Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Is Hillary Clinton Running Away From Political Reality?
________________________________________
Is Hillary Clinton Running Away From Political Reality?
By Les Leopold [1] / AlterNet [2]
March 27, 2016
Team Hillary should be worried about the lopsided vote Sanders is receiving
from young people of all colors. Not only is the vote one-sided, but so is
the enthusiasm. Hillary's vulnerabilities with young people includes her
perceived untrustworthiness, her vote for the Iraq war and her establishment
politics. But it all gets wrapped up into what she calls Bernie's "single
issue"-Wall Street.
Bernie and his supporters see Wall Street as synonymous with runaway
inequality, which is the key issue that connects so many of our problems. As
a result, young people are convinced we need a massive political revolution
to do something about it. As Robert Reich recently put it [3], "Such a
political revolution is the prerequisite for everything else - reversing
climate change, overcoming structural racism, rebuilding the middle class,
achieving equal opportunity and upward mobility for the poor, and avoiding
cataclysmic war."
Hillary can't abide by this revolution because it requires a full-scale
assault on Wall Street, which has funded her and her campaigns. So she tries
to denigrate Sanders' stance by suggesting [4] his focus on Wall
Street-driven runaway inequality is merely a single issue, asking, "If we
broke up the big banks tomorrow would that end racism? Would that end
sexism? Would that end discrimination against the LGBT community? Would that
make people feel more welcoming to immigrants overnight?"
Her line of attack not only is failing, but reveals why young people are so
unenthusiastic about her: she's far too tied to Wall Street and the
super-rich ever to break from them.
Why the Political Revolution Is So threatening to Hillary
Her single issue attack is quite revealing. First of all, she claims that
Bernie's critique of runaway inequality amounts only to breaking up the big
banks, as if that was the sum total of Bernie's "single issue."
To buttress her argument she further fractures the progressive community
into a series of single-issue groups, each facing a different form of
discrimination as if there were no connections among them, or between those
issues and the rise of concentrated economic and political power. How are we
to end institutional racism, for example? Hillary has no answer other than
"elect me and I'll break all barriers."
Bait and Switch
Hillary's next move is to switch the conversation away from the
concentration of wealth and power on Wall Street. Instead she wants us to
believe that the real Wall Street issue is only about preventing another
crash. She argues that her proposals are tougher than Bernie's on "shadow
banking"-hedge funds, private equity companies and the like. Therefore she
claims she's the most effective anti-Wall Street candidate.
Does she really believe this ridiculous sleight of hand?
But Sanders and his young followers are not just worried about how to
prevent another financial meltdown. They are much more worried about the
ongoing meltdown that siphons more and more of our income and wealth into
the hands of the few.
We are being financially strip-mined every day, from student loans to
pension rip-offs to outrageous Wall Street fees to finance state and local
infrastructure products to hollowed-out corporations that ship jobs abroad
and slash wages and benefits. Hillary's policy pirouettes won't alter the
fact that since the 2007 crash, 95% of all the new income generated in the
economy has gone to the top 1%. That's the financial meltdown many people
feel each and every day.
Why Hillary Must View Wall Street as a Narrow Single Issue
When you receive over $9 million in one year for speaking fees from Wall
Street and other corporate groups, you can't say runaway inequality is the
key issue that's ruining our lives. If we ever gain access to the contents
of her speeches, we would see how deeply she shares Wall Street's world
view: They are good people. They are doing their jobs. Yes, they have a few
excesses that can be controlled with smart regulations. No, we should not
tax their speculative activities. No, we should not break them up. No, we
should not set up public banks.
But as much as she may want to, she can't ignore Wall Street. So she tries
to transform the most powerful economic and political force in the world
into a mere single issue. And then she implicitly places that issue on a
lower moral plane than racism or sexism. She thinks she is capturing the
high ground by lecturing Bernie about his single-issue focus.
The Dreaded Financial Speculation Tax to fund Free Higher Education
This is where the rubber meets the road. Hillary has to attack both ends of
this very popular proposal. First she has to protect Wall Street by opposing
the tax. Then she must attack free higher education (which can only be paid
for by taxing elite financiers) by claiming we shouldn't be funding rich
kids to go to college.
But isn't that exactly what we do in K through 12? Shouldn't a tax on Wall
Street and progressive taxation in general make her rich-kid problem go
away? Not for Hillary and her Wall Street patrons.
