Post 7 - Why I Will Not Vote For Hillary Clinton
In my last post I talked about Liberalism and the idea that many young liberals out there want to 'Bern it up or burn it down'. I received a lot of feedback from that post, but after I wrote it I was struggling to think about what I should write next. In the meantime, I have seen so many arguments on how Sanders supporters who refuse to vote for Hillary are in someway immature or stupid or vindictive. That is simply unfair and incorrect. There are legitimate reasons to refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton. I outline a few of them below.
1. Foreign Policy
- When I think about what a Clinton 2 presidency would look like, the first thing I think about is war with Russia. This is my biggest issue with the Clinton platform, so let me explain. Hillary, for months now, has been advocating for the instillation of a 'No-fly Zone' in Syria. This unequivocally puts us at odds with a nuclear superpower, as well as further entrenches us in the Syrian civil war.
- Hillary has, on record, been a proponent of other interventionist war efforts. Her involvement in Libya is garnering the most attention right now. Whether you believe the US should have tried to remove Gadhafi (Again, no interventionist war for me please) or not, her success quickly turned to failure as Libya is now a failed state filled with suffering people who are being tormented by ISIS which has infiltrated and seized control of the area. This is all a DIRECT RESULT of her urging of intervention.
- Now take into account that Hillary Clinton has always had questionable allegiances. From her younger days as a Goldwater girl, to her close ties to neoconservatives like Henry Kissinger or all around snakes like David Brock, it is impossible for me to look at her record (which, by the way, includes the vote FOR war in Iraq) and then account for her friends and think she would make for an acceptable president.
Trade
- This one is short. Hillary Clinton has consistently said this phrase this election cycle: "Check my record." Okay Ms. Clinton, I have. Turns out you have a record of condemning unpopular trade deals to the public and then supporting them behind our backs. So, even though she now says she is against the TPP (read about it, good and bad, here) she's already flipped on this issue and we have no reason to believe that she won't sign the damn thing the second she gets in office. This plays right into my next point...
Trust-less-ness
- Okay, that isn't a word, but her biggest problem this cycle is the fact that most people (even her supporters) don't trust her. This is not insignificant. The funny thing is that she (and apparently the media) can't figure out why it is she's so untrustworthy. To me it is so obvious... She lies... A lot.
- First, her whole campaign is based on the notion that she is a "Progressive who likes to get things done". That lie is so blatant that it insults the intelligence of anyone even remotely aware of the Clinton's rise to power in the 90's. They were the ones who ushered in this wave of moderate democrats that has so successfully suppressed the left wing.
- We already know that she lied about her stance on trade deals. We know she is lying about certain aspects of her email scandal. Hell, she couldn't even come up with an honest answer when asked if she has ever lied to the American people.
- Hillary likes to act as if this is all some big scandal. She thinks that the people don't trust her because of the actions of the Republican party, but what she fails to realize is that we don't trust her because WE HAVE THE INTERNET! A simple google search contradicts so much of what Hillary Clinton says, I struggle to understand why ANYONE wants her to be president. But, I digress.
So, these are just the FIRST few reasons why I cannot, in good conscience, vote for Hillary Clinton. Assuming she is the Democratic nominee, I will cast my vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party. No, this isn't me being selfish, that doesn't mean I want Trump to be president. It means Hillary, in my opinion, is a bad candidate for the US Presidency. I am not trying to convince you not to vote for her, I am simply trying to explain how she doesn't align with my morals as a voter. I firmly believe voting your conscience is never the wrong thing to do. I am just going to keep working to get Bernie Sanders the nomination.