In Defense of Voting for Hillary on Principle

[terri_testing]

I’ve been thinking long and with a troubled hear about the points raised about Hillary and foreign policy.

Yes, she is more hawkish than I personally am comfortable with. As a long-time peace activist, I have deplored some of her decisions. For example, I was

Comments

Reality

[mary_j_59]

Terri, I think your attack on Jill Stein and her positions not being reality-based is wrong. First, as to the claim that Stein opposes vaccines, I have read this is simply untrue. As far as GMOs go, well, she's a doctor. I am a person with allergies, and I am also opposed to GMOs because of the possibility of cross-contamination with allergens. But

[mary_j_59]

Just one more comment to your thoughtful post, Terri. You aren't the only one to bring up vaccinations and Dr. Stein, so I decided to seek out some articles and interviews so I could find out what she actually said. She said this

[oryx_leucoryx]

I was gathering materials to compose a detailed response, but didn't get around to it. I know your specific vote didn't matter, but thanks to others who thought like you we are now living in the 1930s Germany. (Just read up on incidents at schools and gas stations all over the country.)

FYI 'big pharma' is a dog whistle for anti-vaxxers. You think this represents a reasonable argument, but they hear 'this person agrees with us that we shouldn't vaccinate'. It is a highly irresponsible position. The US has a process to test vaccines, follow up on problems, and update vaccination schedules as the benefit/risk changes over time. Also, vaccines are not all that lucrative. Drugs for some chronic conditions are the big money-bringers.

I might get around to your GMO scare (how do you think we are going to feed the 10 billion people who will live on the planet by mid-century?) at some point.

[mary_j_59]

Oryx, please don't slam me. I'm heartbroken right now. I never in a million years thought Donald Trump would be elected, and the four percent of Americans who voted for minor candidates did not cause this. Between them, the Democratic party and Donald Trump caused this, with a big assist from ignorant nativism, racism, and sexism

[oryx_leucoryx]

I agree the lack of a left wing is a serious problem. I can't take the Greens seriously as a left wing party when they are not running anyone but the top ticket in my (and many other) state(s). When the Republicans ran for the first time in 1856 they didn't just run a presidential candidate, they also ran multiple senators and representatives. When the first Republican president was elected he had Congress members with whom to govern. The Greens are not acting like a serious party, they are acting like a gimmick.

As long as we have the first-past-the-post system we will probably have two parties most of the time. The way to get a new voice heard is either to run in one of the existing major parties or to wait for circumstances where one of the two is falling apart (the way the Republicans got an opportunity when the Whigs couldn't form a stance on slavery).