(It Won't Be Over Even if Hillary is Nominee: Sand...)
Is there a post election future for Trump supporters, especially if he loses to Hillary? Tea Party morphing into populists? Probably not.
Are there any areas of unity between Bernie and Trump people? Trump people are wooing and as I pointed out recently POTUS16: On Elections and Political Parties - Part... some Bernie supporters among MORE readers and people I met at NPE - these are not right wingers - will not vote for Hillary but Trunp - others will go 3rd party.Look at this comment on that post: If you are "meeting too many people" who will vote for Trump, I think you should take stock of the kind of places you are frequenting - clearly someone who would shun any contact with a Trump supporter. I find that amusing but don't have time go get into the "who you hang out with" stuff - I know lots of people on the left who live in a bubble of their own.
What about the role our union on the city, state and national level play in the Democratic party?
Can the Democratic Party be moved left generally?
Can the Democratic Party be moved away from ed deform?
Many people on the left have given up on the Democratic Party - don't read any further here until you read: New Politics, The Sanders Campaign and the Left which points out the bankruptcy of the party and how there is no hope without some kind of 3rd party - think of the disappearance of the Whigs in the 1850s and the foundation of the Republican Party. Also in England how parties have come and gone.
Will your vote have an impact in UFT elections? Let's leave that for another time other than to say if you vote for Unity it won't.
I have few answers to these questions but intend to explore some of them over the next few months. While I have this stuff on my mind I will put a bunch of stuff up today before it all disappears in a vapor.
Let's face it. I am not happy with either Clinton, Obama, Cuomo, De Blasio and some of the frustration actually has driven me more to the right of the left where I used to be. My libertarian tendencies cannot be suppressed. I believe Hillary will not be a good president - for a lot of reasons. As one who had the Nixon threat drummed into me since 1960 I find it amusing to see people pining for Hillary who is to the right of Nixon.
Some of my blogging colleagues say hold your noses and vote for Hillary to keep Trump away.
Hillary is a neocon as the April 24 NY Times mag pointed out plus others: How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk - The New York ... see below for a list of Hillary as neocon articles.
The anti-capitalist left often talks about Hillary's neo-liberalism - which is not the same as neo-con: Anti-Capitalist Meetup: How Neoliberal is Hillary Clinton?
I put up a post the other day from Counterpunch that called for Bernie to run as 3rd party on the Green ticket. I think that is pretty impossible to imagine but did get a hissy fit comment from someone who is clearly a Hillary supporter:
Ah yes, the Dilettante left coming from a Dilettante "hold your nose" Hillary supporter. When you hold your nose and vote for her better get a clothespin.HarringtonianMonday, May 2, 2016 at 2:03:00 PM EDTThis is what the paranoid style of politics ('progressive' edition) looks like. In the very unlikely event this advice were to be actually followed, Bernie would end up as the pathetic Henry Wallace of his generation or worse, Ralph Nader on steroids. Either way it would stab the 'political revolution' in the heart. OTOH, it would be so satisfying to the Dilettante Left!
Stab the political revolution in the heart? Like voting for Hillary is not stabbing the political revolution in the heart? Like is there any chance the Democratic Party will ever become progressive? You have to look far and wide to find a New Deal Democrat and look at education alone - public ed knifed in the back time and again and Hillary will do the same though she may be slicker than Obama in fooling people and she will have Randi/Mulgrew there to run interference for her.
When asked if I am a socialist - in the anti-capitalist vein - I cannot say I am even though many of my political associates would classify themselves as such. I put myself in the left-wing social democrat category which is where Bernie Sanders seems to come from. Of course to the far left and even some of the near left anti-capitalists, an SD is anathema since SDs accept capitalism but want it highly regulated and taxed.
Let's face it. Either Hillary or Trump will be the next president. I am not as hysterical about the outcome if it is Trump as so many others. Is Trump dangerous? They all are dangerous. If looking for a sliver - you won't have to hear "common core" shoved down your throat.
My thinking is driven by where I feel I'm at politically at this point. A registered Democrat, I have never believed very much in the party and have voted 3rd party about 50% of the time (Clinton, Obama first terms, not the 2nd, Nader, etc.). Like so many others I feel the 2-party system has left me with few choices and I believe it is time for a 3rd and maybe 4th viable party or at the very least a realignment. The Bernie and Trump campaigns actually offer post-election opportunities, especially if Hillary wins.
Afterburn: Hillary as a neocon
Hillary is a neocon as the April 24 NY Times mag pointed out plus others: How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk - The New York ...
- Jul 04, 2014 · Neocons like the historian Robert Kagan may be connecting with Hillary Clinton to try to regain influence in foreign policy. Credit Left, Stephanie ...
- ... including editorial writers at the New York Times who mocked Brazil and ... Hillary Clinton is a shill for Wall Street ... Is Hillary Clinton a Neocon ...
- ... Hillary Clinton is hoping that ... neocon superstar Robert Kagan told The New York Times in 2014 that ... 48 comments for “ Hillary Clinton Seeks Neocon ...
- Senator Hillary Clinton, MSNBC, ... Is Hillary Clinton a Neocon? By Edward H. Crane. ... the New York Times columnist. Mr.
- Daily Kickoff: Hillary Clinton the Neocon? ... [Eater; NYTimes] BIRTHDAYS: ... Get the Jewish Journal in your inbox.
- When Hillary Clinton Out-Neoconned a Neocon. ... Hillary Clinton was the recipient of much criticism for her ... (as Frank Rich wrote in the New York Times in 2002 ...