Why I'm Not Voting for Hillary Clinton

Former First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made it official: she’s running for President of the United States. This surprised no one, of course, except probably the scruffy, bearded guy who lives in the woods near my home and mumbles to himself a lot. The “She’s In!” fundraising e-mails have already flooded my inbox and the fawning Facebook posts are cluttering my news feed.

I’m not particularly happy about this.

I’ve read a lot of disappointing news and information about Secretary Clinton (see below); the only reason to vote for her, it seems, is because four U.S. Supreme Court justices are over 70 (Stephen Breyer is 74, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia are 76 and cancer survivor Ruth Bader Ginsberg is 79) and we wouldn’t want President Ted Cruz or Rand Paul – I shudder even as I type this – to chose their successors.

I understand why presidential Supreme Court appointments are important but you’ll never convince me that the best reason to support a Democratic candidate is because she wouldn’t appoint the same *ssh*l*s to the court that a GOP candidate would.

I’m pretty sick and tired of this “Hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils,” “Don’t be an ideological purist” and “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” crap too. I want to be excited again – like my parents were about JFK in 1960 and Anita and I were about BHO in 2008. These candidates were not perfect and pure yet they attracted voters to the polls. “I Offer Hope and Change” is more alluring than “I Could Be Even Worse.”

Why is Secretary Clinton the wrong choice? I thought you’d never ask:

• She’s pro-fracking.

• She’s too cozy with Big Oil.

• She’s too cozy with low-wage, pro-sprawl, anti-union Wal-Mart – she served on its Board of Directors from 1986 to 1992.

• She’s too cozy with Wall Street (read Rolling Stone’s “Hillary Clinton’s Goldman Sachs Problem.”)

• She was one of the most hawkish members of President Obama's cabinet, rattling sabers about a nuclear Iran and bragging about having presided over the imposition of "crippling sanctions" on the Iranian economy during her tenure as secretary of state.

• She strongly defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of Israel’s criminal and despicable assault on Gaza.

• She voted for the Patriot Act and accused whistleblower Edward Snowden of “supporting terrorism” for revealing the seamy side of American military operations to the American people.

• She co-sponsored legislation to criminalize flag-burning.

• She voted to loosen restrictions on cell phone wiretapping.

• She’s pro-death penalty.

• She voted for the Iraq war and it took her more than ten years to express regret for that vote.

• She’s supported off-shore oil drilling.

• She refuses to reveal where she stands on the Keystone XL pipeline proposal.

• She’s pro-GMO – even going so far as to appoint a former Monsanto lobbyist to her team of campaign advisors.

• She’s pandered to the pro-censorship crowd when it comes to video games.

• In 2005, she supported the Workplace Religious Freedom Act which, according to the ACLU, would effectively have legalized discrimination.

This is just a partial list. (Visit this link for more about where she stands on the issues.) You can’t say I haven’t done my homework.

I dig U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). But Senator Warren continues to stress that she’s not running and I doubt Senator Sanders can garner the support he needs to capture the nomination. Fortunately there’s already another option: former Democratic Governor of Maryland and Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley.

Governor Martin O'Malley

Click here to watch Governor O’Malley’s appearance on “ABC This Week” with George Snuffleupagus. Click here to read “Martin O’Malley Says Republicans Who Hate Obama More than Ayatollah Are Unfit to Be in Government.” And click here to read The New Yorker’s “A real Democratic Challenger for Hillary Clinton?” by John Cassidy.

Although he does come across as a politician and it’s too bad he thinks a nuclear Iran is the biggest threat we face, an O’Malley candidacy would be more exciting than Hillary Clinton’s in my opinion. And I share the governor’s belief that our leaders should be elected, not crowned or appointed.

It’s possible, too, that someone else will emerge that excites and energizes progressives more than the We Might As Well candidate. I sure hope her coronation isn’t inevitable as some Facebook commenters believe.

I concede that I share Secretary Clinton’s position on some issues (e.g. supporting a woman’s right to choose, cracking down on sex trafficking, pro-animal protection, pro-clean air, pro-gay marriage, pro-medical marijuana). I don’t subscribe to the “Hillary’s evil ‘cause she sent private e-mails while Secretary of State” crap, I don’t support the National Rifle Association’s efforts to vilify her for being anti-gun, and I don’t hold her responsible for what happened in Benghazi in 2012. (The GOP, which conveniently neglects to admit that it slashed funding for U.S. embassy security by $128 million, bears responsibility for what happened there in my book. While Secretary of State in 2011, Clinton warned that inadequate funding represented a threat to U.S. security.) It’s also past time for a woman to sit at the desk in the Oval Office.

Just not this woman.

Here are links for more information:

At one point – in January of 2013 – I pledged to knock on doors for Madame Secretary. Read why here.

I love how she doesn’t take herself too seriously. Visit this link to see her with Amy Poehler on “Saturday Night Live” in 2008.

And there’s more:

“There’s a Reality About Hillary that Many Liberals Need to Face.”

“Five Reasons No Progressive Should Support Hillary Clinton.”

“Eight Things You Need to Know About Hillary Clinton and Climate Change.”

“Hillary Clinton is Running for President. Here are 11 Stories About Her that You Should Read Now.”

“Why Hillary Clinton is Probably Going to Win the 2016 Election.”

If you like a little fluff with your research, check out “Five Things You Should Know About Hillary Clinton.”

And for a comprehensive list of articles, check out The New Yorker’s “Hillary Clinton: A Reading List.”



Sources: Act.Watchdog.Net, Forwardprogressives.com. truth-out.org, Grist.org, NPR.org, Tampa Bay Times, New York magazine, Rolling Stone magazine, OntheIssues.org, CNN.com, NewYorker.com, AddictingInfo.org, Huffington Post, ABCNews.com.