I'll wait to decide until the general election debates are over to see if I vote for Hillary or just sit out. I want to see what kind of policies and stances she takes when on the stage against Trump, because Bernie forced her farther left during the primaries than she otherwise would have been. While I was never Bernie or bust , I never intended on casting a vote for anyone in the 2016 election until Bernie joined the race, so I'm back to my default position . I realize Hillary is the lesser evil , but that's a pretty weak reason to expect her to automatically get the votes from people who supported Bernie. I think it's also asinine to put the onus on independents to vote for Hillary cause Trump is her opponent , how about the DNC makes sure there's more compelling candidates to vote for instead of expecting people to simply vote out of spite because Trump is a poorer candidate than Hillary. Obama was by no means a perfect candidate back in 2008 but he certainly was able to make a compelling case for why he was worth electing in 2008. It frustrates me because I would have voted for Elizabeth Warren , regardless of if Bernie Sanders ever entered the race . If it would've been Elizabeth Warren versus Hillary from the start I would've voted for Warren in a heartbeat . The reality is I'm stuck with Hillary , so I'll wait and see what I do ..
I'm in the exact position and I've never voted before. However, I'm definitely leaning towards voting for her because:
- She shifted left on healthcare - I don't care if she had this position 25 years ago. That is not the position she had when I heard her in the primaries, so shifting left here pleases me. Still not the ideal position, but a huge step towards Single Payer
- Same with education - like above, not enough as it excludes families making over 125K which is dumb. It also doesn't detail what contributions the family has to make, still a step in the right direction
- She is very strong on gun law reform
- Very strong on racial injustice and on LGBT rights
- Pathway to citizenship to illegal immigrants who do not have a criminal record
- Strong on green energy and changes needed for climate change
- Guaranteed paid family leave
- Voting rights
- Women and minorities rights
- Apparently wants to make changes on campaign finance and break up big banks
- Her working with Sanders shows me she is willing to go further if needed
- And especially, this - One open spot that the senate is not going to allow Obama to appoint. Three more are probably going to retire or maybe die. They are older and 2 are left leaning (83 and 77 years old) and one is right leaning (79 years old). It is EXTREMELY scary to think 7/9 judges would be appointed by Republicans, up to 4 by Trump.
There are other stuff that I like as well, but it's similar to what Trump has, i.e. reshoring whenever possible, fix our crappy ass infrastructure (bridges, roads, public transport, etc), taking care of our veterans, etc
When looking at that, one can see how similar her policies are with Sanders'. All the list above except for the last, most important point is for naught if she doesn't have congress come 2018.
I think she is a major liar though. She is also hawkish as fuck. A snake in the grass and a flip flopper. A panderer and a demagogue. I have not forgotten the quick "NO" for gay marriage in NY and how private prisons backed her. I do believe people can change and she might have been ignorant before and has genuinely changed. I will have to see it though.
At the end of the day, I'm registered in arguably the most important purple state and I think I'll most likely drag my ass there and vote for here, but I'll see what happens in the general and see if she will go back to her positions when the primaries started.
