Letter 126: Thoughts on the 2016 Election (¡as if anybody REALLY cares what I think!)

“This election is incredibly important to the future of our nation, and we, the future of this country, need to have a say in who is representing us and making decisions on our behalf.”

-- The Vermont Cynic; November 2nd, 2016

“As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself - and not just by voting.”

-- Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

Choosing Senator / Secretary Clinton was not easy; voting for her was. The choice was never one of picking the candidate of one of the two major parties; Mr Trump was unfit for the office and responsible for very ugly personalities and behaviors during the campaign (http://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2016/04/letter-116-time-to-toast-these-crumpets.html). Additionally, the Libertarian ticket of Governors Johnson and Weld complicated things as they represented a choice consonant with my personal politics as a Republican. My hesitation always boiled down to certain basic questions involving the Senator’s / Secretary’s character:

• a conflict-of-interest between then Secretary of State Clinton and the Clinton Foundation;
• the prospect of President Bill Clinton being back in the White House; as well as,
• anecdotal evidence that Senator Clinton had been too close to the banks principally responsible for the crash of 2008.

Other questions, outside of those of character, included those of lasting health-care reform, the economic prisoners’ dilemma in trade policy as well as an overall lack of private sector experience or expertise in business. Notwithstanding my evident pretension to intellection, I would like to address these BIG-3 issues briefly.

Conflict of Interest. The F.B.I. Director acted rightly in alerting Congress to the possibility of new evidence emerging with newly uncovered e-mails and then alerting those same leaders that his first letter had been a false-alarm. The revelation of foreign government contributions not disclosed to the State Department were disturbing but explicable; there simply was no evidence – at least yet – that these governments benefitted from these contributions. Nevertheless, any conflict of interest asserted againt Secretary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation paled in comparison to the interwoven interests of Vice President Cheney with Halliburton-Kellogg, Brown and Root a decade ago.

Much like the Senator / Secretary, Vice President Cheney apparently had unseemly ties to a private interest but no direct evidence of overt wrong-doing ever emerged. Since I had accepted the integrity of Vice President Cheney enough to vote for President Bush, I really had to cut the Secretary / Senator the same slack. Though I have yet to read it (and likely never will), the book, Clinton Cash, likely exposed some unsavory business dealings. The Senator / Secretary, however, did not participate in these transactions; her husband did.

President Bill Clinton back in the White House. This single prospect proved to be the largest potential deterrent for my voting for the Secretary / Senator for reasons I have mentioned in the past (http://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2016/04/letter-116-while-hill-pill-gives-me.html). Often, I have felt that voting for the Senator / Secretary would have been much easier had she divorced her husband. To me, at least, the ‘Bubba factor’ remained the single largest risk-factor with her candidacy. Nevertheless, Secretary / Senator Clinton remains an independently spirited woman with a mind – a great mind – of her own. Hopefully, her character will prove to be as great and independent.

What eventually tipped the balance in favor of the Secretary / Senator was the basic decency and integrity displayed by Chelsea Clinton. Ms Clinton, I have to believe, got that character formation from her mother, a life-long practicing Methodist.

Coddling the banks and other corrupted business interests. While the repeal of Glass Steagall Act and the subsequent collapse of the banks were not only disappointing but also disastrous, the Senator / Secretary was not present in the Senate for TARP II (though she probably supported it). My hope remains that Senator Warren persuades her to pursue a restoration of Glass-Steagall. On the trade front, the Secretary / Senator hopefully will be accountable to the supporters of Senator Sanders.

Sticking to the Positive. My vote was rather easy, in the end, due to certain plusses of, and supporters for, the candidacy of Secretary / Senator Clinton.

1. The Democrats gave the country a vision – “Stronger Together” – to vote for rather than a person, or Mexicans, to vote against.
2. Secretary / Senator Clinton emerged stronger from exhaustive and exhausting investigations dragged out for partisan reasons.
3. Senator / Secretary Clinton made it clear that her pro-choice stance did not imply that she deemed abortion to be an acceptable form of birth control.
4. Senator / Secretary Clinton did accept responsibility for the e-mail server and for the loss of Americans in Benghazi.
5. The Secretary / Senator had positives in her background, including work for the Children’s Defense Fund.
6. People whom I admire but are as diverse politically as President and Mrs George H.W. Bush (R) as well as Senators Sanders (l), Warner (R) and Warren (D) supported the Secretary / Senator.
7. The Clinton Foundation really has performed heartening work for the most part.
8. The Senator / Secretary brought a deep experience to the job.

Conclusion. The next right thing to do for the next right reason was for me to vote. Whether I had voted Democratic or Libertarian, I had faith that, no matter how flawed the Senator / Secretary might be, she was loyal to the Republic and the country could manage four-to-eight years under her leadership, no matter how tainted. Mr Trump, on the other hand, openly attacked our weakened democracy by demonizing people and claiming the electoral system had been rigged (http://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2016/05/letter-116-b-getting-historical.html).

Senator Sanders had a better claim to the rigging charge. That he did not press it said a lot about him and enough about Secretary / Senator Clinton. Hopefully, Senator Sanders will keep the Senator / Secretary intellectually honest should the American people elect her as President. The list of people arrayed against Mr Trump from within the G.O.P. was impressive and indicative of the principles compromised by this candidacy.