Table of Contents
Introduction
This is a follow-up to my Facebook post which covers much of the same, but here I am going to flesh it out a bit more, clean it up, and possibly even support it with sources and research too, as I am want to do. =) I am planning on also following this up with a post on specifically why Bernie Sanders has my vote, so that this is a bit more clear, and not just a ‘I do not like Hillary!‘ vote. I assure you that this was not the case. I was excited, if not giddy, when I heard that Bernie was considering running for office and had not really considered Hillary’s platform or what I thought of her until recently, after someone added me to a Facebook group that changed to a Hillary 2016 Group, and then things started to get a little awkward and annoying for all involved. Then I got banned from the group. My consideration for Hillary as a candidate and her campaign comes as a fallout from that Facebook situation.
The Basic Information on Hillary Clinton
First, here are some basic links about Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) if you do not know much about her:
- Hillary Rodham Clinton [wikipedia]
- Hillary Clinton (Official Site)
- Hillary Clinton On the Issues (On The Issues)
- Hillary Clinton (Ballotopedia)
- Hillary Clinton (Gov Track)
- Hillary Clinton (Open Congress)
Here is a list of her ‘political’ positions (‘political’: since not everyone would consider First Lady as an official political position) :
| dates | position | notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1993-2001 | First Lady | marrried to President Bill Clinton |
| 2001-2009 | Senator of New York | Senate Career |
| 2009-2013 | Secretary of State | Secretary of State Career |
Second, although some may find this statement debateable (?Republicans?), let me say that I acknowledge that Hillary has definitely done some good things. Just by virtue of her being a democrat alone means that she has done some good things for our country. Below is a link that has an ‘incomplete’ list of some of her accomplishments in her time in the government. I am sure there is more, but this list should get you started. The links above in this section can lead you to more of what she has done while in office.
I will not go over her entire career here, since it is beyond the scope of this post and is beyond my capability, but the list is there for you to peruse like: working for women, children, and the climate. Please do take the moment to take a look . All three of these areas that she has worked for are good, however…
The Woman For President Conundrum
Believe me, I would really, really, really love to follow voting for our first African-American president by also voting for the first woman president in our history, so we can join the rest of the first-world progressive countries, but she is definitely not worthy of that position in our collective history. She wants to be the next Elizabeth Warren, but Hillary is not close to being as authentic, progressive and dogged as Elizabeth Warren has been for the people of this country and against political and corporate corruption.
Some people will vote for Hillary just because she is a woman and a democrat and that is about the only thought that they may have put into it or it will be their primary determining factor, but that will not be me. I will agree, even for me, the fact that she is a woman is a very attractive point. In general, I think the world would be much better off if there were a crap-load more women holding high offices, especially in our government, however, of course, there is much more to a candidate’s ability to hold office and do what is right beyond their “gender”.
To make my point further about the gender issue and my vote I want you to consider my following stance: If Elizabeth Warren was running, and Sanders was not, then Warren would definitely have my vote since they have similar messages and stances on issues. If it were both Sanders or Warren who were competing, and since they have very similar stances on issues, then I might vote for Warren because she is a woman, although it would be a tough process of working through where they are different enough on the issues to make a difference; but hell yea, lets finally bring a woman into Oval Office, a woman who is definitely worthy of this historic position – Warren 2024 (after 8 years of Sanders)!!
Below is a video titled The Caleb Bonham Show: Students Support Hillary Clinton Because She is a Woman that shows that some college students are thinking of voting for her just because she is a woman so you can at least see that this attitude is out there and not just me postulating:
Social Liberal While Centrist Everywhere Else
For those of you who are yearning for a truly progressive candidate you will find that looking to Hillary is not going to truly satisfy you and will leave you wanting for much more. She is not a true progressive. She tends to be quite liberal when it comes to social issues like women, children, and poverty, which is great, but she is very much a centrist democrat by looking at her record and her words regaurding war, the economy and trade, energy, and Wall Street. Here is an article that goes over it lightly: The Vast Ideological Gap Between Hillary Clinton and Supporters of Bernie Sanders.
She pays lip service to those things which echoes a rising desire for populist ideology, especially since Bernie has started running, and I do believe, that she actually cares about some of those issues, but there is a reason there is meme about Hillary’s position being whatever Bernie’s position is as stated two weeks ago. Here is a Saturday Night Live skit which is a mock ad of Hillary Clinton which makes fun of how her stances are changing to become more like Bernie’s:
Her ultimate political position is all about politics and getting the votes. She has changed her position on some issues due to the election season and the shift of the electoral climate. Now that she knows that she is unable successfully pander to and realistically make herself out to be a truly progressive candidate she has recently declared as much to differentiate herself from the very progressive and populist candidate Bernie Sanders.
“You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center,” Clinton told the audience at a Women for Hillary event in Ohio. “I plead guilty.”
She soundly supports Monsanto and Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)s, the private prison industry, the fracking industry, the Keystone XL pipeline, Wall Street greed, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and is a war hawk to top it all off. She was against gay marriage, the Iraq War, Wall Street regulation, and the Patriot Act until it was not politically expedient to do so. I do not trust her at all and to where the winds of change (and money) may possibly pull her, especially with her Centrist leanings.
