I wrote before that I would support the nominee of the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton won a decisive victory in California last night, and she will be the nominee, opposing the execrable Donald Trump.
I will vote for her.
Readers will say that she is too close to the people who are promoting charters, high-stakes testing, and the destructive policies of the Bush-Obama administrations. That is true. I have fought with all my strength against these terrible policies. I will continue to do so, with redoubled effort. I will do my best to get a one-on-one meeting with Hillary Clinton and to convey what we are fighting for: the improvement of public schools, not their privatization or monetization. The strengthening of the teaching profession, not its elimination. We want for all children what we want for our own.
Which is another way of saying what John Dewey said: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”
Hillary Clinton wants the best for her grandchildren: a well-equipped school in a beautiful building; experienced and caring teachers and principals (not amateurs who took a course in leadership); arts classes; daily physical education; the possibility of a life where there is food security, health security, home security, and physical security. That is what we want for our children. That is what we want for everyone’s children. I think she will understand that. Not schools run by for-profit corporations; not schools where children are not allowed to laugh or play; not schools where testing steals time from instruction; not inexperienced teachers who are padding their resumes. That is what I want to tell her. I think she will understand. If she does, she will change the current federal education policies, which are mean-spirited, demoralizing to teachers, and contemptuous of the needs of children.
Now we must turn our energies to fighting together to make clear that we are united, we are strong, and we are not going away. We will stand together, raise our voices, and fight for public education, for our educators, and for the millions of children that they serve. And we will never, never, never give up.
I am grateful to Bernie Sanders for pushing the Clinton campaign to endorse the issues of income inequality and economic fairness. I am glad that he made the privilege of the 1% a national issue. I am glad that he will continue the struggle to really make this country just and fair for all. Bernie has made a historic contribution. He has organized millions of people, enabling them to express their hopes and fears for our nation and our future.
We must work together to harness that energy to save our schools. We must remind the Clinton campaign that every one of the policies promoted by the privatization movement, ALEC, and the whole panoply of right-wingers and misguided Democrats have been a massive failure. They have destroyed communities, especially black and Hispanic communities. They have hurt children, especially children of color. They are destroying public education itself, which is a bedrock of our democracy. We can’t let this happen.
Our task is clear. We must organize as never before. We must push back as never before.
Start by joining the SOS March on July 8 at the Lincoln Memorial.
I will be on a <a href="http://“>webinar tonight at 8 pm to discuss the SOS March and the issues we now face. The timing is perfect to plan for the future.
Please join us at 8 pm EST. We need you. We need your energy and your voice.
“https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8824328855840974852”
She has given us nothing but cheap rhetoric and will continue the privatization policies and war mongering of Obama. I have zero confidence and am disgusted with the ignorance of this nation – you could’ve had FDR, instead you’ve got another neoliberal grifter with a husband to match.
Touché!
@Carrie: that sums it up for me as well.
#NeverVotingForHer #DropOutHillary #BernieorBust
I’m writing in Bernie Sanders in November. I urge other progressives, liberals, and those who cannot and will not support another neoliberal/neoconservative hybrid in “liberal” clothing to do the same.
I’m still not there yet. By my count, since Jan. 1980 we’ve had four terms of conservative Republicans (Reagan and Bush II) and five terms of moderate Republicans (Bush I, Clinton and Obama). Now we’ve got the choice of another four years of a moderate Republican or a profiteering bigot. Either way progressives lose again. All I’m pretty sure about is that the issues that draw people to this site will be neglected again at the federal executive level. We need to pay more attention to the down-ballot candidates than the top of the tickets.
I agree with all of the above…but want to make a point that none of the pundits seem to consider.
As a lifelong Progressive/progressive, I admire Bernie Sanders for hanging in. He now, finally, has demanded a seat at the table.
That table, sadly, is still the DNC which does not represent so many of us. But at the convention he will have a real voice as a result of his fortitude and bravery. Who ever thought an older Jewish legislator who thrives on being a Democratic Socialist would get this far in American politics?
Kudos to the Sanders supporters who helped him get his message out to the world.
Bernie must keep up the stance of not giving up so that the media will continue to hear and propagate his message to turn the country around and create an economic revolution to assure that the 1% does not own us all….and to continue to fight for fairness for the 99%.
