96 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 51 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 1/24/16

An Open Letter to Hillary Clinton from One Progressive Woman

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   26 comments

Donna Smith
Message Donna Smith
Become a Fan
  (12 fans)

Reprinted from www.commondreams.org by Donna Smith

.
.
(Image by WisPolitics.com)
  Details   DMCA

I am a progressive. I work with and serve thousands of progressive women. And you, Sec. Clinton, are no progressive woman.

Hillary, I must challenge your assertion on some occasions that you are a progressive. I am a progressive woman. You are not. Progressive women believe in women's reproductive rights and certainly reach to have a woman in the White House. We stand together on these issues, so that subject needs little debate here or elsewhere on the campaign trail. You and I are part of the same generation, and we also reached for much, much more beyond these critical issues for women and for every American. My sisters, and brothers, who are part of Planned Parenthood and NARAL know they can trust Sen. Sanders as much as they do you to protect reproductive rights. But progressive women want more.

As a progressive woman, I believe we must stand for progressive change and progressive governance. I have no ties to corporate America. How about you? Come on. Pursuing real progressive change requires not lip service to the possible but decisive, courageous commitment to what is necessary to overcome the corporate stranglehold on our democracy.

As a progressive, I believe in Healthcare NOT Warfare! (a major campaign for Progressive Democrats of America) and in improved, expanded Medicare for all healthcare. You certainly have disparaged improved, expanded Medicare for all even after you and Bill have previously stated your support. Medicare for all remains the best and only way to end the grip corporate health interests have on all of us--women, their children, their families.

As a progressive, I believe in peace. Sometimes when I listen to you, I think you want us to understand you can order us to war as decisively as any man. That's not why I want a woman to lead. I had hoped a woman would take more seriously the idea that we need not send drones with bombs to kill other parents' children to prove our strength as a nation. Showing the ability to go to war or bomb and kill is not what I see as a sign of power. I am a progressive for peace. You are not.

As a progressive, I believe in clean, sustainable energy and a world focused on stemming the tide of climate change. Progressives know we must stand up to corporate interests and demand real action. This means much of our own nation must move more quickly on this issue before the planet faces the point of no return. We owe our children that.

As a progressive, I believe in true equality for women, and that comes with the responsibility to lift all women from the economic and social conditions that you have allowed to foment and that you will be hard-pressed to address while Wall Street whispers in your ear. You cannot--simply cannot--represent progressive ideals while holding hands with the corporate interests that have so enriched you even as those same interests crush working class women like me.

Progressives believe in progressive change and progressive policies. So please remove that self-descriptor from your tool box. I've heard you claim that progressives are often idealists who seek to achieve perfect solutions in an imperfect political environment. Odd words spoken by the woman who seeks to be the first woman president of these United States. Your dream, our dream, wasn't achievable in previous elections and that was no reason to give up on the pursuit. I see so many wonderful women I know and respect putting the issue of getting a woman in the White House above achieving the progressive changes that all women must have to live lives full of opportunity and rich in possibility. That seems self-defeating to me in terms of the longer term outlook for all of us.

I am a progressive. You are not. Sometimes you acknowledge that as you have done on the campaign trail. "You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty," you said while speaking at an event for women in Ohio. That isn't even close to what I want to hear. We've had quite enough of centrist politics and not enough progressive change. The art of doing only that which is deemed politically possible by a few powerful people who pontificate from the center is far less valuable than the commitment to doing what is difficult but ultimately better for many, many more people who lack political power. As a progressive, I am ready to come into my power -- our power. It is time.

So, as I assess this Democratic primary, my support is firmly with Bernie Sanders. As a progressive woman, I cannot do otherwise.

Well Said 12   Must Read 10   Valuable 7  
Rate It | View Ratings

Donna Smith Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Donna Smith appeared in Michael Moore's 2007 film, "SiCKO," and spent five years working for National Nurses United/California Nurses Association in Chicago and Washington, D.C., as their single-payer political organizer/educator.  She is now the executive director of Health Care for All Colorado and lives in Denver with her husband of 38 years, Larry

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

An Open Letter to Hillary Clinton from One Progressive Woman

Sick Inside Our Broken Health System with that Old Familiar Terror in My Gut

Weaponized Profits: The US Health Care System

With New Obamacare Rulings, One Thing Is Certain: We Need Medicare for All for Life

Brutality is Our Society's Trademark -- From the Justice System to Healthcare

'Let 'Em Eat Peas': An Elitist Mantra for Our Age

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend