Hillary Clinton supports continuing many of the Obama administration’s policies.
I am a post-millennial and very progressive liberal. My beliefs most closely align with those of the Green Party, and I would not shy away from proclaiming that I am a democratic socialist. After reading the latter two sentences one would probably assume that I support Bernie Sanders in the current election; however, this is not true. From the beginning of the primaries I have been in firm support of Hillary Clinton.
To understand my support of Hillary, I think it is first important to understand the history of politics that has lead to the current political climate and this election. When I say history, I don’t mean all the way back to the founding fathers or even the Cold War. I mean the last eight years in which our country has been led by Barack Obama. His election and last two terms have been transformative. In the beginning of the great recession, Obama won with close to 70 million votes on a platform built on hope and change. A young Obama entered his first term ready to make this change, but he had to fight for everything he did throughout his presidency.
Through persistence and compromise, Obama has been able to achieve a lot. He was elected for a second term, and in his two terms he has instituted the Affordable Care Act, created 13.7 million new jobs, championed a climate change agenda, worked to fix US relations with Cuba, struck an important Nuclear Deal with Iran, overhauled No Child Left Behind, and helped to legalize same-sex marriage. None of these are small feats, especially considering the resistance he has received from the Republican Party.
Any new Democrat president will face similar hardships in achieving change, and because of this, we need a leader who is capable of compromise. Sanders’s campaign has criticized Clinton for being too centrist and willing to compromise. This is not a weakness but a true strength; Hillary actually has the ability to push a progressive agenda. Maybe she won’t lead a revolution, but she will be able to make a real change in our country.
I would love to live in a country in which Sanders’s plans for breaking up the big banks, universal health care, and free college tuition have been instituted. However, these actions are not realistic in the United States today, and I am doubtful that Sanders has a good plan to accomplish these goals. During debates Sanders has been very vague about how he will be able to actually enact his radical agenda if he is elected. When asked about the practicality of his ideas, he has replied that Congress would adhere to the will of the people. However, this is idealistic and totally untrue, as nearly all of the country is not represented by his ideals.
An example of Sanders’s impractical idealism is his idea of universal health care. Sanders has promised to completely overhaul the Affordable Care Act so that he can institute his own health care system. This idea is ludicrous, as we are currently at a point at which the rate of Americans without health insurance is at an all time low, and scrapping the current system would leave 17 million citizens uninsured. Instead, Hillary’s plan to build on Obama’s legacy is much more practical and would be more beneficial for the citizens of this country.
Furthermore, Sanders’s full economic plans entail raising government spending by over $18 trillion. He has absolutely no effective plans for procuring this money through taxes, which means that most would probably come from loans, increasing our national debt.
Sanders’s disorganization can be seen throughout his platform. In this political climate no progressive presidential candidates will be able to make change unless they have fully fleshed out their ideas and are willing to settle for slow but steady incremental change rather than a full-on revolution.
I thank Sanders for entering this election. He has pushed more radical liberal issues to the forefront of the political scene. This has caused Hillary to start discussing topics she would have shied away from without his candidacy. He has made a big mark on the political scene, but he is not a practical president. At this point, I think it would be best if he stepped back and let the well-qualified Hillary continue Obama’s legacy of pragmatism. That is what is best for the Democratic Party and for the United States.
