Much has been made of the possibility of America’s first female president, especially coming on the heels of our first African American president. Hillary Clinton has capitalized on this, as well she should in her debates, speeches, etc. She has called herself an outsider based on her gender. This is an interesting point which I disagree with wholeheartedly  but there is some truth there.

I recently came across an article on Feministing, DEAR NEW YORK TIMES: THE REAL REASON YOUNG FEMINISTS REJECT HILLARY that sought to make clear why Feminists, young ones in particular do not support Hillary Clinton. Certainly the clear take away is that we are not uneducated and apathetic. We have not had it “too easy” as some would say. Most important to me is the disrespectful nature of some HRC supporters to the people of color that support Bernie Sanders. It rings so similar to what Republicans say about democratic voters and their justification for gerrymandering. That being said this feminist supports Bernie Sanders for a myriad of reasons.

  1. Women of color like myself are intersectional feminists therefore we understand things like institutional racism and how they are structured through policies like that which HRC has supported re: welfare reform (TANF), and the fact that she has used racially coded language bothers us.
  2. On immigration Hillary has been all over the place. Is she as bad as some of the republicans? Absolutely not, but at times she has sounded like one. “I am adamantly against illegal immigrants.”  “People have got to stop employing illegal immigrants. [in NY] you see loads of people waiting to get picked up to go do yard work & construction work & domestic work.” (Nov 2004)

    3. She has also been against Central Americans fleeing the violence of their countries and has been clear about wanting them deported to send a message. This is said without any acknowledgement of America’s meddling in the political affairs of Central American nations. She does not mention her role in supporting a military coup against a democratically elected president in Honduras that had worsened the instability of the nation.

  3. While Hillary does support overturning Citizens United, her relationship to the case makes it messy. She will continue to look as though she is just trying to cover herself from her many enemies as a long term politician. America will benefit from corporations no longer being able to fund politicians and a candidate who speaks to that with integrity and actions is more likely to make that clear. Supporters of citizens united say its about guaranteeing free speech and that without it unions will just get a volunteer army versus spending millions but that is the point. Its a lot harder for the Koch brothers to get a volunteer army than it is for them to spend their millions. And at the end of the day, people should work to get those they believe in elected. That is they way to end apathy and promote engagement. If politicians want to increase voter turnout, they should support overturning Citizens United.
  4. Hillary supports overturning Citizens United but her top donors are corporations. There is a lack of transparency there and to millennials drowning in student loan debt or working multiple jobs to avoid that scenario the hypocrisy is repugnant. Yes repugnant, it actually is just too much to stomach. We are not an entitled generation. Everyday i speak to millenials that struggle to find work after college even with graduate degrees and certifications etc. We do not have an appreciation for a politician that can only function within a corrupt system. It is the status-quo and if Bernie was not running a populist campaign funded by the people maybe we would look the other way but that’s not reality thankfully.
  5. Millennials are the ones giving their lives in this perpetual warfare state. The 18-30 group make up over 60% of EVERY division of our military, from Marines, to Coast Guard, so when jokers like Huckabee say things like we need to earn our own freedom it stings, but it also makes me mad. When Hillary gets just as hawkish as the Republicans and defends America’s interventions around the world that have hurt our economy, cost us lives, and not accomplished anything inherently useful it is a problem.
  6. Democrats are at a crossroads. Should they continue to move to the right to score some moderates, and get more support from corporations, or should they dive in and go to the left. I say left, and here’s why. If we disagree with the republicans and we are the party for the people then we need to support policies that will benefit the people. This means an end to pretending that corporations will have everything they want and an acknowledgment and acceptance of the human toll that position brings. We need to support industry and entrepreneurship but not at the cost of lives. We should not subsidize the healthcare of employees when their CEO’s are living it up. America needs to stop with the rugged individualism and understand that there needs to be a give and take, and contrary to what the GOP is saying Corporations are doing all the taking, including of the environment. This needs to stop. A revolution will mobilize the people as it has begun to do, but status quo politics will not. The Democratic party needs to change or get left behind. Otherwise they are at risk of making the US a three party system which is a problem for them but not necessarily for our country. Sanders is not the only politician tired of where our politicians are and in time there will be more, will the Democratic party lose in order to stay true to what exactly? It doesn’t have the best history but it claims it is for Americans. This hasn’t always been true though, Dems have voted to keep refugees out, voted for CISA and more that does not and will not help America. What Bernie has touched on is bigger than this two-party system and admittedly himself. It is time for structural change and if feminists see value in that, that means feminism has grown and that is something to be proud of.

