Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) has been extremely clear: stop and look at the big picture.
“This is not the time for a protest vote,” he explains, “I ran as a third-party candidate. I'm the longest-serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. I know more about third-party politics than anyone else in the Congress. And if people want to run as third-party candidates, God bless them! Run for Congress. Run for governor. Run for state legislature.”
His point? This presidential election is not the one we should use to stomp our feet, and prove a point. Let me make this very clear: I resent that this bipartisan system demands I choose between two disappointing options. A third party candidate should be a viable choice, but this time around, they just aren’t. Today, I am writing to ask you, plead with you, and if I have to: beg. Vote for Hillary Clinton on November 8th. Don’t tempt fate. It will call your bluff, and as history has proven: you will lose.
Hillary needs the millennial vote to win. Statistically, if we vote her ticket, she will. If we do literally anything else (including, but not limited to: abstaining, voting Johnson, or writing in ‘the Duck’), one of two things will happen: either Donald Trump will become your next president, or no candidate will win the necessary 270 electoral votes, in which case the House of Representatives will choose. If you’re able to sleep with that on your conscience - ok. But I know I can't. Here’s why.
Trump rose to infamy because he defies every D.C. mold. He speaks brashly, and without restraint. He sparks the anger that so many are feeling after years of being ignored and neglected. The problem is, this type of speech has been the predecessor to almost every tyrannical dictatorship the modern world has seen. And yes, that does include Hitler. Trump spreads hate-speech about immigrants, women, and minorities. Like Hitler, Trump abuses his power to instill fear, and target those vulnerable to racist, sexist, and close-minded influence. His temperament is shaky, at best, and his rhetoric may be one of the most dangerous of the 21st century.
In summary - Donald Trump is bat*%(^ crazy and I’m sure most of you will agree. But if I still haven't sold you on Hillary, I get it - she's controversial. After months of email scandals and corporate donors, I can understand why you’re hesitant. Like many of you, I felt the Bern and by default, didn't trust her. So as a concerned voter, I did my homework. Maybe my research would give me the answers I was seeking.
I quickly learned that Hillary Clinton has been the target of merciless and vindictive criticism from day one, even when she was just a middle class working American, and a human rights lawyer. And for the next 40 years, the media committed to demonizing her every move. When she wore a suit, she was trying to be too intimidating. If she laughed too much, it wasn’t genuine. Forgiving Bill post-Monica made her weak, but supporting his initiatives meant she was an uneducated pushover. If her opinions evolved over time, she was a liar. If she found personal success, she was a corporate tyrant. No matter how many accomplishments Hillary has racked up since 1973 (and there are many), nothing she says or does will ever be enough to outweigh the handful of mistakes she’s made along the way. That much was clear to me. And so I wondered, what would it look like if Donald Trump had been scrutinized in the same way?
“I started with nothing,” Trump maintains. It’s why he appeals to those who don’t trust Hillary, a wealthy politician. As a self-made, middle class man, “Trump understands the middle class, the value of business, and will be able to drive our country’s economy forward,” one UO student said. This would be great, if it weren’t for the fact that Trump has never actually been a part of the middle class. He was born into the 1% (his father had an estimated net worth of $432 million). His first success was handed to him, and he built the rest on the backs of small businesses. He’s declared bankruptcy 4 times. But unfortunately for Trump, you can’t quote Chapter 11 when trying to fix an economy.
His tax policy is equally confusing. He advocates a 20% tax cut for businesses (from 35% to 15% ), and a 3 bracket federal income tax cut, providing larger loopholes for corporate tax evasion (his self-proclaimed specialty) and a 3 trillion dollar increase in the deficit. You can read all about it from his website, here.
His international policy functions on the premise that we can “make good deals,” using his “very good brain” and his "really good words." He wants to befriend Putin, and won’t condemn nuclear warfare as a military tactic. He adamantly insists “[he] will never, ever rule it out,” - not even in reference to Europe. He must have missed class the day they explained mutually assured destruction.
He’s also refused to divulge how he’ll approach fighting terrorist groups like ISIS, in order to keep them in the dark. He has, however, mentioned carpet-bombing and murdering the families of suspected terrorists. He also plans on reviving certain archaic practices: The Washington Post reports Trump said he "supports waterboarding and similar interrogation techniques because 'torture works'."
When asked how he will help mend the tension between communities and support healthy race-relations, Trump mentions “Law and Order,” insisting we need to reinstate 'stop and frisk,’ in order to: “get the gangs off the streets in the inner cities.” He also suggests we provide our police force with extra guns - just to be sure they’re feeling safe.
