On June 24th Bernie Sanders was asked if he’d be voting for Hillary Clinton. He answered “yes” but hedged on endorsing her. That, he hinted, was contingent upon the Democratic Party’s adoption of some of his platform issues. For the progressive 43% of Democrats who supported him, however, voting for Hillary Clinton is going to be a lot like taking syrup of ipecac – a medicine of questionable value with an awful taste and horrific side-effects.
The issues of honesty and serial scandals have dogged Hillary Clinton and her husband for decades. Her credibility deficit is not merely due to a “vast rightwing conspiracy” or Donald Trump’s nickname for her. She is an opportunistic chameleon, one who’d make a better Republican than Democrat. What Republican would ever fault her for union-busting, playing tough on crime and immigrants, turning her back on welfare mothers, being a war hawk, a friend of dictators, and a Wall Street darling?
You get annoyed when you go to your local drugstore and it doesn’t have your particular brand of shampoo. But when it comes to politics, you’re expected to make do with two parties. And you’ve been trained not to vote for what you really believe in. Instead, your only choice is a candidate barely less evil than the other. But some citizens simply vote their beliefs and conscience. And for their trouble they and their candidates are branded “spoilers.”
Donald Trump’s fevered dream of attracting Sanders supporters will never happen: unlike Trump, they have some principles. And while I also can’t imagine progressives ever voting for Libertarian Gary Johnson, we are almost certain to hear about “spoiler” Jill Stein of the Green Party. Stein and Sanders in fact share a number of common ideas for a better America and it’s more than a possibility that many Sanders supporters will vote for her in November.
Yes, if Clinton loses to Trump, even narrowly, we’ll certainly be hearing about the evil Greens. But don’t blame Stein. And don’t blame progressives. Political parties ought to reflect the views of voters and offer real choices. And there should be more than two parties in this day and age. Besides, progressives gave the Democrats a chance – only to discover that the party awash in super-delegates seems to be a pretty small, and quite exclusive, tent after all. And many of them have heard the “Hope and Change” song before from Democrats.
So the question really boils down to this – will Bernie Sanders’ supporters vote for Hillary Clinton or Jill Stein?
That depends on how Sanders and his 43% are treated next month at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia – and whether they are ready to let go of a progressive dream for America.
This was published in the Standard Times on June 28, 2016
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20160628/opinion/160629560
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