Feminists are a varied group. I will not try to speak for us all, or even the young ones, or the people of color. What I will say is that we are capable of finding out for ourselves where candidates stand and where they have moved from. On social issues the Dem side is similar but one candidate has been there longer. On economic issues, a progressive far-left “Socialist” makes sense because we have already tried socialism for the rich. It is time to try it for the working people of America, who should be called Middle Class, but because of failed policies too little qualify. Because we deserve an education, because wanting to help others with therapy, medicine, education etc is not selfish and entitled, they are just as important and necessary as a trade, which costs a lot by the way. There are many men and women at work in blue collar jobs  trying to pay down that vocational diploma.

To conclude, do not generalize us as needy, or ignorant. We are educated, independent, social justice warriors. We raise families, work, support those less fortunate and want to see America restore its moral standing more than its fictionally weak military standing. We want to see our vets treated and treated well. We want to live in a world that works for us as long as we put forth the effort to make something of ourselves. We value integrity in a candidate just as much as experience. This and more is why I will vote for another old white guy instead of Hillary Clinton.

 

PS: I’ll wait for Elizabeth Warren.

@memona_cogitare

61 thoughts on “Why Some Feminists are Choosing an Old White Guy over Hillary”

  1. Excellent article; just a word; we “sought” a solution, “seeked” is not a word! I would enjoy editing anything you wrote; your usage will improve so it’s a minor issue; your clarity of mind, however, impresses me very much! I am 68 & have lost years to ill health; I want you & the rest of my son’s generation to have all the help or advice I can give you because you are excellent young men & women & deserve to have inherited the New Deal not this smelly mess! For that I apologize to you with a full heart! So I join you in your quest to elect Bernie and love you for it!

    If you need a reader or editor please call on me; it’s a small gift, but mine own! My dad was a legendary journalist & taught me everything he knew! Call on me if you want some first person history it will go when I do and I fear losing it; dad counseled Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson; he was so much like Bernie, most popular man in senate for 18 years!

    Be good and be safe!

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind offer and your sweet words to my generation. It is amazing to find such woman standing with us in this revolution. I will definitely call on you as I am looking to do some segments on the individual issues to help people make up their mind about who to vote for. Again, thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.

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      1. If you are looking for ways to help people make up their mind about whom to vote for, I highly recommend http://www.isidewith.com. It is a survey which asks you to answer questions on multiple issues. You can drill down on responses, answer more questions on each issue, weight your responses in terms of how important they are to you. When you have completed the survey, you get a report as to the percentage of agreement each candidate has with you. So, it really starts with what we think, not what a candidate thinks. And the BEST part is that at the bottom you can click on different languages as the survey is available in MANY languages. This is the post I put on my Facebook page;

        “My usual infomercial. Best website to help clarify your views and choose candidates. The survey asks questions; you answer. You can see how much each candidate agrees with you. Each topic gives the option to add more questions. http://www.isidewith.com

        En español – Mi infomercial habitual. Mejor página web para ayudar a aclarar sus puntos de vista y elegir candidatos. La encuesta hace preguntas; contestas. Puede ver la cantidad de cada candidato de acuerdo con usted. Cada tema da la opción de añadir más preguntas.
        https://secure.isidewith.com/?nocache=16099

        En français – Mon publireportage d’habitude. Meilleur site Web pour aider à clarifier vos points de vue et choisir les candidats. L’enquête pose des questions; vous répondez. Vous pouvez voir combien chaque candidat d’accord avec vous. Chaque thème donne la possibilité d’ajouter d’autres questions. https://secure.isidewith.com/?nocache=18140