Here is an article ‘Why This Socialist Feminist Is Not Voting for Hillary‘ that is a good read.
Changing Values
I whole-heartedly support people changing therir views based on new experiences and information. This is should be the standard for everyone, although this is not the case for many politicians. For her what I see is her changing her views based mostly on poltics, electoral pandering, and catering to the flow of money into her electoral ambitions, and to top it off she has been quite wrong on many issues which is why she needs to backtrack and change her position. It is definitely better to not have to say you are sorry and change your mind when people’s lives and the economy is at stake.
- Gay Marriage: At one time she was steadfastly for the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) and against Gay Marriage, and then, as recently as 2013, she has had a change of heart while she was conveniently mulling a 2016 presidential run and after Gay Marriage was definitely going to be a national thing.
- War and Security: She voted for the Patriot Act and the Iraq War and, following the horrible repercussions of these votes, she has said that she regrets these votes.
- Wall Street: She was a chief advocate for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and now is suddenly against it,while she has historically voted for most Trade Agreements which have harmed American workers. She seems to against it to be following the populist tides here too.
- Bankruptcy Laws: She was against tightening bankruptcy laws and then she was for it.
Some links which talk about her flip-flopping:
- The Definitive Encyclopedic Case for Why Hillary Clinton is the Wrong Choice (Daily Kos) [This one is an amazing read.]
- Hillary Clinton Flip-flopping and Copying Bernie Sanders
- Clips: Elizabeth Warren Takes on Hillary Clinton and Alan Greenspan
- Hillary Clinton: My Past Incorrect Assessments Do Not Reflect on My Assessment Abilities
- Hillary Clinton’s Duplicity and Media Complicity
This video sums it up pretty well as far as her many, many flip-flops. Take a look:
Hillary Lying for 13 Straight Minutes (You Tube) – another video on her flippity-floppityness:
Her voting Record and Stances
My words from above were all well and good to say, but lets back this up her actual voting record, her history, and her self-reported stance on the issues where she has been very wrong. You can find voting and stance info on the sites listed above.
Here is an article that goes over the 32 times where Hillary and Bernie were opposed to each other in the Senate: The Senate Votes That Divided Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Here is a video showing their differences ‘Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton Over The Years: Then vs. Now‘.
| issue | Hillary | Bernie | notes and links |
|---|---|---|---|
| War and Borders | |||
| Iraq War | y | n | |
| Patriot Act (2001) | y | n | |
| Patriot Act (2006 reauthorization) | n | n | |
| National Defense Authorization ACt (NDAA) (indefinite detention of prisoners of war) | y | n | |
| Mexico Border Fence (2006) | y | n | |
| Civil Rights | |||
| Clemency for Snowden | n | y | |
| Against Gay Rights | y < 2013 | n | |
| Support Gay Rights | y 2013 | y | |
| Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (1996) | y | n |
|
| Marijuana Legalization | n | y | |
| Labeling GMO’s | n | y | |
| Trade and Wall Street | |||
| Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) | y | n |
|
| Glass-Steagall | n | y | |
| Repeal of Glass-Steagall (1999) | y | n |
|
| Bailing Out Wall Street (TARP) | y | n | |
| Criminal Justice Reform | |||
| Private Prison Industry | y | n |
|
| Death Penalty | y | n | |
| Energy | |||
| Keystone XL Pipeline | y | n |
|
| Fracking | y | n | |
| Offshore Drilling | y | n | |
| issue | Hillary | Bernie | notes and links |
Electoral Corruption and Collusion
Democratic Primary Debates
I am going to tell you what is happening for the Democratic Primary Debates and why things are wrong and, if Hillary is taking part in any of this or knows of it and has not spoken out against it, would be a serious problem for she would be trying to circumvent the democratic process by trying to prevent America from getting real exposure to all of the candidates and to allow them to make an informed decision resulting in having a candidate thrust upon them which has been set forth by the party’s biased and unethical internal politics.
Debate Schedule Limiting: First, we seem have the lowest number of sanctioned debates which is itself a little fishy, but not necessarily so, unless… The chair of the Democratic National Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was Hillary’s 2008 campaign chair, is arbitrarily setting the debate schedule to serverly limit the number of debates so that she can protect Hillary and her strong name recognition by mimimizing Bernie Sanders’ exposure to the public which would help his flagging national name recognition. This is especially important for Hillary’s campaign in light of her greatly falling poll numbers and Bernie’s rising numbers. Limiting the debates will limit her fall and his rise in the polls protecting her campaign to the disadvatnage of all other democratic candidates.
