BOXED IN: “Trapped” voters taken for granted by Hillary and Democratic Party
We hear a lot of sensible people and pundits saying it — Bernie’s better, but we must support Hillary to make sure Trump doesn’t win. This is not only unsupported by polling, it’s a strategic mistake—if you tell a candidate they have your support, they don’t do anything new or good for you. 2016 could be the year we make elections more of a two-way street, if voters learn how to play this game of chicken.
The most effective strategy an individual voter has is saying they are undecided as long as possible. Pollsters will ask specifically why, too. Why not tell them— I oppose money in politics, I don’t trust establishment politicians. When voters band together to do this, it’s even more effective, and five times more important if you live in a swing state. Even if you’re just bluffing, you are making your vote an “if-then”, which makes you actually count for something.
Anyone saying “suck up your principles, hold your nose and vote for Hillary” this early is not making our party or policies any better. Hillary sees this and says “great, I’ve got her vote, even though she admits she was boxed in by fear, I will now proceed to take her for granted”. This is giving away for free the one tool you have. Why aren’t we saying “you’ll get my vote if you improve and here’s how.”
Hillary is in the lead, but doesn’t have enough delegates to avoid a contested convention. Suppose we encourage, cajole, coax, pressure her to adopt tough, no-nonsense policies to get money out of politics, to earn Bernie’s delegates as well as Bernie’s voters. We can then emerge from the convention more unified and energized — but she wants you and Wall Street both.
Should Hillary come to us, or should you cave in to her? Ask yourself — which would be better to win independents, sticking with the big lobbyist PAC bundlers or working class voters?
Already, about 1 in 3 Bernie supporters have told pollsters they will ultimately vote for Hillary. The Bernie-or-bust voters understand how to make handicappers and the media pay attention. Could they be bluffing? Sure, but how many? Not knowing makes the Hillary campaign nervous, and forces her to adapt. For example, this week she said “we need to get unaccountable money out of politics”, highlighting her proposal to make unlimited corporate PAC contributions somewhat more transparent. Baby steps…
Democrats would be more accountable to the middle class if only they are forced to. Another example. As a teacher, I see the profession is NOT happy with their so-called leader Randi Weingarten, onboard for Hillary so early, we saw no K-12 education brought up in the course of the campaign.
Do parents really feel bad for schoolchildren suffering under NCLB’s annual testing mandate? If so, we needed it to be a prominent campaign issue — Bernie opposes the testing, Hillary does not. The AFT and NEA provided cover for Hillary, even though she was on the wrong side of the issue — by endorsing her before a single primary vote was cast. Parents, students and teachers got nothing.
The same for health care, college tuition, fracking, nuclear plants, breaking up banks, her revolving door, marijuana legalization, Palestinian rights, military spending, GMO labeling, you name it. Bernie’s primary run was supposed to be the vehicle to improve Hillary and the party, not surrender new voters to it.
This strategy works — look how Hillary’s “evolved” all throughout the campaign, announcing she would oppose the KeystoneXL pipeline, oppose the TPP trade deal she championed, turn down private prison money, end tax loopholes for the rich, increase the minimum wage.
Just think of Hillary as a used car dealer where you have to pretend you’ll walk away if you don’t get your price. It gets tense but you have to use all the firepower you have to make Hillary face real people instead of corporate bag men and party insiders. There’s plenty of time for this, before and after the convention. The deadline is November 8th.
Finally, please note one major similarity in Hillary and Trump’s message — they both want you to sit back and let them handle everything. Bernie is quite honestly saying he can’t fix anything himself even if he wins, no President can (Obama sure didn’t). We will need a large, sustained grassroots effort to unyoke the entrenched political class from their sugar daddies.
This is why Wall Street is funding Hillary, why the Kochs are considering backing her, and why the Waltons, Gates and Trumps have backed her for 30 years. Hillary has yet to show she prioritizes everyday people in her policies. A watered down Dodd-Frank for example, does not right economic injustices past and present.
Why should she change if she doesn’t have to? Voting for Hillary without demanding better is poor strategy, and this is why the establishment class believes the masses need to be guided from the top down. Most don’t vote — and of those that do, most don’t utilize their power to do something good.