        بلدي ينفوميرسيال المعتاد. أفضل موقع للمساعدة في توضيح وجهات نظركم واختيار المرشحين. يسأل المسح الأسئلة. أجب أنت. يمكنك ان ترى كم يوافق كل مرشح معك. كل موضوع يعطي الخيار لإضافة المزيد من الأسئلة..
        http://secure.isidewith.com/?nocache=73194“

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      2. I’m a 46-year-old feminist; a veteran of the class and gender wars since my cradle. My mother is of Ms. Vogelman’s generation, and she brought me to ERA rallies in a stroller — I’ve grown up with feminism, and been fighting for justice and decent treatment for marginalized people on every axis I can, since I was old enough to make my own decisions. I stand unequivocally with the two of you, and I admit it mystifies and disappoints me the way Clinton supporters are treating Democrats who are not falling into line behind her.

        When the only reasons a candidate can give for supporting them is that they are electable, we have a problem. (Especially since the evidence is beginning to suggest she is less electable than Sanders, too.) When a supposedly liberal candidate not only espouses conservative talking points, but utilizes Republican-style dirty tricks against a competitor of their own party, we have a problem. When our alleged frontrunner has been getting her message out for nearly a year, and we still don’t know where she stands on most subjects because she is trying so hard to be all things to all people, we have a problem. When, after that same period, I literally cannot think of a single original idea she has produced by herself in this campaign… all her policy proposals were copied either from Sanders or from the Republicans, we have a problem. When the most consistent thing every serious analyst says about her policies is that they strongly resemble Obama’s, and that we will likely have a very similar president if we elect her, then we have a problem. I admire President Obama greatly as a human being and a constitutional law scholar (I had the privilege of sitting in on his classes occasionally at the University of Chicago), but the last eight years have made most Americans’ lives worse, not better. That’s far from entirely his fault, but it is his fault that he has not appeared to realize the crying need for RADICAL change, rather than small tweaks to an existing system.

        Both Obama and Clinton seem to believe that there isn’t anything so very wrong with the foundations of the way America is functioning; it just needs a bit of fine-tuning around the edges. And eight years of fine-tuning which has left us, in most ways, worse off than we were before, tells me that this is absolutely and entirely wrong. We don’t need slight course corrections when we’re aimed straight off a cliff.

        We need a revolution. Sanders has credibly offered one. Clinton has not. This is why Sanders has my support, crystallized into a single statement, though there are many supporting details the bulk of which you’ve ably stated above.

        Addressing the electability question Ms. Clinton’s supporters make so much of: I’ve been hearing, in my campaign work, from a lot of members of your generation. Many of them never bothered to vote before this; Sanders has given them someone worth voting *for*. If Sanders can mobilize the progressives who have not been voting, he’ll not only win comfortably, but he will have achieved a major headstart on the revolution he is attempting to lead. The reason Democrats are at such a disadvantage in the state houses and governor’s mansions and Congressional seats of this country is not that the people mostly agree with Republican candidates — every poll we see tells us that they mostly agree with policies far closer to Sanders’ than to even the center, let alone the right. Nor is it chiefly that Republicans have been playing extensive havoc with voting rights throughout the land — kicking people of color indiscriminately off registration rolls without reason, passing ID laws which affect more women than men and more poor people than anyone else, and gerrymandering the entire map to an unprecedented degree. All of this is true, but they were willing at local levels long before it, or they would never have been in a position to do these things to begin with.

        The reason they’ve been winning is simply that their people come reliably to the polls, and Democrats have not been doing the same. A lot of that involves the fact that it’s more difficult (even before the Republicans made it deliberately harder) for a poor person to register and vote than a rich one, for the same reasons it is more difficult for a poor person to do most ordinary daily tasks than a rich one… but there are a great many poor people who are fanatical Republicans, and vote consistently.

        They got there for the same reason the others, who would vote Democrat if they voted at all, have stayed home: the Democrats have consistently refused to offer a candidate who acknowledged their needs and promised to meet them. The Republican demagogues have twisted those needs, until they could pretend their policies would actually meet them, and then promised to do so (by supporting policies which, in fact, make things far worse)… but they at least recognized that extreme needs *exist*, and swore they would do something about those needs.

