As much as I hate to admit it, I’m a wonk, through and through. Every day at five o’clock when I picked up from summer camp and headed home, the first thing I did after petting my dogs was plopped myself on the couch with a snack and prepare for a long night of convention. Yes, both the RNC and the DNC.
As someone who usually leans liberal, I had my laughs at the RNC. I couldn't help but laugh at Donald Trump’s ridiculous entrance before Melania’s speech, his super appropriate boob point to his wife, and then three nights later at his awkward daughter butt-grab. But all in all, I couldn’t agree with what was being said at the RNC. Nobody made any argument for me, an anti-Trumper. The only person who made a true connection with me was, shockingly, Ted Cruz, who I arguably hate more than Donald Trump, when he told citizens to “vote their conscience.”
Because the thing is, the RNC was a celebration of Donald Trump’s individual achievements, which just convinced me further that Trump is only running for president for yet another ego-boost. He gloated about his golf courses and his construction company, but never how much he had helped any American people other than himself. He alienated almost every minority group in this country and proved himself thin-skinned and inexperienced.
Then there was the DNC, beginning with scandal right off the bat. Bernie supporters were rightfully angry over an email leak revealing the party and their head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s bias over Hillary Clinton. I was taken aback by this as well, mostly the feeding of information to major media networks such as CNN and the findings of money laundering to the Clinton campaign.
However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it simply didn’t matter. I wished all week there would be an email leak of the RNC, proving just as much corruption that I know each party is equally guilty of. But I realized that there was absolutely no way the RNC and their head would’ve favored Trump- major Republican players refused to attend the convention because of their disagreement with him. But I realized that no matter how much information the RNC was surely feeding media groups, and how much money was funneled to make sure Trump wouldn’t get nominated, the people voted, and they wanted Trump. And just like the republicans voted, so did the democrats and they chose Hillary.
At the end of the day, Hillary is still a candidate I can wholeheartedly back, and the DNC reminded me exactly why. Every election Hillary Clinton has run, she has been under incredible scrutiny. But by the time she takes office, everyone forgets about the scandal and the unfavorability and realizes that she is there to do one thing and one thing only: help the American people.
Of course, she doesn’t do it perfectly. She’s silenced Black Lives Mattera speakers and plenty of others when it wasn’t convenient for her to let them speak. However, as seen at the DNC, she has also elevated their voices in a way no other candidate has, as seen when she lets the mothers of the movement speak at the convention.
She’s also dedicated her life from the moment she entered college to social justice, especially for women and children. Many scrutinize her for previously being a republican and being a “Goldwater Girl,” but not only must we remember that the Republican party was a vastly different party at the time than it is now, we must also remember that this is when she was in high school. I personally think it’s safe to say that we all broaden our minds and opinions in college, and find it unfair to hold someone as distinguished as Hillary to the opinions she held as a teenager.
Hillary graduated college, went to law school, fought for children with disabilities to have the right to education, fought to desegregate illegally segregated schools, and fought for universal health care while her husband was president. And after leaving the white house, she became a senator of New York during the 9/11 attacks and fought for the people of New York City to receive compensation at a time where Republicans refused to give any money to help the citizens of New York recover.
While you may not think she smiles enough or has a problem with the fact that she used a private email server, the fact is Hillary Clinton has worked tirelessly to help people throughout her career, and I have extreme confidence that she will help to improve the state of our great nation. She may not come around to important issues as fast as we would like or address them in the fashion we would like, but at the end of the day, she does address them, and she has done more for the American people than many other politicians on either side of the aisle ever have, and I trust her to keep moving forward.
