2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: What specific POLICY POSITIONS show Sec. Clinton to be "Not Liberal" or "Not a Democrat?" [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)and history of the first Clinton administration and her constant wavering and changing her mind on issues plus the political debts she has incurred due to her money-raising, I do not trust her.
I am retired and on Social Security. I do not trust Hillary to protect my Social Security benefits. That is what I live on. I worked for my Social Security. I seriously doubt that with all her money, Hillary cares much about middle-class people like me who rely on Social Security for retirement. I do not trust her at all about Social Security.
If Bernie does not win the election, I suspect that no other candidate will protect Social Security.
In addition, she is not willing to try to get single-payer, universal or even all non-profit healthcare funding and insurance. She is not even talking about a public option or Medicare for all.
Her plan for funding free tuition at state schools of higher education is not as good as Bernie's and not as clearly funded. I think her ideas on that are just a lot of hot air. The plan should not single out poor students for help. It should not be needs-based at all. Donald Trump should pay the tax on his Wall Street trades and his children should be entitled to enter the program just like everyone else. A higher education is not a luxury. It is something we acquire in order to be useful in society. Bernie knows what it means for our children to have college debts. It's a terrible burden. Bernie has a plan to fairly pay for tuition for all who work at school at state colleges and universities. It think it is a good and feasible plan and should be adopted.
Hillary claims now (probably to get elected) that she wants to change the TPP, but I am opposed to the arbitration courts that the trade agreements including the WTO impose because they grant a higher authority to their courts than to our American courts. That cannot be. Trade courts should not be empowered to overrule or penalize decisions by our democratic institutions -- not at any level of our democracy. Democracy first. If another country does not want to respect the laws that we pass democratically, then we should not trade with that country as far as free trade is concerned. I am stating that awkwardly, but if I should explain more, please ask me. So far our trade agreements have meant the loss of our industrial base and the jobs in that area. Textiles are not made nearly as much, if at all, in the US as they used to be. And that is true in many areas.
She wants employers to pay for family leave. I prefer Sanders' plan to raise the payroll tax just a tiny bit to make sure every new parent gets paid family leave and small employers are not burdened with all the cost.
I do not trust her at all on net neutrality. She has received too much money from the media. Bernie, on the other hand, limits how much money he will accept from sources that are not working people. Unions support Bernie (some of them), but few business interests are paying his way. We need campaign finance reform, and Hillary's failure to lead by example on this is worrisome.
She is too prone to war for me. She is not farsighted and patient when it comes to foreign affairs. Her vote for the Iraq War Resolution was careless, thoughtless. I question whether she even read all the classified materials that Bernie read and that persuaded Bernie not to vote for it. Bernie has "less experience" in foreign affairs, but that is a plus for me. He will be able to establish new priorities and new relationships with other countries. I think that is great. People in other countries are very enthusiastic about the possibility of Bernie in the White House. Not so much enthusiasm about Hillary outside of Israel. Hillary made a mess even worse when it comes to the Middle East. Bernie's fairness will help that situation.
Bill Clinton's repeal of Glass-Steagall and Commodities Futures Act were horrible. Yet one of her advisors, Gentler was among the authors as I understand it of the Commodities Futures Act.
I do not think that Hillary will appoint the kinds of people that I want to see in the next government.
Bernie has William K. Black and Galbraith among his economic advisors. I like them. William K. Black knows how to prosecute bankers and break up banks. I think that the threat of doing that, the believable threat, just may help us. Hillary evades questions about the banks and has received enormous sums from them. A bad combination.
Hillary has tried to persuade other countries to allow fracking. She supported the Keystone pipeline at one time -- another bit of evidence of her terrible judgment and lack of foresight.
On environmental issues which are very important to me, I think that Bernie Sanders will move us in a much better direction.
Bernie is also very strong on preventive health medicine, something I believe in strongly. I think that he will use the presidential bully pulpit as JFK did to urge people to choose healthy lifestyles. That is not a matter of coercion but of example and persuasion, and he is good at both. Hillary is not bad in this area, but Bernie is more forceful and will do better.
At a rally at the Sports Center at the USC campus in Los Angeles last summer, Bernie stated that one of the things he will do is audit the military budget. That needs to be done. We have military programs that are useless and we may need to invest more money in some that have been neglected. Bernie has served on the Banking Committee in the House and on the Budget and Veterans' Committees in the Senate. He has the inside, detailed knowledge of the financial aspects of government that neither Hillary nor for that matter, any other recent president, has had. That will be a valuable resource in our government.
I have seen Hillary's speech on the economy. She still adheres to the philosophy that growing the economy will lift all boats. That has not worked. We need tax reform that insures that the middle class and poor do not increasingly get the small edge of the wedge of our growing economy. Bernie acknowledges and strongly objects to the growing disparity in wealth.
Hillary's plans on this will not work. She is very, very weak when it comes to dealing with the disparity in wealth. The middle class is drowning in debt. Hillary's idea was a $12 minimum wage. She tried to weasel away from that at the last debate. We need a $15 minimum wage. If you think about how the economy has grown and don''t just focus on prices, then it is clear that a $15 minimum wage is fair and not at all too high. Hillary's plan for a lower minimum wage in some areas of the country with a higher minimum wage in others will exacerbate the disparity in wealth. No to Hillary on that issue. This is another issue on which she demonstrates quite frankly a lack of understanding that is shocking. Bernie is simply more intelligent than she is and has greater depth of understanding. It will be a terrible step in the wrong direction if Democrats miss the opportunity to nominate and elect a man of Bernie's brilliance.
I suggest that everyone Bernie's book, Outsider in the White House. In my favorite part of the book, Bernie discusses Bill Clinton's administration's pay-offs for lay-offs program. Fascinating read. Very useful.
Feel the Bern!
Hillary is nowhere near the candidate that Bernie is.
I'm for Bernie 100%.
No other candidate measures up once you understand Bernie and realize how his life has been dedicated to justice and fairness and how well he can govern. He was mayor of a town, an excellent introduction to the tasks of an executive. He has far more experience in government in the day-to-day reality of governing than Hillary.
86% of Vermont Democrats voted for him in this primary. You can't get a more valuable, informed endorsement than that.
Go Bernie. Feel the Bern!