And let us not forget her ties to big banks and Wall Street as her top 10 cumulative donors included Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. In addition, her son-in-law manages a hedge fund that was formed by him and several former Goldman Sachs employees. Nor should we forget the role she has played in expanding the use of fracking, her reluctance to take a stand on the TPP agreement, and the delay in disclosing her view on the Keystone Pipeline. We should also remember how Elizabeth Warren condemned Hillary Clinton in 2005 for helping pass bankruptcy legislation that would help credit card companies at the expense of the American people. Let us also note that Hillary Clinton voted for the Wall Street bailout.
What is intriguing is how even today, I see Hillary Clinton presenting this faà §ade that she is more to the left than Bernie Sanders because she does not want to provide free tuition to rich kids. Of course, on this logic, Republican Presidential candidates in 2012 like Chris Christie and Mitt Romney should be hailed as Robin Hoods then as they offered a similar idea regarding social security. However, people on the Left knew the real motives behind this plan. There is also her complex relationship with charter schools, and her history as a board member for Wal-Mart.
Now, let us review Bill Clinton's presidency, and ask ourselves if we want another Clinton in the White House. Let us not forget how many people have suffered or died because of Bill Clinton. There was the federal crime bill that he signed in 1994. This bill included the "three strikes" law (i.e., if one is convicted of two prior felonies, a third felony conviction would lead to a life sentence). This bill also included mandatory minimum sentences for minor non-violent offenses (e.g. drug-related crimes). There was the so-called welfare reform bill. Peter Edelman, a policy maker that worked for Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton would resign in protest of this bill because he knew how much it would harm millions of poor children, and legal immigrants. I urge everyone to read the article written by Edelman in 1997, as many of his criticisms and concerns were proven to be valid. His article is also a reminder that many Democrats were on the right side of history (Tedd Kennedy called the bill "legislative child abuse"). I wish I could say the same for Bill Clinton.
Then there was the number of bills that Bill Clinton signed that helped Wall Street run amok. He signed the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, which abolished the Glass-Steagall law. He made it possible for a derivative market to exist without any kind of regulation. Bill Clinton also appointed guys like Larry Summers to the Treasury. Larry Summers was not just one of the guys to blame for the 2008 Financial Crisis, but he even played a disturbing role in dismissing Gary Davis' concerns about Enron's suspicious tactics, and instead, preached this idea that overregulation was the real cause of the problem happening in California, not Enron.
The list goes on and on. Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement which significantly slashed the amount of manufacturing jobs in America. There was the Defense of Marriage Act which deprived same-sex couples of having the same benefits and rights that all other couples had. Bill Clinton also expanded the Drug War, and was perfectly okay with putting a mentally challenged person to death when he was Governor of Arkansas. In fact, many argued that it was a strategy he used to help him get elected as president. In 1996, Bill Clinton also signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. The New York Times would go on to describe this bill as "the law that keeps people on death row despite flawed trials".
I won't even review other scandals in depth, like the way Bill Clinton turned Lincoln's Bedroom into a fundraising condo, or the attack Bill Clinton unleashed on Sister Souljah which Jesse Jackson rightfully criticized. Nor will I go into detail about how many feminist organizations turned a blind eye every time Bill Clinton was accused of sexual misconduct, or the way they threw Monica Lewinsky under the bus, even blaming the whole scandal on her. As Susan Faludi once said when referring to the Lewinsky affair, "it sounds like she put the moves on him."
The fact is this list can actually be expanded. Nevertheless, the point has been made. It is time the so-called champions for the principles of the Left to scrutinize Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's past. A vote for Bernie Sanders will send a ripple effect to the Democratic Party that the era of New Democrats is over. It is time we take our party back.
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