US Presidential Election

Bernie’s Wise Leadership in Supporting Hillary

by Billie Anderson

Nov. 6, 2016

It is just two days before our official presidential election.  If you are like me, you are feeling weary from the these many months of campaigning between two of the most unpopular candidates ever nominated by our two major political parties.  I recently watched “Michael Moore in Trumpland” and felt good that I voted for Hillary on the first day of early voting here in Tennessee.  Like Michael Moore, “I am not a Hillary voter.”    I certainly admire the way Hillary kept her “cool” in debates with Donald Trump.  Unlike some of my dearest friends who believe Hillary will be a “great” first female president, I must take a wait and see approach.  I cannot know if she will take the progressive platform seriously, using her influence to champion progressive causes; or, if she will cater more to Wall Street, big business, and hawkish interests.  I am disappointed that she spent more time bashing Trump (hasn’t he done this quite sufficiently without her help) on the campaign trail than she has explaining her own positions and  platform.  I am grateful that Bernie has and will continue to push her toward progressive positions. 

My friends who favored Hillary during the primaries told me she is more pragmatic than Bernie and will be able to get more done for the people.  I am open to that possibility, but still mourn the fact that, for now anyway, we will not get to see how a candidate like Bernie might have unified factions that divide our nation.  Bernie was certainly a unifier as is evidenced by the fact that people on the far right and the far left supported him enthusiastically.  Isn’t bringing factions together in unity a pragmatic approach?  During the primaries, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to reach out to people who adamantly disagreed with him on social issues and find common ground with them.  Even my Hillary supporting friends conceded that Bernie was an important influence nudging her toward positions that better serve the American people. Hillary has not demonstrated such a unifying presence.  But wisely, Bernie chose unity above division by endorsing and campaigning tirelessly for Hillary.  I chose unity by voting as he recommends. 

Today I feel even stronger about my vote to unify behind Hillary.  I have just finished reading Unbowed,  A Memoir by Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist,  female activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner.  Her life journey is inspiring on many levels and connects the dots between many seemingly separate issues.  She understands and expresses the profound connection between poverty, environment, gender and our hope for “peace on Earth”.  In Chapter 11, she writes about the elections of 1992 in Kenya at a time when the Kenyan government was ruled by a one-party regime that claimed to be democratic but which controlled the media and catered only to its wealthy insiders.  A year earlier the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy was founded as a movement to educate Kenyans and elect a truly Democratic government to replace the regime in power.  Rather than unifying and nominating one candidate, three candidates emerged, thus fracturing the opposition. “This fragmentation would set back the cause of democratization for ten years.”  

Oh my!  If we do not get behind Hillary will the Affordable Care Act be repealed and Universal Health Care be delayed for a long time?  Will Social Security be privatized?  Will civil rights continue to be undermined?  Bernie realizes the stakes are very high and he knew if he ran as a third party, he would be assuring the election of Trump to possibly dump on our nation.  He was wise to endorse Hillary and to encourage his admirers to do the same.  Will we rise to the occasion in unity?  I am very eager to know the outcome and to hopefully see what Hillary can do.  Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders both understand the importance of a unified resistance to a potential regime-like time in our beloved nation.  I understand it, too.  Vote Democratic for Hillary and for all down ballot races.  Even if elected President, she cannot do it alone!