No wonder young people are flocking to Bernie. Hillary can't stop being the
senator from Wall Street. These are her constituents, her donors. That's why
she has to do policy contortions to keep from hitting Wall Street too hard.
That's why she has no program at all to halt, let alone reverse runaway
inequality.
Enthusiasm Drives Elections
Team Hillary believes Trump and Cruz are so bad she can't lose. People will
come out in droves to defeat the bad guys. Call it negative enthusiasm. The
kids will come out for her too, they reason. What choice do they have?
Well, young folks just might do all the stuff older folks say is totally
irresponsible: stay home, write in Bernie, vote for minor third-party
candidates. What really drives elections, especially now, is enthusiasm.
The sad fact for Team Hillary is that Bernie has it and she doesn't. As that
spirit comes pouring out from our kids, it becomes infectious. It's
political gold. Without it, anything can happen: including Hillary losing to
a Republican.
As Hillary continues to baby Wall Street with her single-issue nonsense, she
moves closer to defeat. She was crushed recently in Utah, Idaho, Washington,
Alaska and Hawaii. It would be far better for the country if her losing
streak gathered steam. It might save us from a President Trump or Cruz.
Here are the hard, cold facts driving this election. The vast majority of
Americans detest Wall Street and runaway inequality. Bernie has earned the
right to lead that charge, and young people know it.
Les Leopold is the director of the Labor Institute in New York. His latest
book is Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice [5]
(Chelsea Green, 2015). For bulk orders contact him at LesLeopold@xxxxxxx
[6].
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [7]
[8]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/hillary-clinton-running-away-political
-reality
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/les-leopold
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/35938-why-bernie-is-generatin
g-such-an-enormous-amount-of-enthusiasm-from-young-people
[4]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us/politics/hillary-clinton-shifting-line-
of-attack-paints-bernie-sanders-as-a-one-issue-candidate.html
[5] http://runawayinequality.org/
[6] mailto:LesLeopold@xxxxxxx
[7] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Is Hillary Clinton
Running Away From Political Reality?
[8] http://www.alternet.org/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Is Hillary Clinton Running Away From Political Reality?
Is Hillary Clinton Running Away From Political Reality?
By Les Leopold [1] / AlterNet [2]
March 27, 2016
Team Hillary should be worried about the lopsided vote Sanders is receiving
from young people of all colors. Not only is the vote one-sided, but so is
the enthusiasm. Hillary's vulnerabilities with young people includes her
perceived untrustworthiness, her vote for the Iraq war and her establishment
politics. But it all gets wrapped up into what she calls Bernie's "single
issue"-Wall Street.
Bernie and his supporters see Wall Street as synonymous with runaway
inequality, which is the key issue that connects so many of our problems. As
a result, young people are convinced we need a massive political revolution
to do something about it. As Robert Reich recently put it [3], "Such a
political revolution is the prerequisite for everything else - reversing
climate change, overcoming structural racism, rebuilding the middle class,
achieving equal opportunity and upward mobility for the poor, and avoiding
cataclysmic war."
Hillary can't abide by this revolution because it requires a full-scale
assault on Wall Street, which has funded her and her campaigns. So she tries
to denigrate Sanders' stance by suggesting [4] his focus on Wall
Street-driven runaway inequality is merely a single issue, asking, "If we
broke up the big banks tomorrow would that end racism? Would that end
sexism? Would that end discrimination against the LGBT community? Would that
make people feel more welcoming to immigrants overnight?"
Her line of attack not only is failing, but reveals why young people are so
unenthusiastic about her: she's far too tied to Wall Street and the
super-rich ever to break from them.
Why the Political Revolution Is So threatening to Hillary
Her single issue attack is quite revealing. First of all, she claims that
Bernie's critique of runaway inequality amounts only to breaking up the big
banks, as if that was the sum total of Bernie's "single issue."
To buttress her argument she further fractures the progressive community
into a series of single-issue groups, each facing a different form of
discrimination as if there were no connections among them, or between those
issues and the rise of concentrated economic and political power. How are we
to end institutional racism, for example? Hillary has no answer other than
"elect me and I'll break all barriers."
