They say that people change.
I do not believe that is the truth.
People rarely change who they are at their core.
If they do, it in my experience, is typically as the result of some life alteringly tragic event in their lives. This is my perspective on the world, and there are others, but I'm telling you mine. I can count on one hand the number of people I've seen make drastic and dramatic changes in their beliefs. They almost always involve tragedy.
On a hot day in August, in the summer of 1963, Bernie Sanders stood on the Washington Mall as one of those who marched on Washington with Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr.
In 1964, a young Hillary Rodham worked for the Presidential campaign of Senator Barry Goldwater.
Barry Goldwater OPPOSED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.
I think that Hillary Rodham Clinton has talked a good game about a lot of things, but at her core, I believe she remains that young Goldwater supporter, and if you examined the record of her in the Senate, or her husband in the White House, where she was one of his most trusted advisors, there are very few positions either of them took which ran afoul of Barry Goldwater.
I do not believe a word that is uttered from the mouth of anyone named Clinton. I do not believe one because he is an admitted perjurer. Perjury is a serious felony.
I do not believe the other because they have always, to me, seemed insincere, calculating, and power hungry. "She's not some little Tammy Wynette standing by her man," yet 23 years later with additional infidelities since, she is still with him.
I don't believe people ever change who they are at their core, and because of that, if Hillary Clinton is the nominee of this party, I will be quitting the Democratic Party, because it has abandoned me.
At his core Bernie Sanders, was, and is a good man, who has been on the right side of history his entire life. If he is the nominee of my party, my faith in the party will be restored.
Some food for thought for those who say he cannot win, picture that it is September or October of next year and Senator Sanders is the nominee, and Rand Paul or Ted Cruz, or Scott Walker, or Jeb Bush is the Republican nominee. Now imagine the televised debates. When 78% of the American people agree with Bernie's major policy positions and he is hammering home what he wants to do and why, who wins those debates? If Bernie is the nominee of the Democratic Party, his victory to me seems as inevitable as LBJ's victory in 1964. Why? Because 78% of the American people agree with him. The Tea Party people who didn't like the banks being bailed out, will like Bernie, as will the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Old folks on Social Security and Medicare will like Bernie. Those who still remain uninsured will like Bernie. The college set will like Bernie, as will their parents. Who won't like him, the richest 1%. They vote regularly. More than 90% of them vote in every election. Bernie, in my opinion, could expand the turnout. Why? Because he has walked his talk.
Hillary Clinton to me has rarely been on the right side of history.
She was for Goldwater in 1964. She voted for the Iraq War. She voted for the pro-bank and anti-consumer bankruptcy reform act in 2001. She stood by her husband as he gutted Wall Street regulation at the end of his term and as he added unnecessary police to expand the over policing of America. She stood by him as he made life harder for America's poor with "welfare reform." She stood by him when he killed US manufacturing with free trade agreements and granting China permanent normalized trade relations.
She did all this after he cheated on her numerous times. She did this in my opinion because he was her path to power, and that in my book disqualifies her for the office of the Presidency. Yes, that one decision made me loathe her, because she didn't value herself enough to leave a philanderer.
Yes, there are things about a person's character that matter to me when it comes to the Presidency, and she fails a test of character. She didn't have the backbone to leave a man who cheated on her, and that man did a lot to destroy the country. A lot he probably would not have been able to do if she left him. If Hillary Clinton had divorced him while he was in the White House, he would have rightly been convicted during his impeachment. The fact that she didn't have the backbone to leave a man who cheated on her means she doesn't have the backbone for the office. President Obama hasn't had nearly enough backbone for the office either. Which is why he did not get my vote in 2012. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I am proud to say that in 1992 when Jerry Brown was limiting campaign contributions to $100 I favored him in the primaries. I wasn't old enough to vote yet, but he was my guy. In 1996 I voted for Perot. I have never voted for a Clinton, and I never will. There is no there, there. They are fake and they are phony. I don't like that, but most of all I don't like Republicans pretending to be Democrats, and that is what they both are in my book.
I know with certainty that Bernie isn't putting on an Act. He has walked his talk his entire life. He is who he is, what you see is what you get. I like that. In fact, I love that. If you believe the nation's mythos, most Americans love that. George Washington could not tell a lie. Honest Abe Lincoln. The truth tellers are venerated in America. Teddy Roosevelt was the incorruptible police commissioner before he was the trust busting President. If I remember correctly they are all on Rushmore.
I believe with conviction that Hillary Rodham Clinton is still a Goldwater supporter and we sure as hell don't need anymore of them in the White House.