Friday, March 29, 2024

Letter: Hillary is ready for the job, are you?

October 18, 2016
Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the crowed during her acceptance speech on the final day of the Democratic National Convention on July 28, 2016 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.  Clinton became the first woman to accept the nomination of a major party for the presidential election.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the crowed during her acceptance speech on the final day of the Democratic National Convention on July 28, 2016 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Clinton became the first woman to accept the nomination of a major party for the presidential election. —
Photo by Carly Geraci | and Carly Geraci The State News

I’m tired. I’m stressed out. I’m ready for Election 2016 to be over. I know you are, too. But now is the last time to get complacent. There is way too much at stake. We’ve dealt with “the Donald” being a candidate for well over a year now, but the end is now in sight. We’re only a month away from electing the most qualified candidate in history, along with breaking the highest and hardest glass ceiling in the process.

So far, the MSU College Democrats have registered thousands of students alongside coordinated efforts of our state Democratic Party, and other student groups like ASMSU. The MSU College Republicans have been generally apathetic with voter registration drives. I mean, why would they want to help ensure that millennials and students are engaged in the political process and fulfilling their civic duty? Oh, that’s right. Because approximately 50 percent of millennials identify with the values of the Democratic Party. Or maybe it’s because their party nominated Donald J. Trump as their presidential candidate, someone who advocates for xenophobia, sexism, racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry. Young people clearly have not gravitated toward this rhetoric, and neither should any other generation.

Hillary Clinton needs the millennial vote. Millennials need Clinton as our next president. Clinton is ready. Clinton is qualified. Clinton is presidential. The next president will determine what our children pay for the world class education we enjoy, they will determine women’s rights to make their own healthcare choices are protected across the nation, they will determine the country’s standing in the international community and so many other critical decisions. Why would we elect an untested, easily-provoked narcissist to make these decisions when the most qualified candidate in history is also on the ballot? Why would leave this choice up to other generations, when ours will clearly feel the weight of it the most? It’s now time we sit our friends down who aren’t sure whether they are voting and tell them to put their privilege aside for an election and stop Trump, someone who is a direct threat to everything we stand for, and have stood for as a people.

But you don’t have to vote just to stop Trump, as if that wasn’t enough. You can vote for someone who is running on the most specific and progressive policy platform of all time. Clinton’s website has more than 100,000 words on the policy she can help push for when she is elected. Trump—where is your policy? She’s criticized for being “too smart,” “too prepared,” “too wonkish” (yes wonkish—Google it). Well, I for one want a wonk in the White House right now. There are too many important issues America has to tackle: economic inequality, green energy production to battle climate change, criminal justice and immigration reform, striking down Citizens United and working with a newly-elected Democratic majority in the Senate to nominate the next Supreme Court Justice.

Sometimes we lose touch of who Clinton is when we focus so much on the stylistic nature of politics. When we focus too much on that spiteful rhetoric, we truly forget who Clinton is. Clinton is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, was the former first lady of Arkansas, former first lady of the United States, former two-term senator from New York, and former secretary of state for President Barack Obama.

Her first job out of law school was working for the Children’s Defense Fund, which provided children with resources to help reach their full potential. What did Trump do in his 20s? Well, he was sued for violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to rent to people of color. He got out of serving for the U.S. Military by faking an injury. Let alone, we just found out he doesn’t pay his taxes, which also fund our military.

Clinton has always been passionate about people, Trump has been passionate about profit, even though, according to the those documentations of his taxes we have seen, it doesn’t look like he is too good at being a businessman. Maybe he’d be better suited as a reality TV star. Oh wait.

OK, back to the qualified candidate in the race. After Clinton met her husband, Bill Clinton, she became the first lady of Arkansas, and got to work. She implemented her passion for social justice on an even broader scale. She worked to provide healthcare and education to young children who didn’t have opportunity or accessibility in Arkansas. She served as the chairperson of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee to help improve the public education system.

She then moved on to become the first lady of the United States. It was in this position that she helped create the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Along with providing healthcare to children, she worked with Republicans in the Senate to pass children protection policies, including updates for adoption. She also brought the issue of women’s rights to the top of international stage in China, in 1995, when she spoke in Beijing stating that “women’s rights are human rights.” It might sound small, but given the context of women’s rights and feminism in the 1990s in China, it was brave and years ahead of the time. If you haven’t seen this video, I highly recommend it.

After her role as FLOTUS, we begin to move to a more political atmosphere. Clinton successfully ran for the United States Senate in New York and passed a number of highly progressive pieces of legislation:

Clinton voted and introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage and was an original sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, and authored the 2006 and 2007 versions. 

Clinton supported progressive tax policies that provided tax cuts to middle-class Americans and tax cuts for students with loans while opposing the tax cuts for millionaires that then-President George Bush proposed.

Clinton worked extensively to help fund 9/11 responders with their medical care.

Clinton introduced the 21st Century G.I. Bill of Rights to help veterans adjust and re-enter into the American workforce after deployment.

Clinton worked to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that she helped implement as FLOTUS.

Clinton co-sponsored the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, granting equal pay for equal work.

Mind you, these are only a few of her accomplishments while she was a U.S. senator. She moved on to become one of the most successful secretaries of state—ever. As secretary of state, she visited the most countries (112 to be exact), made the case for the mission to eradicate Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda counterparts, helped architect and maintain the sanctions against Iran regarding nuclear stock, tirelessly worked with the global community to combat climate change and continued to work to promote gender equality and expand opportunities for women and children.

For my friends who were supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): thank you. Because of Sanders and all of you, the energy that was needed to rally around progressive politics has been put front and center. I promise you, Clinton is devoted to enacting policies Sanders advocates for. She has embraced Sanders’ ideas on college affordability and accessibility. She has ensured that healthcare is right and not a privilege for the wealthy few. She has been working with Sanders, side by side, since the start of their political careers and to this day.

Millennials now make up the largest sect of the American electorate. It is our civic duty to promote values that we believe will help ensure a great America for all. Our generation has so much power, so let’s use it in this election and take down Trump, and make clear someone like him does not belong in our nation’s political conversation. We know what Clinton is passionate about, as her biography shows that. No one knows what Trump believes in, besides his ratings.

Clinton is the clear and only choice for president of the United States. Let’s do anything we can to help elect her, not only for us, but for our fellow Americans.

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My opinion shouldn’t be controversial. We need Clinton as our next president. Clinton is ready. Clinton is qualified. Clinton is presidential, and with your help, and your vote she will be our next president.

To make sure you're registered to vote to elect Democrats up and down the ticket, visit www.iwillvote.com

Daniel Eggerding is the president of the MSU College Democrats.

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