"You're at a train station, right here in L.A., you want to go to San Fransisco...there's one train that goes to San Fransisco, but it's a little slower than the one you want. There's one other train leaving, but it's not going to San Fransisco, it's going to [San Diego]. You get on the train that goes in the direction you want to go but slower or do you go to San Diego?"
Video contains expletive language:
This is the analogy in defense of voting for 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton that comedian Bill Maher offered on his show July 29th. During this Real Time with Bill Maher episode he was arguing that Bernie Sanders supporters were being extreme by not backing the [neocon] Clinton.
One of the panelists, professor and progressive activist Dr. Cornel West, argued with Maher about voting for Hillary Clinton, in lieu of backing Green Party nominee Jill Stein or even the Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. His analogy goes off the rails on a crazy train.
First, voting third party, like Stein or Johnson, is not a wasted vote. This argument has been asinine throughout political science. Votes are earned, not entitled. It's not the fault of Sanders supporters or progressives that Clinton has not earned their vote.
Maher also implies voting for anyone other than Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump. Given that Trump is a career Clinton liberal - his history as a Clinton contributor and ally shows this, not to mention he agrees with her most of the time on policy - this is an absurd assumption.
Second, Clinton is not going in the same direction as progressives. She is a well known ally of both Wall Street and the military industrial complex, two groups vehemently opposed by the very progressives that are expected to back Clinton.
Ideologically speaking, voting for Clinton would not be different than voting for Trump. Both major-party candidates believe in the same Keynesian economic policies (e.g., pro-banking, pro-corporations, pro-debt, and pro-high taxes), the same imperial foreign policies (e.g., pro-sanctions, pro-bloated military budgets, and pro-trade barriers), and the same disregard for civil liberties.
Third, if only bad trains are at the train station, go to the bus station. A bus might take longer to the final destination but at least the ride is with progressives and not neocon liberals, like Clinton and Trump.
The Clinton train will end up at another station that is further away from what progressives want. Bill Maher, who is an avid supporter of staunch anti-Clinton and progressive figure Ralph Nader, knows this but has no qualms leading the sheep to the slaughter.
Dr. West argued with both Maher and former congressman Barney Frank about this issue. The latter two were foaming at the mouth in support of a Bush-esque Democrat. Being part of the mainstream media is a factor - but there was a time, pre-2009, when Bill Maher's show used to favor the likes of Dr. Ron Paul and Nader himself. Those days are left in the dust as Maher goes off the rails on a liberal railroad.
