okay, so this is different, but different is good right? anyway, my cousin victoria wrote a piece on why she is voting for and fully supporting hillary this election season and as i read through this i can’t help but agree with every word so i’m very happy to use this platform to share the words she has written. i urge you to read through it in it’s entirety (even though it’s somehow even longer than my posts) and keep all of this information in mind as you continue to make up your mind on who you chose to vote for in less than a month.
okay here we go fam. from this point on you’ll get a post that actually has proper grammer all the way through and capitalization to break my usual ~aesthetic~ so enjoy.
—
Alright, this is lengthy. I didn’t mean for it to be, but I am angry, confused, sad, and determined. So grab a drink and kick back while I explain why I am voting for Clinton. It’s not because she is the “lesser of two evils.” I do not think she is an evil liar who lacks ethics. I have met Clinton and found her to be intelligent, funny, and compassionate. I plan to vote for Clinton not just because she’s a woman or a Democrat. I vote based on issues – not a single issue, but I look to see which candidate fits the best with my ideologies.
First, Trump is a womanizing misogynist who has openly admitted to sexually assaulting women. Touching another person in a sexual manner without consent is sexual assault. Plain and simple – this is not locker room talk. “Locker room talk,” for either sex, is telling your friends who you hooked up with, but not that you forced yourself on someone else. It doesn’t matter who the parties are, their level of intoxication, their clothing, or their level of flirtation leading up the assault. Now, I know that many people will say, “But Bill was a womanizer and Hillary supported him!!!!” Well, to an extent, you’re right. I won’t try to say that Bill didn’t mess up by having affairs, likely using his position of power to his advantage and that Clinton then stood by her husband. Even as someone who considers herself a feminist, I don’t know that I could honestly say that I wouldn’t want to disparage a woman who slept with my boyfriend of six years. But more importantly, the Clintons’ worked through their marital issues and stayed together. The Clintons a model for how marriages should go (not the infidelity part, but the teamwork part), unlike Trump who is on his third marriage.
What about Clinton volunteering to defend a child rapist and then laugh at the child about it later? False. So untrue. Clinton was appointed by a Judge to represent the accused child rapist. She did not have a legitimate reason to refuse to represent him because everyone, no matter the crime, is entitled to the right to be represented by an attorney. That said, Clinton did try to ask the prosecuting attorney that she didn’t feel comfortable defending this client and said prosecutor had to remind her that she did not have a valid reason to refuse the judge’s appointment. I’m not saying that the man she defended was or was not guilty, but that doesn’t matter considering the man entered a guilty plea for a lesser sentence. His lesser sentence cannot be blamed on Clinton. She did her job by following the constitution and advocating for her client. Clinton negotiated the plea under the laws of Arkansas at that time. And the victim, through her mother, supported the plea arrangement. If you dislike the lesser sentence then blame the judicial system, but not the attorney, i.e. Clinton. Later on Clinton did an interview where she discussed the case, during which she laughed. She did not laugh at the victim or the facts of the case. She laughed at the fact that her client passed the lie detector test and thereby “forever destroyed her faith” in that technology.
But what about the fact that Trump’s accusers waited so long? Doesn’t that mean they are all lying, being paid to lie by the Clintons or DNC, or looking to get famous?! Maybe, but I don’t think so. I compare it to Bill Cosby. Many of Cosby’s accusers waited decades to make their stories known; others did not. Some are telling the truth; others may not be. The point is that often victims of assault, sexual or otherwise, do not step forward until much later if ever. There are many reasons victims may wait: maybe they are not willing to admit to themselves or others that they were assaulted, retelling their story makes them relive the traumatic experience, they may be victim and slut shamed (i.e. asked what they were wearing, if they flirted, or what their level of sobriety was), they are terrified of the repercussions of reporting the incident because the abuser hold more power (either physically, financially, or socially), and finally many victims are not believed. Many of Trump’s accusers waited so long for any combination of the above reasons, but have chosen to know speak up because the “pussy” video that came out. That video forced many of them to realize how dangerous he could be with his influence over laws and foreign affairs as well as his new power dynamic over other women.
Second, Clinton is the most experienced presidential candidate of all time. She has served not only as the First Lady of Arkansas and the United States but also in the New York Senate and as the United States Secretary of State. Some argue that her role as the First Lady, in either capacity, should not count as experience for a presidential candidate. I understand this argument because neither of these roles requires representing the people’s interest directly. However, it does require someone to learn how to interact with state officials and diplomats. These are not behaviors that Trump has learned in his domestic or international business dealings. Rather, while Clinton established a rapport with officials domestically and internationally, Trump has been boozing, trash talking, and womanizing to make (failed) business deals. During her time as America’s First Lady, it was not common for the First Lady to tackle major issues, but rather they would lead the White House Easter Egg hunt. Clinton, on the other hand, tackled health care and tax reform.