He has made his goal to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood very clear. Yet planned parenthood is not actually an abortion clinic: it is an institution 1/5 American women has depended on for health care. For the record, that's 31.4 million people. In a letter sent out to voters last month, Trump promised to "defund Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions." He reasons it isn't fair to make taxpayers cover a service they morally oppose. I wasn't surprised to learn that Trump and his team forgot to fact check (that, or they just chose not to). "Abortions [only] represent 3 percent of total services provided by Planned Parenthood." And though "the group does receive federal funding, the money cannot be used for abortions by law."
He also firmly believes any non-white, Judeo-Christian is either a rapist, a criminal, or a terrorist. It's his stance on immigration that skyrocketed him to infamy in the first place. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best." Trump affirms. He continued by claiming Mexico is "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, [and that] they're rapists." But it's not just his intolerant babble that should scare people. It's what he wants to do with it. At a rally in South Carolina last December, Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
His behavior is unhinged. He has no political experience, and a weak grasp on reality. While some may feel this makes him unique and honest, I think it makes him incompetent, and unstable. He's called women pigs, slobs, and has told them they look “better on their knees.” He's called his constituents "stupid" and implied they were uneducated (...no comment). He mocks the disabled, and promotes violence. At a rally in Iowa, Trump encouraged attendees to "knock the crap out of [anyone harassing him]," and then kindly promised to "pay the legal fees."
Like the New York Times eloquently stated, "we do not need a commander-in-chief who sends angry tweets at 3 a.m."
Note: to read these, and more of Trump's best one-liners, click here.
If you think I'm being harsh, it's because it may be my last chance to take advantage of my first amendment rights. If Trump becomes president, he's threatened "to open up our libel laws so when [journalists] write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money." Mr. Trump, does this article count?
I'm slowly starting to forget why I disliked Hillary Clinton in the first place. I never hear people mention the immense success Clinton has built for herself - and how she did it from scratch. Nobody covers how detailed and specific her fiscal plans are; how experts across the spectrum have stuck by them. Princeton economist Alan Krueger says he believes Clinton proposes “a very sensible approach to economic policy and the challenges we face.” When presented unsubstantiated ideas like Trump's, it's hard not to agree, regardless of your politics.
Everyone says Hillary is corrupt, yet nobody looks at her mistakes in contrast to his: Trump has been evading federal taxes the last 18 years, while she erased some emails. Any claims that she intentionally threatened national security are senselessly based in conspiracy. FBI Director James B. Comey announced that of the emails that were deleted, only three contained classified information. He also explains:
"like many e-mail users, Secretary Clinton periodically deleted e-mails, or e-mails were purged from the system when devices were changed. Because she was not using a government account, there was no archiving at all of her e-mails, so it is not surprising that we discovered e-mails that were not on Secretary Clinton’s system in 2014, when she produced the 30,000 e-mails to the State Department."
Ultimately, the year-long FBI investigation "found no evidence that any of the additional work-related e-mails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them." Meanwhile, Donald Trump has openly admitted to paying no federal taxes for nearly two decades, because that (and I quote), "makes him smart." He's refused to cooperate each time he's been audited, and he functions (even prides himself) on finding corporate loopholes - regardless of who he's destroying in the process. How's that for corruption?
Worst of all, we maintain that Hillary is disconnected from the majority of Americans, and will be incapable of stabilizing the community tensions we face. Yet no woman in Washington has ever negotiated as many treaties, as many cease fires, or as much peace as she has. No female politician has committed as many years to fighting for human rights.
She wants to help make college debt free. She wants to support equal pay and equal rights for men and women. She won't alienate our allies. She won't bring us to the brink of war - she's much too calculated, much too experienced, and she wants a second term. She's a skilled politician. She might not do a inspiring job, but she can do it. Trump can't: he is unfit to be the President of the United States.
And Gary Johnson never will be. In 2000, an eerily similar election led George W. Bush to the oval, after third party candidate Ralph Nader split the Democratic party and took the majority from Al Gore. I won’t even bother trying to be witty when explaining this: the exact same thing is happening today. We are perpetuating the awful stereotype that history repeats itself, and that we are incapable of learning from our mistakes.
If you actually want to make a tangible change - start deciding who you're voting into congress (and actually send in your ballot). Congressional election turnout is depressing, at a mere 41%. So it's there that you'll want to fight for change, and its there that you'll see the most immediate results. But when you're voting for the POTUS, a vote for anyone but Hillary Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump.
If you’re still not convinced after this brutally long article (and my desperate plea), and you still want to vote for Gary Johnson - fine. That's one of your many rights as an American citizen. Enjoy them while they last.
I, on the other hand, am not with you, #ImWithHer. Not just because I think she’s the best candidate for the job, but because I still remember my mother’s cautionary tale from when I was little:
Our choices in life always have consequences, and we have to be prepared to face them. These consequences are often ruthless: they don’t care what you intentions were. They'll ignore your values and motivations. They won’t go away when you apologize. They are yours to keep, to own, and to speak for - always.
And there is no way I’m willing to face the consequences of a Donald Trump presidency.