        That was enough to win the devoted allegiance of some of the population who have suffered from the policies of the last several administrations, both in war and in economics. The rest have not become similarly devoted Democrats, because the Democrats have not offered them anything to which they have reason to be devoted. They’ve simply stayed home, disillusioned; and the Republicans have won race after race with candidates who promise positive change but lie.

        If the Democrats run a candidate who promises positive change and is telling the truth, whose record in Congress shows him to be telling the truth (he’s recently sponsored a major bill there to eliminate for-profit prisons), they will offer the people who have given up on politics a reason to reconsider. And if the sleeping giant wakes, it will produce victories, not only for Sanders, but for every Democrat down the line who is willing to show that they’re cut from the same cloth.

        There’s the revolution, and it’s the only way I can see to achieve it peaceably. If Sanders does not win — regardless of who else does — I expect the revolution to come anyway, in blood and fire.

        So long as Clinton does not see a need for radical change, she is increasing the chances that the radical change which is so clearly essential will come at the expense of civil war and the destruction of the United States as a continuous legal government. That is, in the end, why I am not only supporting Sanders, but throwing everything I can do behind his election. There’s very little Clinton could possibly offer me which is more important than the survival of my country.

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      3. Thank you. I love your point on how regardless a revolution is coming. Dems will lose true progressives if Hillary wins. That will result in anarchy in the party. She will continue to ruin the country, republicans will rejoice and it will make our job that much harder. The time is now and going out to vote will motivate new politicians or existing ones to take notice. Already in my state new progressives are preparing to run for office. This is all because of Bernie and his supporters. We are not extremists that are naive to politics, indeed we are well aware of where politics has gotten us and we are going to work to change the future for this country. Thank you for standing with us and thank you to your mother as well.

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      5. well done on your article. I am an 84 yr. old feminist, lifelong Democrat who was a state senator for 8 yrs. I would love to see a female president in my lifetime, as I’m sure you would, but I’m supporting Bernie. I’m waiting for Eliz. Warren or someone like her, also. I think Bernie is a great feminist and has been for decades. His policies will do more to help all women AND men than any other candidate running, bar none (except those in the billionaire class he speaks of). I attended his Prison Reform/Justice Reform rally in Anamosa, Iowa, a week or so ago, where the largest employer is the state penitentiary. He brought two IA. “ex-cons” and a woman senator from Ohio, all blacks. They were all well received and got a standing ovation. Probably 40% of the inmates are black, although Iowa only has about 8-10% blacks and slightly more Hispanics.
        I was honored to introduce Bernie at the opening of the Linn Co. Bernie office and have been volunteering for him. I will be phoning other seniors this week to get them to our Feb. 1 caucus for Bernie. Some of my friends are very surprised (and I imagine disappointed) that I am not supporting Hillary. Bernie has been Mr. Consistency through the years, whereas Hillary IS all over the place, and very non-committal on some important issues facing our state, such as a Dakota pipeline right over our aquifer. She is too hawkish for my tastes. I will vote straight Democrat regardless of the nominee just to keep the destructive Rs out of the White House. We have a lifetime R gov. who is doing terrible things to our vulnerable populations.

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      6. Added note: Bernie Sanders is perhaps one of the most honest and compassionate person to ever run, He accepts no corporate funds or money from PACS – So far he has raised more money than Obama did at the same time in the campaign, Millions are flocking to Bernie because he has proven in every way that he is not corrupt and is 100% for the 99%. Go to berniesanders.com to find out more,

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    3. Gaylord was a very good politician for the people.Didn’t he give out the golden fleece award?Sorry that was William Proxmire.Where have all the peoples politicians gone?

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    4. This is what Hillary says but given huge amount of corporate donations she is accepting and given a track record that is very pro corporate, I don’t think Hillary will fulfill your dreams by a long shot. Bernie on the other hand has been on the same page as Warren before she was born. We would vote for Warren if she were to run but gender alone will not be the deciding factor- Ones track record is what reveals the truth,

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    5. This is a direct quote from Pervie $anders: he says he “masturbates to the image of a woman tied up, a woman on her knees, a woman abused.” What kind of sick person would support him?

