I turned sixty years old in February, and I’ve been voting for a very long time. Through all my political voting years, I’ve never voted anything but Democrat. I simply do not vote Republican. The fact that I am a lesbian prevents me from doing so. That’s the double whammy for the GOP: I’m gay and I’m a woman. But come 2016, I get off the bus. I’ve thought about doing this for a while, but have always backed down because I get roundly accused of giving the election to the GOP. Come 2016, I am officially a member of the Green Party.

There’s a very good reason for this. It seems that the Democrats are now riding in their own clown car. It may not be decorated as elaborately as the GOP clown car, but it’s a clown car nonetheless. It seems that driving the clown car will be none other than Hillary Clinton. In fact, it is apparently a foregone conclusion that she’ll be the Democratic nominee. That’s unfortunate because Hillary Clinton is exactly what this nation does not need. While I’d absolutely love to see a woman in office (the men have had their shot at this thing), Hillary Clinton is not the woman I want to see there.

There’s a great name for Clinton out there. It’s The Hildebeast. I think it’s appropriate. But if you read some of the articles where that name is used, you’ll see that the writer focuses on what a shrew she is. She’s basically portrayed as a bitch in social situations. That’s not my problem with Hillary. In my mind, focusing on someone’s personality is just typical of a guy who doesn’t like women in high places. I have no problem with women in high places. What bothers me about Hillary Clinton, and the reason I call her The Hildebeast, is that her policies suck. I’m all about policy; not personality disorder.

First, Hillary Clinton is a “hawk” who clearly isn’t a proponent of “diplomacy.” Although diplomacy is not popular in America today, I’m a big believer in diplomacy. I have believed, and will continue to believe, that military action should be an absolute last resort. It’s pretty obvious that our intelligence community is anything but effective or efficient. Forget this crazy notion that cannot or should not talk to our enemies. If we don’t talk to our enemies, we’ll never really know what they’re doing.

While I lay the responsibility for America’s new-found love for bombing first and then asking questions on the doorstep of George W. Bush, the notion that the present administration is any better is bullshit spewed by the Obamapologists. In short, all of the things that disgusted us about George W. Bush are still in play under Barack Obama. If you think like I do, and you think Barack Obama’s foreign policy sucks, just wait until Hillary Clinton takes the helm. There is no relief in sight.

Just a little aside here. There’s a bit of confusion out there about just what a “progressive” is. There seems to be confusion, in particular, among those who consider themselves “liberals” or “Democrats.” Hillary Clinton is far from being a progressive. Nope. If you need a point of reference in Washington, a progressive is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. That’s what a progressive looks like. Of course, he’s not a Democrats. He is an Independent. Let us not forget the Clinton presidency. Bill Clinton was no progressive either. In fact, the Clintons moved the Democratic party from the left to the center. It was under Bill Clinton’s presidency that Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers deregulated Wall Street and the big banks. It was Bill Clinton who signed both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Not a damned thing progressive about any of that. There’s a reason why the left wants a progressive challenger in a primary against Hillary Clinton. Now that I’ve beaten this to death, let’s move on.

In an interview with the New York Times, Hillary Clinton was asked what her favorite book is. Her response?

“At the risk of appearing predictable, the Bible was and remains the biggest influence on my thinking. I was raised reading it, memorizing passages from it and being guided by it. I still find it a source of wisdom, comfort and encouragement.”

Of course, this could simply be a case of political pandering. Although why Clinton is pandering to a segment of the voting population who will probably never vote for her anyway, I have no idea. However, on the off chance that it isn’t pandering, I prefer my politicians not to choose the Bible as their favorite book and a source of “wisdom.” I prefer that the person who may lead the country be able to think for herself as opposed to being guided by religion. There’s way too much of that going on in Washington as it is. I’m a strong believer in the separation between church and state. In fact, despite all of her other drawbacks, I feel so strongly about this issue and I’m so tired of this religious bullshit in the hallowed halls of government, that this might have been the nail in the coffin for me.

