Well for months I have resisted the urge to blog about the
elections even though there has been so much to discuss. Or, more accurately so much to disgust. And I guess this is one reason I have not
used my scarce and valuable time writing about it, because it has been pretty
awful and everyone knows it, so my two cents may not add anything new to the
conversation.
Of course, in truth, there has been A LOT missing from the
conversation – namely the most important issue facing the world today, global climate
destabilization. And this in itself is
reason enough to enthusiastically vote for Hilary Clinton. Thanks to the folks Bernie Sanders appointed
to the Democratic national platform committee, taking dramatic and immediate
action to fight climate change is now part of the Democratic platform. This of course does not mean they will do it,
especially with an opposing party that promises to block everything Clinton
will try to do, but at least there is chance that if pushed hard enough they
might follow through on this plank of their platform. The alternative – a Trump presidency – would
clearly be much less likely to take any action on this issue. In fact Trump has promised to pull out of the
Paris Climate Accord, which, while it does not go far enough, is the best
global agreement on climate change the world has produced so far. We are currently at or just passed the limits
of atmospheric CO2 (400ppm) and temperature increase (1.5degrees Celsius) that
scientists have warned us to stay below.
Imagine a future where our leaders come together to lead the
world in getting off fossil fuels, reigniting our economy through the mass
production of windmills and solar panels, creating new jobs in entirely new
energy sectors. A future where we
restore the health of our farms and soils to allow them to capture and hold the
carbon which they are meant to contain.
“Carbon farming” is one of those win-win solutions that can actually help
take CO2 out of the atmosphere that is already there.
Imagine a climate victory plan that details the steps the US
government needs to take to fight climate change on a scale we have not seen
since the Victory Plan used to fight WWII.
My students, along with its author, will be delivering such a plan to
congress when they visit DC in December, but that is another story. This plan has much more hope of becoming
reality of Hilary if president.
Beyond the issue of climate change… While I prefer the policies of Democrats to
those of Republicans, I was not as worried about a President Romney as I am a
President Trump. He is such a mean, vengeful,
and disgusting person. He is utterly
un-presidential. I know that may be one
thing people like about him, people who are tired of the two faced politicians
that have not served the average American with their pro-corporate, pro-wealthy
elite, pro-war policies. But he is a two
faced business man, even worse. And I
get it that Hilary is the poster child for this type of politician. I do not agree with many of Hilary’s stances
on issues. Since I live in California,
which is guaranteed to go to Hilary, I am voting for Jill Stein who much more
closely reflects my values. However, in
swing states, I believe it is so important to chose Hilary, who could turn out
to be a great President, over Trump, who would much more likely screw things
up. He is simply dangerous, and the
things he says he will do are terrible ideas – biggest tax breaks to the rich
in recent history, pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, building a wall,
etc. Imagine the things he just decides
to do on the fly when he gets upset. And
his style of leadership is to make decisions based on gut instinct without much
input from others. President of the
United States is way too big a job for this type of leader. I could go on and on but this is where I am
not adding anything new to the conversation.
The truth is, Hilary is the most qualified person to run for
office in decades if not generations.
Many people criticized Obama, Bush, even Bill Clinton for their lack of
effectiveness due to their lack of familiarity with how Washington works. Hilary is very familiar. She also has relationships around the world. Imagine Trump’s international relations. We have two people to choose from and I can’t
imagine anyone choosing Trump. This
shows my lack of imagination since nearly half of potential voters seemed ready
to vote for him.
And of course there is the Supreme Court. Oh, and we could have our first woman President - long overdue!!
Of course, after Hilary becomes President, the work begins,
for it will be true of her just as it is of any leader, they aren’t going to
take action unless they feel pressure to do so.
We know they get pressure from their rich donors and the corporate
lobbyists. This means we the people need
to put pressure on her to carry through on her campaign promises and to take
action on the issues outlined in the official Democratic platform. This is where non-violent protest comes in,
something else my students have been studying, but that is also another
story.
Wow, tomorrow is the day we have been leading up to for this
600 day long campaign season – insane! And
stupid! And so American.
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