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      1. Want another quote from that essay? Many women seem to be walking a tightrope now, their qualities of love, openness, and gentleness were too deeply enmeshed with qualities of dependency,subservience, and masochism. how do you love without being dependent how do you be gentle without being subservient?
        How do you maintain a relationship without giving up your identity and without getting strung out?

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      3. Lastly he didn’t say “he” did those things. He was writing a commentary on gender roles and considering the violent porn that is so popular clearly there are still issues regarding gender roles to this day. Specifically regarding dominance and submission.

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  2. Love that you are SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS. Many of us have been waiting for this for a long time. Bravo. As a 79 year old feminist myself, I celebrate you .Your voice is a treasure and so pertinent right now. Sending love to you and all those with you. We are all in this together, age, race, religion, secular, women, men and everything in between. Go, girl go.

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  8. Beautifully written. Will share with Women for Bernie 2016, I’m a member of the core team. I also admin the African-Americans for Bernie page and this is in rotation for posting this evening. Keep writing!

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  9. I’m and old white guy – hit 70 today. I’vebeen waiting for thi s moment for quite some time. We are on the verge of real change, of an end to the politics of fear and decisiveness. Clinton is smart, tough, and smooth, but she represents the economics of neoliberalism sold to us for the last 35-40 years by both political parties. It is really what has gotten us to this point. Part of the method to facilitate the redistribution of wealth to the top is to divide us in every way possible – by race, by gender, by religious belief, by class blaming problems on the economically weakest of us who don’t have the resources to fight back.

    We now have an answer. We all need to become energized and involved in the process. And make no mistake – we are fighting the Democratic Party establishment. So we need to challenge our Democratic Senators and Representative aggressively to stand up.

    Thank you. Your piece is exceptional. Don’t stop doing what you are doing

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  11. Interesting. Ant’s comment is the first I have seen from someone who will be voting for genitals. I mean, I like genitals as well as the next person, but to vote for them? I don’t know. How will we ever build a lectern that will work for their speeches for one thing? What about the world leaders who are not supposed to look at female genitalia not belonging to their wives without facing severe penalties? Won’t that mess up diplomatic efforts a bit?

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  12. Excellent points. My compliments to the author.
    The P.S. is very important. It almost belongs at the top. Because, while having a first woman president is a major milestone that we’re all anxious to achieve, having a first woman president who is NOT part of the status quo (like all the white rich men we’ve ever had) and who is truly of and for “the people”, is significantly more important. It’s been a long wait, it’s long overdue, but it is not worth pushing this through by electing Hillary just to be able to have a first woman president.
    Warren will fill that role nicely in perhaps 4 years, and will be well worth the wait, especially on the heals of a successful Bernie presidency.
    The political revolution is here and now. It starts with Bernie. It continues with Warren. Hillary was never destined to be part of it. It’s not who she is.

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    1. I don’t know quite why it is playing out the way that it is, but I really really hope that Bernie wins and that Ms. Warren will be waiting to pick up the baton and take the race further. Nothing would make me happier than to watch the New Hamphire and Iowa races be overwhelming for Sanders and watch the pundits try to spin that!! I am a 62 yo woman who feels that she has more in common with the Millenials.

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  13. Wonderful work, absolutely, but please, everyone, remember that the president can do almost nothing without a favorable (or at least functional) legislature. Bernie needs more Dems in the House and Senate in order to move anything forward. As we work for his candidacy please let’s remember to raise name recognition and support for congressional Dems and also for state governments to get more progressives elected. Thank you for your terrific efforts both here and out there!

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  14. At fifty, I’ve resigned myself to not voting for a presidential candidate for the first time in my life. It had to happen sometime. I’ll still vote the rest of my ballot as well as work the polls on election day. It’s just that neither Saunders or Clinton do it for me and I’m more pissed about the Dems not having a deeper bench than anything else. That’s a reflection of both poor planning by the party as well as taking certain groups for granted come election day. However, I’m glad to see younger women out there being fully engaged in the political process. That gives me hope for the future.