Others say that Clinton’s experience is exactly why they will not vote for her. Meaning that they do not want a career politician in office. I cannot wrap my head around this. Clinton has spent her life not only building a rapport and relationship as I described above, but she understands how the branches of government work independently and together because of her experience. Trump, by comparison, does not seem able to comprehend the two bedrock principals of democracy upon which American government rests: separation of powers and federalism. He has made claims time after time about making or repealing laws that a President would have no power to do single-handedly.
My third point ties into Trump not understanding the American democratic system. To me: Trump is racist and xenophobic. He seems to think that he could pass a law that would allow him to block all Muslims from entering the country. Or at the very least require only Muslims to pass a test to determine if they are good enough to enter the country. This is absurd, horrifying, and illegal discrimination. Now, if such a test were to be given to EVERY person entering the country, regardless of nationality, race, or religion than there would not be illegal discrimination – but there would be a logistical nightmare of how to pay for and administer such testing.
I won’t even get into the fact that Trump did not disavow an endorsement from the KKK because many will argue that he eventually did. He has however said a Judge would be biased and unfit to decide a case because said judge is of Mexican heritage. This is because of Trump’s comments calling Mexican immigrants “rapists.” I know that his followers believe he said this as an exaggeration and meant that too many Mexican immigrants are crossing the border into American illegally and are therefore criminals. Well, yeah. If you are coming to the country illegally, then that is criminal – but that doesn’t make that person terrible. The majority undocumented immigrants are here because they over-stayed their initial entry: not bc they crossed our southern border in stealth. And the studies show the number of Mexican immigrants has steadily declined over recent years. To say all immigrants, whether Mexican or Muslim, are bad because a few of them do bad things is like saying all Catholics are bad because a few of them abuse children.
Also, Trump was sued by the Justice Department TWICE for refusing to rent to or charging more money for rentals from African Americans. The case settled before going to trial, so it’s hard to know the details of this for sure, though. Trump led the birther lie about President Obama. This would be the racist conspiracy that Obama was not a US born citizen – which he still refuses to apologize for.
My fourth point is because Clinton is pro-choice, as am I. I have never been pregnant so I can’t say for certain that I would have an abortion if I found out that I was pregnant today – but it would only be mine and my doctor’s choice to perform one. I went to a private Catholic school preschool through 12th grade, so I am MORE than educated in the pro-life ideology. I have done my research on both sides of this issue. I know that most of the people I went to school with will say that you shouldn’t have sex until you are ready for children. If you want to wait until marriage, GOOD FOR YOU. If you don’t want to wait, GOOD FOR YOU, just be safe.
I saw someone post on Facebook recently that she “heard Hillary say a baby is not a baby until it has been removed entirely from the mother’s womb.” This person could not provide a link to the quote, but I am 100% certain that this is not a real quote. Clinton likely said that a baby is not legally a person under our Constitution until it is out of the womb. That is true from a legal standpoint. A person doesn’t have rights until they are born.
Clinton is also not against the welfare system. This point goes hand in hand with being pro-choice. Many people who claim to be pro-life are also anti-welfare. This makes no sense to me. Why force a woman to have a child that she doesn’t want to either put her kid into the foster system or to be burdened with raising the kid without any resources. sure there are people who take advantage of the system, but that doesn’t mean we deprive families who do need it because of the few that don’t. If you say you care about kids, then you should support welfare, as they are essential to the wellbeing of the kids you are so adamant need to be born. Children can’t work, and they can’t help that their parents may or may not work. Depriving adults of welfare deprives children of welfare.
Fifth, she got hefty speaking fees. So what? So has every other major political figure when they left office. She has been out of office since 2013.
Sixth, the infamous emails. The emails don’t bother me. I honestly don’t believe that she purposely deleted emails, or at least that she didn’t deliberately delete ones that she thought were classified. But even if she did, why is she the only one being attacked for this? What about Mitt Romney’s deliberate avoidance of the FOIA laws by taking the computer equipment with him and his staff to wipe the servers? Or Scot Walker’s private router as county executive that he used to mix campaign business with taxpayer money? Jeb Bush had TWO private email scandals. Collin Powell admitted that the State Department marked some of his emails as “classified” after the fact. Oh and Powell also used a private email account for public business while acting as Secretary of State. So either Clinton and ALL THE OTHER VIOLATORS face the same fate, or move on. Let’s be real, I think we are all finding out our ‘stuff’ out on the net is alarmingly insecure. Don’t we all know someone who’s email or social media has been hacked? How many new debit cards have you had to get? It’s a moving target. And she’s apologized and said she would take it back if she could. Move along, nothing to see here.
Finally, Benghazi. Clinton did not personally kill those American soldiers. The Benghazi facility was not sufficiently protected by the State Department and Defense Department. Perhaps Clinton as Secretary of State could have corrected this. But only if Congress had provided an appropriate budget. Instead, Clinton had to focus on trying to balance security at embassies and missions across the world with the resources and funds provided.
Honestly, I could go on and on of all the above reasons or list more, but this thing is more than long enough. I just need to put some of my thoughts to (digital) paper before I burst.
not too shabby 