[Xmca-l] Re: Why I Won't Vote for Sanders

[Annalisa Aguilar]

Hi,

As much as I am for socialist principles, I can't vote for BS because of his position on guns. I also don't like the anti-woman dog whistle rhetoric that he uses, saying that Clinton is not qualified. 

Furthermore, as problematic as the Clintons are, and they are, I want a woman president, dammit. Sorry if that upsets anyone. 

I am grateful that Sanders has pulled the platform to the left, and maybe if we continue this way in future elections, we will have a left again in the US. Sander's candidacy has shown the best results of pulling Democrats away from the right, so maybe that's what will work in future election cycles. If left-of-center politicians to start running on the Democratic ticket maybe this will start transforming politics from the inside rather than the outside. 

I'm not convinced of this strategy, but it seems to have worked (if it isn't just vaporware, of course), and hopefully there can be momentum on this, though I have a jaundiced view of that prospect thanks to the neoliberal octopus that is reaching into all our open windows. But who knows. 

I like what I heard from Tsakolatos, the current finance minister of Greece when interviewed in the Paul Mason film #ThisIsACoup, where he said that it is wrong to expect individuals in the political class to solve our problems (Of course he was referring to what the Greeks expected of their leadership during the referendum last summer, but it still is applicable universally); We citizens need to have grassroots political activity organizing and pressuring elected officials from the bottom. It's the only way change is going to happen. No more expectations for messianic deliverances, please.

I would much rather see a Clinton victory and see what it's like to have a woman president, and a First Gentleman. Given the Lewinsky debacle, I'd think it would be a good test of character, as I figure he's learned a lesson. I also want to know what his cookie recipes will be like. 

Additionally, I'm happy to give the first woman president push back for not representing woman and children, than try to ask for handouts from a gun-loving socialist or a social-darwinist billionaire or an evangelical Christian. Nothing against socialists, billionaires, or Christians, it's just a preference of mine. 

Kind regards,

Annalisa