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    1. What is there in particular that does not convince you about the candidates? I can’t speak to your reasoning but I am the opposite, I have never voted before because I felt that the politicians would always say what you want to hear and then nothing would happen. Until Bernie I haven’t found a politician genuine enough to get my backing. Thanks for reading.

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    2. When you mention “hope for the future”, that makes me wonder why you’re not supporting Sanders. He gives me a lot of hope. What’s missing from him for you?

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  15. Hi! I’m an editor at the Huffington Post. I thought this piece was great! Would you be interested in re-posting it on our site? Let me know if you’re interested or have any questions at all. Hope to hear from you!

    Best,
    Hayley

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  16. You state twice that Hillary Clinton supports overturning Citizen’s United. Based on her speech given at the Iowa Wing Ding (link below), her conviction to do so seems tenuous at best. Her exact quote is:

    “and if necessary, we will pass a constitutional amendment to undo the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United”.

    See 19:17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fv0v4oO98 to watch the statement within context.

    That she would include “and if necessary” to that statement is telling.

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    1. She did copy Bernie again on this issue, stating that she would use the issue as a litmus test for any supreme court appointees. She actually mentions that before the constitutional amendment part. I think that its great but its like talking out of both sides, taking money from corps but trying to overturn citizens united. Its messy where Bernie is clear and has been.

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  17. i’d also add that i don’t buy hillary clinton’s brand of feminism. nancy fraser is way more up my alley, & up bernie’s alley, too—http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/a-feminism-where-leaning-in-means-leaning-on-others/?_r=0

    “For me, feminism is not simply a matter of getting a smattering of individual women into positions of power and privilege within existing social hierarchies. It is rather about overcoming those hierarchies. This requires challenging the structural sources of gender domination in capitalist society — above all, the institutionalized separation of two supposedly distinct kinds of activity: on the one hand, so-called “productive” labor, historically associated with men and remunerated by wages; on the other hand, “caring” activities, often historically unpaid and still performed mainly by women. In my view, this gendered, hierarchical division between “production” and “reproduction” is a defining structure of capitalist society and a deep source of the gender asymmetries hard-wired in it. There can be no “emancipation of women” so long as this structure remains intact.”

    “As I see it, the mainstream feminism of our time has adopted an approach that cannot achieve justice even for women, let alone for anyone else. The trouble is, this feminism is focused on encouraging educated middle-class women to “lean in” and “crack the glass ceiling” – in other words, to climb the corporate ladder. By definition, then, its beneficiaries can only be women of the professional-managerial class. And absent structural changes in capitalist society, those women can only benefit by leaning on others — by offloading their own care work and housework onto low-waged, precarious workers, typically racialized and/or immigrant women. So this is not, and cannot be, a feminism for all women!”

    “But that is not all. Mainstream feminism has adopted a thin, market-centered view of equality, which dovetails neatly with the prevailing neoliberal corporate view. So it tends to fall into line with an especially predatory, winner-take-all form of capitalism that is fattening investors by cannibalizing the living standards of everyone else. Worse still, this feminism is supplying an alibi for these predations. Increasingly, it is liberal feminist thinking that supplies the charisma, the aura of emancipation, on which neoliberalism draws to legitimate its vast upward redistribution of wealth.”

    “Today, the feminist critique of the family wage has assumed an altogether different cast. Its overwhelming thrust is now to validate the new, more “modern” household ideal of the “two earner family,” which requires women’s employment and squeezes out time for unpaid carework. In endorsing this ideal, the mainstream feminism of the present aligns itself with the needs and values of contemporary neoliberal capitalism. This capitalism has conscripted women into the paid work force on a massive scale, while also exporting manufacturing to the global south, weakening trade unions, and proliferating low-paid, precarious McJobs. What this has meant, of course, is declining real wages, a sharp rise in the number of hours of paid work per household needed to support a family, and a desperate scramble to transfer carework to others in order to free up more time for paid work. How ironic, then, that it is given a feminist gloss! The feminist critique of the family wage, once directed against capitalism’s devaluation of caregiving, now serves to intensify capitalism’s valorization of waged labor.”

