With Ted Cruz leaving the race, one shoe has dropped, so to speak. It is likely that the other shoe will drop June 7th, and Sanders will have to concede. Yes, Bernie still has a (long) shot, but as much as I love him, I do not want either Sanders or Clinton to have to run after suffering the damage of a contested convention. So, in the reality-based community, we are gearing up to see Clinton face Trump in the general election.
In Internet La La land, the candidates have been determined for a number of weeks: NeverHillary, and NeverTrump. The interesting thing about these candidates is that they have supporters across the political spectrum. There are plenty of right-wing NeverTrump supporters. And, on the Internet at least, there are legions of NeverHillary supporters on the left.
While we all have the right to vote for the candidate of our choice, voting against the candidate we never want to win is a privilege. So how does my privilege align with support for NeverHillary?
As a white, relatively affluent, cis-gendered, heterosexual, male with a stellar IT resume:
- I won’t lose any reproductive rights if Roe v Wade is overturned.
- My income will stay high regardless of what happens to the minimum wage.
- Candidates supported by “Citizens United” campaign financing support policies that benefit me (mainly because all candidates support policies that benefit me).
- I will not lose my health care if the ACA is repealed.
- I already paid for my education so I am not affected by steep rise in education costs.
- I won’t be shot by police for carrying a real gun, much less a toy gun.
- No one is going to refuse me service because of the gender of my spouse.
- I don’t need any laws to ensure that I get paid fairly for what I do.
- My skillset is in such high demand, I can negotiate compensation without the benefit of a union.
- I don’t need Medicaid, SNAP, or unemployment benefits.
- I already have the photo ID I need to vote.
- No one is going to harass or arrest me because they think I’m an immigrant.
- I don’t have kids nor am I going to, so family leave, child care, child health care — I have nothing at stake in this area.
It looks like I have the privilege needed to be a full blown supporter of NeverHillary in the general. While I’ve done what I can to support Bernie Sanders, however,I will not support NeverHillary. I can go further and say I will never support NeverHillary. I am positively supporting Hillary Clinton.
While I strongly support the rights and welfare of people who are not like me, my support for Clinton is not “holding my nose” as some noble sacrifice to benefit others. I’m voting for Hillary Clinton for the following completely selfish reasons:
- Climate change affects me, too.
- I don’t want my wife’s contribution to our family income artificially diminished by 20%-30% because money.
- Because my spouse is a woman, and her quality of life affects my quality of life, I don’t want her to have any arbitrary disadvantages because she is a woman.
- Equitable income (in all senses) strengthens the economy. When people earn a living wage and this applies equally across the workforce, it drives demand, which drives growth.
- Even if Clinton is taking advantage of campaign finance loopholes, she wants to close them. Trump does not.
- I am one of the millions of Americans who has to drive over a bridge to get to work each day. I don’t want it to collapse. I don’t want to see a huge increase infrastructure spending squandered on a fucking border wall.
- For that matter, I don’t really want to drive across that bridge. I’d rather take the train, but they need to expand the rail system just a little more for that to be an option.
- I desperately need more young job seekers who have the education to fill the positions I have open in my organization, and Trump University isn’t going to cut it.
- In today’s world, we need a president with foreign policy experience. Clinton’s experience includes some failures, but it also includes successes and that is important.
The world was pretty shitty when Barack Obama took office. It’s still pretty shitty for a lot of people, but for many, many others, it’s way better. This fall, as a resident of Reality, I’m voting to keep going forward, even if the pace is frustrating.
If you’re a resident of Neverland, then do what you want, I guess.