I am a Bernie supporter. And that's not all-- I don't like Hillary Clinton. What can I say? I don't like her. I've spent a lot of time looking inwardly to understand my dislike for Hillary. Were some of my feminist friends correct? Was it the male privilege so ingrained in our society that was subconsciously making me dislike this woman who was on the verge of shattering the glass ceiling and making history? Was I being . . . (gulp) . . . sexist?
I've always thought I had a very progressive view on women's issues. I've always believed in equal pay for equal work and I am angry and frustrated that in the 21st Century we are still having that conversation. I support funding for women's health initiatives and Planned Parenthood. I support the right to choose. I believe in treating women equally and I support their fight against institutional sexism, the mass media, and body image shaming. I am a staunch supporter of violence against women legislation and I think it could go farther. I believe rape is at epidemic levels and under-reported everywhere, especially on our nation's campuses. I have a whole bunch of other important, progressive, pro-female views. At one time, one would've called me a male feminist, but really I'm just an ordinary liberal malcontent.
So could I possibly be acting like a sexist when it comes to Hillary? Why do I dislike her so much? And so I did days of thinking and researching and looking back on history. And the memories came flooding back. I wasn't being sexist after all! I have very, very good reasons for disliking Hillary.
Hillary has never met a war she didn't like. She has supported virtually every use of force ever put before her during her entire career-- as a Senator and at the State Department. In the midst of a historic peace deal with Iran, for example, Hillary just kept threatening to use military force. Why? If they agreed to all the conditions of the deal, what's the point of threatening them further? How do you think that plays in Iran? Well, if the leaders of Iran directly threatened to use their military against the United States, how would we react? We know how we would react because it has happened! And it's not pretty-- the Republicans get all huffy and puffy, the hawkish Democrats begin grumbling, and the military industrial complex licks its chops. We have enough power to bring Iran to its knees diplomatically-- we have shown that time and time again. So Hillary is just being a war-monger.
Yes, Hillary is indeed more experienced at foreign policy than Bernie. And that's not a good thing because her experience has been mostly bad. She pushed for the violent overthrow of Gaddafi and we all see how well that turned out. Gaddafi was tortured gruesomely before a bayonet was shoved into his anus which killed him. In response was Hillary's infamous comment, "We came, we saw, he died," followed by a good laugh. It was a real knee-slapper. Yes, Gaddafi was a brutal, evil man. But we don't need to sink to that level of response. It is undignified and inappropriate. Worst of all, it is war-like. It shows a people that laugh when they overthrow dictators. I can't get the image of Hillary laughing after that comment out my damn head. I just can't.
I could go on all night with examples from Hillary's record-- from her support of the Iraq War, pushing for escalations in Afghanistan, making no bones about wanting to intervene even more in Syria-- she is simply much, much too hawkish for my tastes. She looks beholden to the military industrial complex. I don't see her motivations for becoming more peaceful once elected president. She frightens me.
So thank goodness, my male feminist card is intact. I am judging Hillary equally, looking at her as I would any other candidate, and I just don't like what I see. So don't call me sexist. I am just waiting for Elizabeth.
~The Liberal Malcontent is a liberal and a malcontent.
#feelthebern #berniesanders #bernie2016 #hillaryclinton #imnotwithher #nhprimary #fitn #603forhrc #tcot #pjnet
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