Musings on the Democratic Convention
This has been, unquestionably, a fantastic week for the Democratic Party. So far, their convention has been successful in helping to unify the party, provide a vision of the country, and make the case against Donald Trump. Monday night, of course, was about showcasing the progressive wing of the party, including speakers like Rep. Keith Ellison, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Since that night, many efforts have been made to appeal to the Sanders supporters, including allowing for Bernie's name to be placed in nomination and for the full roll call vote to go forward. One of the most emotional moments of the convention was Tuesday when Larry Sanders cast his delegate vote for his younger brother. Last night, Barack Obama and even Tim Kaine made major shout-outs to the Sanders campaign. Although there are some on the left (including myself) who will still hold-out from supporting Sec. Clinton in November, overall the Party will walk out of this convention far more unified than when it began.
More impressively, the Democratic Party has provided a genuine vision of this country, something that I did not think they could do. Of course the party has been focused on policy, far more so than the Republicans, rolling out their ideas of expanding access to education and healthcare, taking action on gun control, and protecting the rights of women and minorities, among others. Yet the Party has gone much farther than that, portraying a hopeful, optimistic vision of the country, one that is strong because of, not in spite of, the diversity of its people and its ideas. This served as a sharp rebuke of the dystopian vision spun by Trump and the Republican Party last week in Cleveland.
Trump himself was thoroughly discredited last night, both by the scathing remarks of Obama, Biden and Bloomberg and by the plain decency of Tim Kaine in making his national debut. Trump was portrayed as a national disgrace, one who does share true American values, one who does not care about anyone but himself. He was cast as incompetent and mentally unfit for office, a task made even easier by Trump's own comments seemingly embracing Russian cyberattacks on the United States. If this country still votes for Trump after everything that was said yesterday, then we truly have lost our collective mind.
Yet despite all of this, although this convention has convinced me why Donald Trump cannot be President, and even almost convinced me as to why I should vote for the Democratic Party, it has not convinced me why I should vote for Hillary Clinton. With everything that has been said, by Michelle, by Bernie, by the President and Vice President, it just seems wrong that she will be the one taking the stage tonight to accept the nomination. The moment seems right for the Democratic Party (right for the country, frankly) to be standing up to the proto-fascism and white nationalism promoted by Donald Trump. Yet she just doesn't seem like the right person for the moment.
I have spent the past few days ruminating on the fact that Bernie Sanders and his supporters are and should be the true inheritors of the Obama legacy, that he represents the ideological future of the Democratic Party, and that he would have been the strongest candidate to take on Donald Trump. Bernie was not, and is not, perfect. But he was arguably the best candidate who has ever run for the nomination of either of the two major parties and who actually had a serious chance of winning. Just think of what could have happened had the party and the media given him a fair shot and not pronounced Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee before the race even began. This could very well have been Bernie's week, not Hillary's.
Instead, we are left with a Democratic nominee who is arguably the most polarizing figure within the Party, and second only to Trump within this country. Instead, we are left with a Democratic nominee who believes that politics should operate from the top-down, not from the bottom-up. Instead, we are left with a Democratic nominee who is uniquely vulnerable to attacks on her integrity and her character from Donald Trump and the Republican Party, even if many if not most of those attacks are baseless. Think about how Trump would have had to go after Sanders. All he could have done was attack his policy ideas and ideology, which would only have put in further relief the insanity of Trump's own beliefs.
I cannot support Donald Trump for President. I do not feel that people should vote for him, as a vote for him is a vote for racism and bigotry, a vote for fear and cynicism. I do not buy the view of some on the left that this country can survive four years of Trump, that he won't be that bad. I feel that those who say that are speaking from a position of privilege, that perhaps they could make it but that others won't. I do not necessarily fear Trump's policies; I fear the forces of reaction that will be out in force if he is elected. I fear the targeting of blacks and Latinos and Muslims that will almost certainly take place, far worse than is already occurring.
Yet I also cannot vote for Hillary Clinton. Some will say that her domestic views are not that bad, that Sanders has forced the Democratic platform to the left. This is probably true, but let's also remember the fact that the Democratic Party will almost certainly be in the minority in the House of Representatives if she is elected. None of the policies that she is proposing are likely to be enacted anyways. If I am going to vote for a policy platform that is not going to happen, why shouldn't I just vote for the one I actually want, that of Jill Stein and the Green Party?
Ultimately, for me this election comes down to foreign policy, as it is in the roles of commander-in-chief and chief diplomat where most of the power of the Presidency is vested. Donald Trump is a walking international crisis, as yesterday showed. Yet I cannot objectively say that his foreign policy positions are actually any worse than those of Hillary Clinton. In fact, although there are a couple of elements of his policy I find myself in agreement with (if not the America First ideology behind them), I cannot identify a single facet of Hillary's for which I can say the same.
