WITH THE 1%: is the 2016 election a choice for us, or a choice for Hillary?
This week we saw significant coverage of a crucial problem with Hillary’s campaign. Millennials who supported Obama are not all supporting Hillary. As DNC emails confirm, the trouble is her ties to Wall Street, elites and corporations.
But this could change with a major announcement before the election if Hillary would reconsider her position on campaign finance and cut financial ties with the 1% in a visible way.
The Obamas and the establishment media keep framing this as a choice between Hillary and Trump instead of a choice for Hillary alone to make — why risk losing by sticking with the status quo? Does she have any choice?
FEAR-MONGERING: Trump is bad, awful, unfit, but more ads about him day after day don’t fix Hillary’s trust problem.
Hillary thinks these younger voters just haven’t been reminded enough about how obnoxious and ill-equipped Trump is. But these Millennials don’t support Trump. Most plan to vote for a third party or not at all.
Hillary knows there are easily over 10 million holdout Bernie supporters who want money out of politics, because she has been talking the talk herself. But talk is all it is — the money is flowing. Some DNC delegates had “Walk the Walk” signs up during her Philly speech. They were cheering her on, waiting and hoping for Hillary to improve.
Now time is short, she would need to do it soon. Hillary’s millennial deficits are about her, about her choice to let the rich control her campaign where it counts.
IS DEMOCRACY REAL OR FAKE? Here’s a question for those struggling with this ugly election: Are US elections a one way street or should candidates actually be responsive to the voter?
Hillary’s recently leaked comments indicate she once thought Millennials were over-idealistic but she eventually came around on free tuition and climate policy, proving that she can be pressured to evolve, when forced.
HILLARY’S REVOLVING DOOR: Her staff is stocked with revolving door insiders, starting with campaign chairman John Podesta who was Bill Clinton’s chief of staff before he was Obama’s senior transition team advisor, then becoming DC’s fourth biggest lobbyist, then started DC’s most influential think tank, then running a giant SuperPAC while raising millions from the 1%, side by side with Jeb Bush.
Podesta runs the money spigot that takes from rich donors and turns their wishes into policy that affects every US family. Just in the last few years, he brought us charter schools, standardized testing, Common Core and federal education policies that caused a grassroots parent backlash. But Podesta’s foreign ties are even scarier, parlaying his position into private investment deals with a host of controversial regimes and oligarchs.
His lobbying firm is currently working for the Saudis, Putin’s favorite Russian banks, overseas fossil fuel producers and human rights violators. Here at home, the Podesta Group works for Monsanto, the biggest US banks and titans of Wall Street, just to name a few. John’s family is taking much of this foreign lobbying cash and donating it to Hillary, which is legal.
Even as the FBI and Department of Justice investigate The Podesta Group, reporters won’t touch Podesta with a 10 foot pole. Doling out the “Clinton cash” on ad campaigns, he also controls access to the Clintons, at times correcting them to please large donors. [UPDATE: Podesta took center stage as his hacked emails were published, alleging awkward admissions and behind-the-scenes intrigue].
PRIVATE SERVANTS: Trump is hitting her hard on her rich donations, saying she only cares about rich donors. The DNC Leaks showed the the party secretly concerned her lead over Bernie shrunk quickly because of this issue in the primary.
PROMISES, PROMISES: Hillary said the words herself: “we must end money in politics” and “stop the revolving door”. But never backed up these words with action or policies, claiming she will pursue these things only after we elect her, forcing people who don’t trust her to follow through (and then somehow convince a Republican led House? Not happening.)
At the DNC Convention in Philadelphia, where 46% of delegates were Bernie supporters, a protest was organized to pressure Hillary to improve. A walk-out was planned during her speech, to empty the room out as America watched on TV. The delegates did just this in a trial run following Hillary’s nomination announcement by the hundreds, walking outside to the media tents. The networks hid this, but a video posted by environmentalist Josh Fox showing the emptied out arena on social media went viral.
To prevent this from happening during Hillary’s primetime speech, the campaign made extraordinary concessions. Hillary ended up sounding a lot like Bernie Sanders, including the words “money out of politics” which sent a thrill up my leg. Alas, those words turned out to be hypocritical and hollow. The next day, we learned Hillary received over $47 million from a small circle of seven hedge fund managers on her way to shattering every record for concentrated money in politics.
There is plenty of time for Hillary to announce a shift to fairness and stop funding her campaign with dark, dirty money. She will win easily if she follows through on her own promises and poll data backs this up.
WHAT TO DO? You can communicate with the Hillary campaign now (they just announced they are on social media trying to engage Millennials) and tell them this is not a choice for us, it’s a choice for her.
Does she care more about the 1% or the 99%? Will insiders like John Podesta be running her White House? Can we trust that she even has control of the corporatists in her fold who work for wealthy donors? Why should we believe middle class voters would matter after election day?
DO THE RIGHT THING: If she really wants to win, this race doesn’t need to be such a nail biter, she needs to take charge and fulfill her promise to end the corruption — before we vote.