Bait and Switch
Hillary's next move is to switch the conversation away from the
concentration of wealth and power on Wall Street. Instead she wants us to
believe that the real Wall Street issue is only about preventing another
crash. She argues that her proposals are tougher than Bernie's on "shadow
banking"-hedge funds, private equity companies and the like. Therefore she
claims she's the most effective anti-Wall Street candidate.
Does she really believe this ridiculous sleight of hand?
But Sanders and his young followers are not just worried about how to
prevent another financial meltdown. They are much more worried about the
ongoing meltdown that siphons more and more of our income and wealth into
the hands of the few.
We are being financially strip-mined every day, from student loans to
pension rip-offs to outrageous Wall Street fees to finance state and local
infrastructure products to hollowed-out corporations that ship jobs abroad
and slash wages and benefits. Hillary's policy pirouettes won't alter the
fact that since the 2007 crash, 95% of all the new income generated in the
economy has gone to the top 1%. That's the financial meltdown many people
feel each and every day.
Why Hillary Must View Wall Street as a Narrow Single Issue
When you receive over $9 million in one year for speaking fees from Wall
Street and other corporate groups, you can't say runaway inequality is the
key issue that's ruining our lives. If we ever gain access to the contents
of her speeches, we would see how deeply she shares Wall Street's world
view: They are good people. They are doing their jobs. Yes, they have a few
excesses that can be controlled with smart regulations. No, we should not
tax their speculative activities. No, we should not break them up. No, we
should not set up public banks.
But as much as she may want to, she can't ignore Wall Street. So she tries
to transform the most powerful economic and political force in the world
into a mere single issue. And then she implicitly places that issue on a
lower moral plane than racism or sexism. She thinks she is capturing the
high ground by lecturing Bernie about his single-issue focus.
The Dreaded Financial Speculation Tax to fund Free Higher Education
This is where the rubber meets the road. Hillary has to attack both ends of
this very popular proposal. First she has to protect Wall Street by opposing
the tax. Then she must attack free higher education (which can only be paid
for by taxing elite financiers) by claiming we shouldn't be funding rich
kids to go to college.
But isn't that exactly what we do in K through 12? Shouldn't a tax on Wall
Street and progressive taxation in general make her rich-kid problem go
away? Not for Hillary and her Wall Street patrons.
No wonder young people are flocking to Bernie. Hillary can't stop being the
senator from Wall Street. These are her constituents, her donors. That's why
she has to do policy contortions to keep from hitting Wall Street too hard.
That's why she has no program at all to halt, let alone reverse runaway
inequality.
Enthusiasm Drives Elections
Team Hillary believes Trump and Cruz are so bad she can't lose. People will
come out in droves to defeat the bad guys. Call it negative enthusiasm. The
kids will come out for her too, they reason. What choice do they have?
Well, young folks just might do all the stuff older folks say is totally
irresponsible: stay home, write in Bernie, vote for minor third-party
candidates. What really drives elections, especially now, is enthusiasm.
The sad fact for Team Hillary is that Bernie has it and she doesn't. As that
spirit comes pouring out from our kids, it becomes infectious. It's
political gold. Without it, anything can happen: including Hillary losing to
a Republican.
As Hillary continues to baby Wall Street with her single-issue nonsense, she
moves closer to defeat. She was crushed recently in Utah, Idaho, Washington,
Alaska and Hawaii. It would be far better for the country if her losing
streak gathered steam. It might save us from a President Trump or Cruz.
Here are the hard, cold facts driving this election. The vast majority of
Americans detest Wall Street and runaway inequality. Bernie has earned the
right to lead that charge, and young people know it.
Les Leopold is the director of the Labor Institute in New York. His latest
book is Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice [5]
(Chelsea Green, 2015). For bulk orders contact him at LesLeopold@xxxxxxx
[6].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [7]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[8]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/hillary-clinton-running-away-political
-reality
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/les-leopold
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/35938-why-bernie-is-generatin
g-such-an-enormous-amount-of-enthusiasm-from-young-people
[4]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us/politics/hillary-clinton-shifting-line-
of-attack-paints-bernie-sanders-as-a-one-issue-candidate.html
[5] http://runawayinequality.org/
[6] mailto:LesLeopold@xxxxxxx
[7] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Is Hillary Clinton
Running Away From Political Reality?
[8] http://www.alternet.org/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
