Liberals should vote Sanders
September 18, 2015
Despite not identifying as a liberal, I support and intend to vote for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. My support has less to do with Sanders himself and more to do with the fact that Hillary Clinton has an opponent. The former First Lady, senator and Secretary of State remains the frontrunner of the Democratic primary despite ever-tightening poll numbers. Contemporary liberals have little in common with Hillary Clinton, however, and would be wise to support Senator Sanders. Issues concerning conflicts of interest, establishment ties and overall corruption should make liberals Not Ready For Hillary.
Bernie Sanders introduced legislation Thursday that would ban private prisons, saying, “We need to end, once and for all, the disgraceful practice of corporations profiting from the incarceration of Americans.” Hillary Clinton has yet to voice her support for a similar measure; perhaps because lobbyists working on behalf of private prisons, such as Corrections Corporation of America or The Geo Group, have been actively raising money on behalf of her campaign. A few months ago, The Nation Magazine, requested of each and every candidate to sign a pledge which stated, “In the name of protecting our country and the world from the growing dangers of climate change, I will neither solicit nor accept campaign contributions from any oil, gas or coal company.” Bernie Sanders was one of only three candidates to sign that pledge; Hillary Clinton joined the nearly twenty GOP candidates in refusing to do so. This is unsurprising — she would not want to turn away major donors such as Chevron, ExxonMobil and TransCanada to name but a few.
With regards to Wall Street, Senator Sanders previously opposed any and all bailouts of the financial industry while Clinton supported them in 2008. Recently, Sanders made explicit his intentions to break up the biggest banking institutions in the country. He also intends to restore Glass Steagall, a bill which separated commercial and investment banking repealed under Bill Clinton and introduce a financial transaction tax on Wall Street speculation. This would serve to regulate the industry while simultaneously bringing in revenues of up to $130 billion a year, money that would be spent making public colleges and universities tuition free.
Concerningly, the institutions which brought our economy to a standstill can all be found among Hillary Clinton’s top career contributors — Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Co and Morgan Stanley. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, has received around 80 percent of his campaign donations through small donations of $200 or less. As we saw in 2008, small donations indicate popular support. Liberals must make the right choice next spring, and make Bernie Sanders the Democratic nominee.
Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.
Email Frank Mello-Morales at [email protected].
Bill C • Dec 19, 2015 at 4:45 am
I don’t understand why any thinking person would vote for Hillary in the primary.
If your party is Republican then you vote for one of the clown car. (I would have trouble labeling you a as a thinking person)
If you are a Democrat you have Hillary who is Republican light, or Bernie who believes we should return to an America resembling the America we had under Eisenhower. Isn’t that still Republican light?
The center of political America has moved so far to the right that the great WWII war hero, who ran for president as a Republican is now far left of center.
Bernie is the only candidate who promises to recenter the American presidency to benefit the populace, and not the corporatocracy, He will not be able to achieve this alone, but only he promises to lead the country out of this unhealthy, inhumane, death spiral that is powered by corporate avarice and the money/power of the financial elite.
If Bernie does not win the Primary, then the only rational choice is Hillary, who will at least attempt to slow the acceleration of of the control of our lives by the power hungry and those who would have us all working at minimum wage, in debt the rest of our lives.
I don’t envy those of you who are starting into the work force now. I looks to me as if your your futures are for the first time in history more limited than those who came before. Having lived through the ’50s and ’60s I can tell you that the world has changed and the optimism of “we” has deteriorated into the competition of “I”. I believe that humanity has the ability to overcome a future where overpopulation brings the quality of life into a continual struggle to survive, with only the super rich living in comfort and profiting from the misery of the masses, but it only seems possible if we all pitch in and create that world together. Only Bernie sees a different path and wants to lead in that direction. For my children’s sake, and yours, I hope he gets the chance.
Frank Mello-Morales • Sep 18, 2015 at 5:07 pm
With regards to Jake’s comment,
I am not a liberal, not because I consider myself further right, but, rather, further left!
As far as the electability argument is concerned, Sanders has been polling as well, if not slightly better, than Clinton on the national stage.
Jake • Sep 18, 2015 at 4:23 am
So you’re a Republican posing as a liberal to manipulate Democrats to join the Sanders cult so you don’t have a real challenger? The motive here is fairly transparent and a common occurrence in the Internet. Talk about hypocricy.