In some respects, I almost wish that I could bring myself to vote for the Democratic Party in November. But I can't, not with Hillary Clinton and everything that she's stood for sitting at the top of the ticket.
More impressively, the Democratic Party has provided a genuine vision of this country, something that I did not think they could do. Of course the party has been focused on policy, far more so than the Republicans, rolling out their ideas of expanding access to education and healthcare, taking action on gun control, and protecting the rights of women and minorities, among others. Yet the Party has gone much farther than that, portraying a hopeful, optimistic vision of the country, one that is strong because of, not in spite of, the diversity of its people and its ideas. This served as a sharp rebuke of the dystopian vision spun by Trump and the Republican Party last week in Cleveland.
Trump himself was thoroughly discredited last night, both by the scathing remarks of Obama, Biden and Bloomberg and by the plain decency of Tim Kaine in making his national debut. Trump was portrayed as a national disgrace, one who does share true American values, one who does not care about anyone but himself. He was cast as incompetent and mentally unfit for office, a task made even easier by Trump's own comments seemingly embracing Russian cyberattacks on the United States. If this country still votes for Trump after everything that was said yesterday, then we truly have lost our collective mind.
Yet despite all of this, although this convention has convinced me why Donald Trump cannot be President, and even almost convinced me as to why I should vote for the Democratic Party, it has not convinced me why I should vote for Hillary Clinton. With everything that has been said, by Michelle, by Bernie, by the President and Vice President, it just seems wrong that she will be the one taking the stage tonight to accept the nomination. The moment seems right for the Democratic Party (right for the country, frankly) to be standing up to the proto-fascism and white nationalism promoted by Donald Trump. Yet she just doesn't seem like the right person for the moment.
I have spent the past few days ruminating on the fact that Bernie Sanders and his supporters are and should be the true inheritors of the Obama legacy, that he represents the ideological future of the Democratic Party, and that he would have been the strongest candidate to take on Donald Trump. Bernie was not, and is not, perfect. But he was arguably the best candidate who has ever run for the nomination of either of the two major parties and who actually had a serious chance of winning. Just think of what could have happened had the party and the media given him a fair shot and not pronounced Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee before the race even began. This could very well have been Bernie's week, not Hillary's.
Instead, we are left with a Democratic nominee who is arguably the most polarizing figure within the Party, and second only to Trump within this country. Instead, we are left with a Democratic nominee who believes that politics should operate from the top-down, not from the bottom-up. Instead, we are left with a Democratic nominee who is uniquely vulnerable to attacks on her integrity and her character from Donald Trump and the Republican Party, even if many if not most of those attacks are baseless. Think about how Trump would have had to go after Sanders. All he could have done was attack his policy ideas and ideology, which would only have put in further relief the insanity of Trump's own beliefs.
I cannot support Donald Trump for President. I do not feel that people should vote for him, as a vote for him is a vote for racism and bigotry, a vote for fear and cynicism. I do not buy the view of some on the left that this country can survive four years of Trump, that he won't be that bad. I feel that those who say that are speaking from a position of privilege, that perhaps they could make it but that others won't. I do not necessarily fear Trump's policies; I fear the forces of reaction that will be out in force if he is elected. I fear the targeting of blacks and Latinos and Muslims that will almost certainly take place, far worse than is already occurring.
Yet I also cannot vote for Hillary Clinton. Some will say that her domestic views are not that bad, that Sanders has forced the Democratic platform to the left. This is probably true, but let's also remember the fact that the Democratic Party will almost certainly be in the minority in the House of Representatives if she is elected. None of the policies that she is proposing are likely to be enacted anyways. If I am going to vote for a policy platform that is not going to happen, why shouldn't I just vote for the one I actually want, that of Jill Stein and the Green Party?
Ultimately, for me this election comes down to foreign policy, as it is in the roles of commander-in-chief and chief diplomat where most of the power of the Presidency is vested. Donald Trump is a walking international crisis, as yesterday showed. Yet I cannot objectively say that his foreign policy positions are actually any worse than those of Hillary Clinton. In fact, although there are a couple of elements of his policy I find myself in agreement with (if not the America First ideology behind them), I cannot identify a single facet of Hillary's for which I can say the same.
In some respects, I almost wish that I could bring myself to vote for the Democratic Party in November. But I can't, not with Hillary Clinton and everything that she's stood for sitting at the top of the ticket.