies. Ready to cast yours?
https://www.thenation.com/article/12-reasons-to-vote-for-hillary-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-trump/
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