Election Day Is About More Than the Presidency

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

27 October 16

illary Clinton will likely be the next president of the United States. That is not what we wanted when we built the political revolution. Many will write in Bernie Sanders, as Michael Moore did. Many will vote for Jill Stein, some for Gary Johnson, and I guess a few of you for Donald Trump (hard to understand that one).

I am in Iowa, and I’ve already voted for Hillary Clinton. I cannot imagine a country where someone like Donald Trump is president. I am in a battleground state, and I made the strongest vote I could against Donald Trump.

My vote was also strategic. On issue after issue, our best chance for success in the next few years is with the Democratic Party in power. Of course, the Green Party would do a better job, but they are really not in the game yet. I could have sent a message like Michael Moore did, but instead I voted for the candidate who is in the best position to give us progress on the most important issues facing our nation.

Let’s start with Health Care, very important to me as I am being screened to see if I am a candidate for a kidney transplant. Obamacare is flawed, and my premiums will go up, but in my situation I am better off than I was in 2008 when I couldn’t get affordable health care. I was constantly denied because of pre-existing conditions. I had an employer willing to help out, but no insurer who wanted to give me coverage. I believe single payer is the way to go. I also believe Hillary Clinton supports a public option, which is a path to single payer. If the government were able to negotiate a plan with health care providers that did not include profit and money for advertising and other things a for-profit insurer has to build into coverage, they could keep costs down and drive the private insurers out of business. We would then have single payer. If we elect Democrats down-ballot and in the White House, we can save Obamacare with a public option. We know Trump and a Republican Congress would repeal Obamacare. What we don’t know is what they would replace it with.

On the Environment: Donald Trump and the Republicans do not believe climate change exists. It is troubling that Hillary Clinton did not recommend denying the permit for the Keystone Pipeline while she was secretary of state. Yes, Hillary assisted corporations in marketing fracking in other countries – it was her job. John Kerry has continued to push fracking as secretary of state, even though he was opposed to fracking in the Senate. We put strong language in the Democratic Party platform. It is our job to fight for implementation. That fight has no chance of succeeding if Donald Trump and the Republicans hold the White House and Congress.

Economic Inequality is an area we must address. Donald Trump thinks the minimum wage is too high. Minimum-wage workers would not get a raise under the Republicans. While Hillary Clinton is not as strong a supporter of the Fight for $15 as we would like, if Congress passed a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage, she would sign it. Donald Trump would veto it, and a GOP Congress wouldn’t even pass $10.10 an hour. We need to put Democrats in control of Congress and the White House.

On Student Debt: After pressure from the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton’s wing agreed to fight for free tuition at public colleges and universities for students with parents making less than $125,000 a year. What can you get from the Republicans on student debt?

On Civil Rights: Do you really think the Republicans will do anything to fight the institutional racism that plagues our government institutions, including the criminal justice system? Let’s face it: the GOP and Trump’s Reagan Democrats want nothing to do with reforming our police departments and courts. They want more jails, and Trump even praised stop and frisk. Our only hope for progress is fighting for change with a Democratic Party-controlled White House and Congress.

Of course we all know too well what Donald Trump thinks of Women. We all see so many Republican lawmakers continuing to support Trump despite his sexist and racist views. The reason is that they are sexist and racist, too.

I hope than one day the Green Party will grow into a viable political party. It will not happen in the next two weeks. Absent that, there are real and tangible reasons to support the Democratic Party on Election Day. Then, as Bernie keeps saying, it will be our job to mobilize millions of Americans to pressure the Democrats to do the right thing. What could we get out of the Republicans?

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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