Five Reasons No Progressive Should Support Hillary Clinton

[HassleCat]

55. Some reasons progressives shoud support Hillary Clinton

She will be the Democratic nominee. Barring some miracle, something that would make me believe in God, Clinton will defeat Sanders for the nomination. I'm not taking the Bernie 2016 sticker off my car, but that's the way it looks right now. We should continue to promote Sanders, and we should continue to criticize Clinton for not being a real progressive, but we should do so in positive terms. And we need to lean on her to get more progressive on some of the issues you mention.

1. Foreign policy. That one is a lost cause. Clinton is as hawkish as GW Bush, and very likely to invade some small. defenseless nation to give them a taste of American shock and awe. What we need to do is elect some decent members of congress, people like Bernie Sanders, who will refuse to vote her a blank check like she helped give to GW Bush.

2. Economy. Another lost cause. She's tied in too closely to large financial interests to do anything useful in the way of reform. What we have to do is hope she remembers and heeds the advice of Molly Ivins, who was told by a Texas Democrat, "You got to be able to take their money, drink their liquor, screw their women, and then stand up on the floor of the legislature and vote against them." This advice may come in useful in getting her to veto some of the very, very bad legislation we know is coming from the Republican congress.

3. Environment. Well, she opposes the Keystone pipeline, a least for now, and that's a sign of progress. She might be open to supporting expansion of the National Park system, ad that sort of thing. As long as it doesn't scare her big donors, she might go for it.

4. Civil liberties. Clinton should be very good when it comes to supporting civil rights for minorities. Even though she was a late comer to gay rights, she has always been a supporter of other civil rights, particularly for black Americans. We may be able to get the Voting Rights Act back again. Yes, she may support expanded spying on us, the people in general, but this sort of a bi-partisan issues, with opposition coming from surprising places, and congress may not be in the mood to give the three letter agencies more power to snoop on us. So it might not even come up.

5. Culture wars. I think the culture wars are just about over, at least on the federal level, and our side won. Clinton would never sign anything like DOMA, even though she liked it when her husband signed it. She has evolved on that issue, and she does not dare devolve. I expect to see the same pattern on things such as trans-gender rights: opposition, ambivalence, support. Once public opinion moves, she will move with it. Same idea for decriminalization of hemp, an similar issues.

In sum, she will be a president who follows public opinion, and that's a mixed bag. We will never see any progress on foreign policy, capital punishment, and similar issues where public opinion runs 60/40 or 70/30. In other areas, she's more subject to influence, and may even show real leadership, if she's convinced it's safe, and she can get the American people to come around. So we might see her get out front on some issue like federally mandated vaccinations for children, or something like that. We will never see her adopt a solidly progressive agenda, but look how far she's evolved in the last ten years or so. She can even make a credible claim to be a real Democrat.