| Party SanctionedPrimary Debates | ||
|---|---|---|
| Election Year | Dem | Rep |
| 1980 | — | 6 |
| 1984 | 11 | — |
| 1988 | 22 | 7 |
| 1992 | 12 | — |
| 1996 | — | 7 |
| 2000 | 9 | 13 |
| 2004 | 15 | — |
| 2008 | 25 | 21 |
| 2012 | — | 20 |
| 2016 | 6 | 12 * |
- base table from: Is Six Democratic Debates Too Few? (FiveThirtyEight.com)
- Democratic primary debate schedule criticized as Clinton ‘coronation’
- * 2016 Republican Debate Schedule (wikipedia)
- 2016 Democratic Debate Schedule (wikipedia)
- Stifling Debate is Not a New Trend in American Politics, Bernie Sanders is Just The Latest Victim
- DNC Vice Chair Calls for More Dem Debates
Barred from Extra-Party Debates: Second, typically the number of debates is not as serious a concern, since the candidates were welcome to attend other debates outside the specifically party sanctioned ones. However, this time around she will bar anyone from the party’s sanctioned debates if they participate in any debates besides the six that the party has specifically set up, which harms all other candidates and greatly benefits Hillary due to her great name recognition and limiting the access to other public debates by the other candidates. Again this is done to give an advantage to Hillary by reducing any face time that other candidates could possibly have by participating in extra-party debates to which Bernie seems to be quite inclined to do. It also gives the Republicans the upper-hand when it comes to exposure to the public, which is going to end up a critcal problem since the republicans have at least twice as many debates scheduled and, therefore, twice as much exposeure to the public’s eyes and ears.
Unusual Dates for Debates: The first debate takes place after the New York date for voters to register as Democrat in order to vote for him in the primary, so those who vote there will not have seen a primary debate with all of the candidates who will be on the primary ballot, which greatly favors Clinton. The second debate in November is on a Saturday which has 10 million less viewers than other days. Ther third date in December is on the Saturday before Christmas which is a huge shopping day. The fourth debate in January is on the same day as an NFL divisional playoff day, which is one of the 10 highest viewed shows during the year. Another debate is scheduled on a Saturday before the Christmas holiday. The dates are not set so that they are conducive to people watching and to have a chance to for people to make an educated vote.
- Hillary rival accuses Democrats of manipulating debate schedule to protect her (Business Insider)
- The Democratic debate schedule has a huge problem, but it’s not the number of debates
- Hillary Clinton declines to call for more Democratic debates
Other Electoral Corruption
- Video=> Hillary Campaign Caught Breaking Election Laws
- Here they are: Hillary’s 22 biggest scandals ever
Super Pacs
This may seem strange here since there is nothing illegal about Super Pacs, however Hillary has Super Pacs behind her with the prison industry, banks, Monsanto, and Wall Street raising money for her. That there should tell you something about where her policies will lay. As a man true to his beliefs, Bernie is not accepting any corporate money at all, and is only excepting money from the people, for who he represents. Hillary has supported and amendment to get corporate money out of politics, but is still accepting their money and their influence. She is talking the talk, but is not walking the walk here, while Bernie is.
In Closing
Hillary Clinton represents much of what is wrong with our electoral politics and is apart of a rich dynasty which is very disconnected from the people and our middle class concerns. Bernie has stuck to his views for his 50+ years in office, and he has been right, while Hillary is changing as her need for votes requires. Hillary is very much apart of, and representative of, our country’s historical and steady movement towards the right, by being strongly centrist on non-social issues. It shows us how far we have fallen when we say that Bernie appears radical when he echoes era Eisenhower Republican values. In a political climate where greed and hate are viable and popular political ideologies while taking care of the vulnerable and the environment, working towards peace, and being truly fiscally responsible isn’t.
There is a reason why Hillary’s poll numbers are going steadily down and Bernie’s are steadily going up. He has even surpassed her in quite a few polls as the people hear his message and are becoming tired of Hillary’s questionable voting record and way too practiced and political answers. Once the debates really start people’s minds will change drastically as they hear Bernie’s message and look at his record, especially when compared to hers, and when they look to where her money comes from – corporations and her Super Pacs. His money comes from the people and only the people. He does not take money from corporations and does not want any corporate money and stands steadfastly against their influence. He has always been this way – for the people.
Change will only really happen with a real progressive like Bernie Sanders, who cannot be bought, and has had a consistent message for over 30 years as a mayor, governor and now senator. He is the only way to truly move our country forward and to catch up with the rest of the first world countries to which we are distinctly behind. Bernie Sanders is a thousand times the candidate than Hillary is and a million times the candidate that any Republican has been for the last 30 years. He has been consistently for the people, works with integrity and transparency, and has gained tremendous amount of bipartisan support which is the only way he could have won and election with 71% of the votes. He has been corruption and controversy free and is the only candidate that will bring true change to our country.
If you take nothing from this writing, then please take the following: Why would you vote for someone who has been on the wrong side of so many issues and has had to evolve her stance on issues to be on the right (DOMA, gay marriage, the Iraq War and Patriot Act) or is still wrong (Glass-Steagall, GMO’s), when you can vote for the person who has been consistently right for the last 30 years.
Not her. Not now. Not ever. Just NO!!
#WhichHillary #ReleaseTheTranscripts
#FeelTheBern #BernieSanders #BernieOrBust #BernieSanders2016 #Sanders2016 #BernNotice #BerningForBernie #BernBabyBern #HunkaBerningLove #VetsForBernie #GeeksForBernie #OpenTheDebates #DebateWithBernie #Berilicious #Bernificosity #Bernasaurus #Bernapotamus
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