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  18. wow! You put what I have been thinking into words brilliantly. I am a white woman, slightly outside the millenial age group at 36, but I had my first two kids young, they are teenagers and my little guy is full time school so now I am able to get my education finished and start a decent career Sadly, even with my husbands middle class income, we cannot take a vacation let alone send me to college. Luckily my parents had invested in my older sons education fund when their father bailed on us years ago so that is a load off our backs, but I am on my own and with a maxed credit card and my current husband trying to get his small business going so he can stop doing the 9-5 rat race working for rich jerks, there is so little left. I have 2 years of school under my belt from earlier and a technical certification, but that doesnt pay enough to be worthwhile. Now- many many Americans have it MUCH worse than me, and woman of color, single women, have it even harder many times I am sure. I know and believe Sanders will be sticking up for those who are otherwise left behind. Whether or not that helps me out directly, it doesnt matter. The simple shift in society towards more equality, people power, and a less corporate government will be enough for me to at least have faith that things will be ok for my kids, and maybe ill be able to afford school, who knows?!- I am afraid women and many minority democrats are firm Hillary supporters and want to scream to them ” she wont do anything for you!” So kudos on this piece. Sharing it! I agree about waiting for Elizabeth Warren too- that would be great!

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  20. It is a sign of maturity in my opinion when a person chooses based on positions and character rather than a politician’s category.

    Yes, a persons experience could be greatly determined by their category (African American, Hispanic, Woman, Jewish, Muslim), and thus their capacity to empathize with certain aspects of the population may be greater, but that does not guaranty it, nor does it means people who do not have that experience directly can not be even more empathetic. Such is the case with Sanders.

    And, yes, there is a value in the symbology of a person from a specific category being in place of power, but that does not necessarily solve anything, and is it worth compromising on substantive issues in favor of this symbolic victory? Obama’s presidency did not resolve racial issues in the country, neither would Hillary’s presidency resolve women’s inequality at work, or International sex trade by itself.

    Amos Elroy

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  21. Women still earn less than men. Bernie has said he favors another push to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified. Women are increasingly coming home with similar war injuries as men. Bernie wants to insure that all veterans receive care after service. Young single mothers, as well as the kids of working class families, could be uplifted from poverty if public college was available free, rather than with crushing student debt. Women in later years would be able to depend upon Social Security. No one but Bernie is vowing to sufficiently protect AND enhance it. Hillary would tolerate another increase to the retirement age. (The Reagan increase is affecting me right now, as someone who is unemployed and disabled but struggling to defer taking SS until my full retirement age of 66 so that I don’t have to live on reduced benefits for life. Bernie is the answer – so long as we put a progressive House and Senate behind him! Corporate America is shaking in their shoes at the thought – and the DNC’s transparent attempt at manipulating the debates is evidence. Why wasn’t Hillary screaming her “feminist” head off at being buried on a Saturday night opposite the male-loved football games????????? Because she has “prostituted” herself for donations and is “in bed” with them, perhaps? Bernie is a feminist of the most honorable sort.

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  22. I’m also really horrified by Hillary’s desire to “rebuild” our relationship with Netanyahu. Obama is correct in changing the nature of our relationship with Israel. They do not deserve the unquestioning support of the US for their human rights violations. She supports everything the Israeli government does and has had nothing to say about the horrors Saudi Arabia inflicts on its own people and on the people of Yemen, who are being slaughtered with our planes. She can be a feminist all day long but if she supports drone warfare, big corporations and big banks, and repressive governments, she is no friend of the people.

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    1. I’m Bernie or bust. She is not capable of getting other dems elected especially with the failure of the DNC in the last elections. Also multiple justices have indicated they have no intention of retiring within the next 8 years so the whole supreme court thing is a hoax. A hillary presidency will hurt the democrats for years, whereas a gop presidency will show america the harsh reality of their disregard for our lives. There’s more but honestly that’s my opinion. Im not advocating for anyone to do the same.

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  24. Pingback: My response to Joan Walsh’s The Nation article “Why I’m Supporting Hillary Clinton, With Joy and Without Apologies” – modeofexpression
  25. Pingback: no. | feminismintersectionalitybernieblog

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