There are only a few days until election day and the attacks against Clinton have increased. Attacks that are yet again made by the Republican side and enforced by biased media outlets, but none of those attempts to try and affect her campaign and discredit her character will stop me from supporting her. But, many young people dislike, some would say hate, Secretary Clinton, believing her to be “evil” and even liberals have begun to succumb to right-wing talking points. I understand that there are certain things people do not like about her past service, opinions, and character, but she's not perfect — nobody is. But I also know that she is the best candidate running for President of the United States.
Many people have claimed that Hillary Clinton is the lesser of two 'evils', and that Clinton's support is only due to voters saying they will vote against Donald Trump. This has become a cliché during this election, and is actually false. However, many of my peers have declared their support for third party options, repeating Republican accusations that the Democratic nominee is corrupt, and extolling the value of independent voting. Firstly, I and many other Clinton supporters are not supporting Hillary Clinton just because she is the Democratic nominee, but because she is the best choice, period. And I do not discount third party voting altogether — if Clinton and Trump were the independent candidates, and somebody like Jill Stein was the Democratic nominee, I would vote for Hillary Clinton in a heartbeat.
For years Clinton’s opponents have hammered away at this idea that she’s an overly ambitious liar, out for only herself, regardless of evidence, often times in spite of it. The media, in pursuit of the viewers that a scandal brings, has repeated and given implicit credibility to these claims. Both old accusations and new are repeated rehashed ad nauseam, becoming a part of the cultural zeitgeist. Thankfully her supporters and many others do not fall for that trap, but there is still a large percentage that have fallen for lies repeated often enough to seem true. Hillary Clinton is not the only Democrat this strategy has been used against, and will not be the last.
In this country we revere the principle that a person is innocent until proven otherwise, yet there have been countless investigations regarding her ‘wrongdoing’ led by the Republican opposition, that have yet to find anything to charge her for. Yet, many still believe such a claim because their idea of her has already been decided by earlier claims, anything contrary to that will not do much to change their minds.
Her opponents also try to claim that she is emotionless, but wait she’s also too emotional to hold office. How does that work exactly? Since coming into the political spotlight when her husband ran for president, she has been ruthlessly criticized for showing emotion, that has caused her to create an impenetrable shell around herself and keep from showing any sort of vulnerability. There are times when she has allowed herself to show some emotion, but it has always backfired in one way or another. In her campaign trail she teared up in front of her supporters and instantly was accused of playing the victim and being too emotional. She had a slight smile on her face during the first debate and people called her smug and argued that a person with such character should not run for office. Others claim that she could start a war if she has a hot flash so obviously all we are all doomed if a women ever holds office. Women politicians must be careful if they ever run for office, obviously our intellect and positions don’t matter because we are obviously ruled by our emotions and will lash out under pressure.
The narrative that the GOP and media has been trying to push does not matter to me. I know what Hillary Clinton stands for and that is what matters to me. I know that she has more experience than any other candidate to seek the Oval Office and lead this country. I know all the good she has done and will continue to do, not only for children and women, but everyone in this country. I know that I will be anxiously waiting in front of the TV on election night, waiting for her victory to be announced.
