2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Not With Her, Still a Feminist [View all]BainsBane
(53,003 posts)The choice is now between Clinton and Trump. You've said you will not support Clinton, which means you've decided you prefer to see Donald Trump as president. Your choice, of course. This site, however, is for Democrats. And Clinton is the Democratic nominee. She beat Bernie by a wide margin. You don't have to like it, but it is a fact. Even his own campaign staff knew two months ago that Bernie couldn't win, as the Politico article published this week disclosed.
I don't know of many feminists who want to see women imprisoned for having abortions, but there is a first time for everything I suppose.
Elections are a choice. Perhaps Bernie was ideal to you, and supporting him didn't involve settling. Perhaps you've been a long supporter of immunity for gun corporations, an opponent of waiting periods for gun purchases, and a big proponent of funneling $1.5 trillion dollars to Lockheed for the F-35. Perhaps you've always been a fan of the Minutemen and an opponent of immigration reform. Perhaps you like politicians that repeatedly claim they don't have superpacs, all while having key staffers move immediately from campaign positions to Bernie superpacs. Perhaps you think it's good for candidates to take junkets to Rome, charter private planes and dine on luxury meals paid for by contributions from ordinary citizens, a plurality of them jobless, according to the NYTimes. And perhaps you like the idea of a candidate who funnels 15% ad placement fees to his wife, who has been cited by the FEC for tens of millions in illegal campaign contributions. (Sources for the preceding points available through my journal). Perhaps you see all of that as something that is ideal, that doesn't require "settling." That was of course your choice during the primary, but we now have a candidate and after Tuesday Bernie will no longer be an option for the presidency. If you live in DC, you can vote for him Tuesday. After that, he will no longer be on the ballot.
That leaves you with Trump, whom you evidently feel is the best choice for a "feminist" who doesn't want to "settle." Have at it. Nothing surprises me anymore. It turns out that some Bernie supporters don't actually care about improving access to healthcare, expanding Social Security, overturning Citizens United, reforming the financial sector, making higher education more affordable--all positions that Clinton shares with Bernie. It turns out the only thing that some truly care about is an abiding resentment toward Hillary Clinton and the 16 million Americans who voted for her. People don't always vote according to policy concerns. In fact they more often vote for other reasons. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/opinion/campaign-stops/do-sanders-supporters-favor-his-policies.html?_r=0 It turns out that a lot of them aren't liberal at all but liked the fact he wasn't a Democrat but rather than independent who attacked the Democratic Party. It makes sense that some of those voters wouldn't be inclined to support Clinton or any other Democrat.
For my part, I'm going to focus on working with people whowant to see the Democrats win the White House and make gains in congress. You've said that doesn't include you. So be it. I can only work with those who want to see liberal policies enacted. That will include the vast majority of Sanders supporters, who ultimately care more about doing what they can to make the country better than indulging in animosity.
Now that the nomination has been decided, I hope some Sanders supporters take the opportunity to look at Clinton's actual policy positions outside the heated rhetoric of the campaign. I think they will find they bear little relation to the characiatures circulated during the primary. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/