Moving on. The next issue is Israel and Hillary Clinton’s downright myopic stand on this subject of Israel. Before I take off on The Hildebeast, let me say that as a nation we have a myopic view of Israel. Every time Israel commits a transgression, and it has committed many, the U.S. justification is that Israel has a right to defend itself. Now, I’m not saying that Hamas is right to fire missiles at Israel. However, I think we really need to look at the reasons why Hamas does what it does. And we also need to look at the outright lies Israel tells about the situation in Gaza.

Israel, for all intents and purposes, is a terrorist state. What they are doing to the people of Gaza is nothing short of despicable. We also provide Israel with $3 billion a year to carry out these despicable acts. Like Benjamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton has a problem understanding what we call cause and effect. In fact, one might say she is channeling Netanyahu. That is an issue for me.

Let us never confuse Hillary Clinton’s position with anything remotely resembling populism. Clinton may, on occasion, give the impression that she’s a populist, but make no mistake: She loves Wall Street and all it has to offer. In fact, she thinks being anti-Wall Street is foolish, and maybe that’s because she’s built quite a nice stockpile of campaign money courtesy of Wall Street.

Do you seriously think that Hillary Clinton will finally reign in the robber barons? Do you really think she’ll address the issue of income inequality? She even had the incredible hubris to cry poor mouth in an interview with The Guardian. She has got to be kidding me. I bet you’d love to be as “broke” as Bill and Hillary Clinton. I know I would.

I could go on here, but I think that’s enough to justify my not voting for Hillary Clinton. It may not be enough for you, particularly if you’re content to continue to vote Democratic simply because it is better than voting for the GOP. Continuing on that path is a recipe for disaster for this nation because, I can assure you, nothing will ever change. Perhaps you think everything is just fine here in America, and that nothing has to change. If that’s the case, I urge you to take a serious look around.

So, please, no lectures about my throwing the 2016 election to the GOP. Personally, I think that the Democrats are in danger of losing the Senate in the 2014 midterms. And if they do lose the Senate, they have nobody to blame but themselves. The Democrats, under Barack Obama, have performed dismally since he won in a landslide. He promised change. He has delivered on very little. Has he reigned in Wall Street? Has he held the banks accountable? Hardly. His anemic reforms only ensure that they are both indulging in business as usual.

Has he delivered health care reform? Hardly. Obama took the “public option” off the table from the very beginning. The last time I mentioned this, someone wrote me and said he didn’t have the votes for single payer. The “public option” and “single payer” are two different animals, so let’s clear that up. The “public option” simply would have allowed the public to purchase Medicare. That is very different from single payer. Had Americans been allowed to purchase Medicare, it would have provided competition for private insurers. This, in turn, would have helped lower premiums. Instead, we are still being held hostage by private insurers.

Remember how Barack Obama promised to close the revolving door between government and lobbyists? This week, Barack Obama eased the restrictions on lobbyists, allowing them to attend legislative sessions as “consultants” to corporate America. Truth be known, Barack Obama has 70 registered lobbyists in his administration.

Obama vowed to return the nation to the “rule of law.” Yet, he promised George W. Bush that there would be no investigation or prosecution of his administration’s war crimes. In addition, he worked with the GOP to squash investigations by other nations — most notably Spain. It was the perfect opportunity for Obama to allow justice to be served because his hands would have been clean. Add to this drone warfare that kills innocent people, an “assassination” list that makes him judge, jury and executioner, and rampant spying on his own citizens and I hardly think Obama has returned this nation to the “rule of law.”

In the final analysis, there has been too many disappointments over the past six years to call Barack Obama’s administration “change we can believe in.” That never happened. He squandered his early years of having a majority in favor of trying to win over the GOP, a party that was roundly rejected by the American public. If the people of this nation believed that the GOP had the answers, or would deliver what the people want, they would have been elected again.

Frankly, if you think Barack Obama’s policies and performance really suck, just wait until you see life under Hillary Clinton.

Categories: Democrats, Elections, Gaza, GOP, Green Party, health care reform, Israel, Middle East, Progressives, Wall Street, War, War on Terror

Tags: BANKS, Barack Obama, Democrats, elections, GOP, Hillary Clinton, ISRAEL, Wall Street