Pundits, politicians and media outlets are always patting themselves on the back when the public agrees with them on a subject, and the mistrust of Hillary Clinton is no different. So many have questioned her honesty that it’s sometimes hard to talk about her without bringing it up. It may surprise those who take credit for discrediting her, then, that the propaganda about Hillary constantly lying, cheating, breaking the rules and deceiving the public for her nefarious agenda, is all but completely ignored by my entire generation (I’m 29). We put literally zero faith in the word of the establishment politicians and their mouthpieces, so those attacks aren’t what has us mistrusting her. We don’t trust her for the same reasons that we mistrust the people denigrating her. She is a 20th century politician spouting 20th century canned statements about her 20th century centrist platform, while all of us are clamoring to get on with the 21st century! When we hear that she lies, cheats, breaks the rules, or whatever, we don’t believe the details because we don’t trust the messenger. We do believe that she’s dishonest, but not because of what people say. We believe she is dishonest because she’s a successful politician, and we know that’s not something which is possible to accomplish honestly. While most of us recognize that Hillary is a decent person with an impressive record, she doesn’t represent real change, no matter how much material she steals from Bernie Sanders.
Hillary is one of the most effective politicians of our time. Getting to where she is, despite all the resistance to her politics, her personality and her gender, is an incredible accomplishment and she should be commended for her determination. If America has its first woman president by the and of the year, I will be happy for it. But, it will not be a 21st century victory. Overcoming that gender barrier is something that could have and should have been done decades ago in America. Doing so now, while certainly a positive step, is like crossing the finish line after the race is long over and everyone else has gone home. Canada had a female head of state a long time ago, and now we have gender equality in the federal cabinet and have moved on to 21st century issues like climate change and (hopefully soon) water rights. Certainly, gender equality is still an issue in Canada and throughout the world, but it’s not debated in the west. Almost everyone accepts that women and men are equal, we’re just getting past all the systemic inequality that still lingers in our institutions.
The reason so many of my generational peers are so into Bernie, and some of the stupid ones even like Trump, is that we have all grown up with the certainty that our government and leadership are ineffective, unaccountable, and ultimately corrupt in all things. We have no faith in the system, so when a candidate like Hillary comes along, molded completely by a lifetime in that system, we are instinctively turned off. We know an oligarch when we see one. Bernie, another career politician, seems like an outsider because of the way the insiders treat him. As soon as he started to challenge Hillary, he suddenly got much more attention and seemed like more of a traditional candidate, and he lost support. It may even have cost him the race. Trump may be rich, but he’s not rich enough or smart enough to be a real player in the political game in any other way than the way he is now, as a figurehead. He really is a complete outsider to the established oligarchy. If he wasn’t just a giant vanity mirror for ignorant narcissists, I would be happy about him winning the republican nomination. Unfortunately, Trump is the unabashed orange clown that he is, and I wish I could vote against him from way up here in Canada.
If you look at the election of president Obama, you see the beginnings of 21st century politics. My generation wants leadership that moves forward at the pace of change in this century. Trump moves at a 21st century pace, and even though he’s steering the country towards the dark ages, it's getting him some younger voters. If a politician wants the support of young people, they need to convince us that things will truly be different after they win. Even Obama couldn’t live up to the hope he inspired, and didn’t bring the real change he promised. Hillary seems like she’ll keep the lights on and the water running, but there won’t be enough real improvement. She won’t address the fundamental problems that plague government with modern tools and a modern approach. Bernie doesn’t have all the answers ready, but at least he recognizes SOME of the fundamental problems with the American government, like Citizens United and unchecked corporate lobbying.
Hillary has no incentive to significantly change the political system. She’s spent far too long learning to work it to let it change on her, even if she does see that it’s broken. She might make some overtures to the progressives, but those are easily offset by quietly giving the oligarchs the reach around with the other hand, like they usually get from everyone. She might, for example, overturn Citizens United to great public acclaim, while quietly creating an even more blatant way for the rich to influence politics so she can keep their support. That’s how politics has always worked at the highest level, and Hillary is a student of that game. She’s trying so hard to stay on top of the race that she’s saying things she otherwise wouldn’t. Some say that means Bernie is having an influence on her policies, but we have all seen countless promises made by politicians in the heat of the race and broken shortly afterwards. We have no reason to trust she will do what she promised once elected. The first major test after the election could be wrapping up the TPP. I believe she would flip-flop again and ratify the TPP given the opportunity, but I hope I’m wrong, and I certainly could be.
All that being said, America could do so much worse than Hillary this time around, its not even funny anymore. Ok, sometimes it still is funny, but in a painful way, like when somebody else gets hit in the balls and you laugh, but also cringe. Please, Americans, don’t vote for Trump or Cruz. I know I don’t need to tell anyone at Daily Kos that, but still, it’s important those guys don’t get elected. More than anything else, I need to see America as a whole start making better decisions in my lifetime to believe that the world can ever be saved from the limitless ignorance of humanity. Good luck, USA!