I agree. Bernie’s base is hard to ignore, and it may be foolish to do so. The DNC needs to wake up to the fact that lots of Americans want policies that will build the middle class. The young people have come forward, and they cannot get jobs, or they are underemployed. If the DNC wants to remain relevant, they must hear them and stop the corporate worship.
Well, this is as good a time as any to post this: http://www.alternet.org/economy/wasserman-schultz-does-right-thing-it-wont-matter
“I will do my best to get a one-on-one meeting with Hillary Clinton and to convey what we are fighting for: the improvement of public schools, not their privatization or monetization.”
She may very well meet with you. If she does, I’m sure it will be a wonderful meeting. She’ll be warm and sincere and she’ll agree with everything you say.
And then she’ll go ahead and promote charters, testing, privatization and profiteering.
You would have as good a chance at convincing Marie Antoinette that the peasants need to eat more than cake.
@ Dienne. Nailed it!
Against Donald Trump, yes, I will support Hillary even with her close ties with billionaires like Eli Broad. One thing her critics here don’t realize is that once in office, Hillary will be her own person. The Clintons now have enough money to stand on their own and not be controlled by the oligarchs.
I do not think she is owned by her billionaire friends. And she might support some or all of their agenda if she believes them over us but then again, she might not.
But I think that Trump will destroy the United States in ways that Hillary will never do. Trump in the White House might end up bringing down global civilization as we know it.
Bill Clinton was known as a willing compromiser and Hillary may be the same way. We don’t need anyone in the White House that has a history of refusing to compromise on anything, and I’ve read that Trump has a history of not compromising. He is a bully, a narcissist, a fraud, etc.
I hope the tremendous support that Bernie has forces Hillary to become more progressive because the young people are demanding it. If Democrats want to win elections, they are going to have shift left, or young people and others will leave to form a third party. Robert Reich has written a wonderful “thank you” to Bernie Sanders. http://usuncut.com/politics/robert-reich-thanks-bernie-sanders/
Shifting left and away from the greed worshiping autocratic neo-liberals that often behave more like libertarians or far right conservatives that Bush and Obama represented will be a good thing.
“Junk is a not a kick. It is a way of life.” William S. Burroughs
As much as I respect your views on education, it is folly to think that the Clintons will change. That would require having principles to begin with.
Your reaction is understandable because the far right has demonized the Clintons for decades right along with public school teachers and teachers’ unions. And a lot of that media demonizing is based on cherry picked facts and lies.
For instance, Clinton made a promise to the vets during his second run for the presidency and after he won his second election, he delivered by making the VA medical system one of the best in the world. Under Bush and Obama, what Clinton accomplished fell into decline and neglect but even then it is questionable if Obama can be blamed when it is the GOP dominated Congress that cuts taxes for the wealthy and starves government programs like public educa6tion and the VA.
Then there is the national debt. If Clinton had been such an alleged free spending liberal as the far right constantly harps, then explain why under his presidency, the national debt hardly grew at all.
The national debt when Reagan took office and dramatically cut taxes for the wealthy was $994.8 billion as Carter left office. Reagan added almost $2.6 Trillion to that debt followed by another $1.4 Trillion under G. H. W. Bush.
How much did Clinton add to the atonal debt — this is so meting far right hate radio and the GOP will never mention? Bill Clinton added only $75.1 billion to the national debt after 8 years in office.
Then along comes the coward (he used his family influence to keep him out of the Vietnam War while he drank and womanized his way though college just like Trump did) G. W. Bush, who added $6.64 Trillion to the national debt, started two wars we are still fighting and one of these wars, the one in Iraq, was based on alleged lies of WMPs. It is arguable that if the U.S. had not invaded Iraq, ISIS and the unrest and instability we see roiling the Middle East would never have happened.
I think you are condemning Bill Clinton because all he did was have an affair with an White House intern and then lie about it. What did that affair have to do with him leading this country? Before anyone condemns Clinton for his affair with Lewinsky, they should learn from history to discover George Washington had a mistress, Jefferson had a mistress and had children with her, and other presidents have also had mistresses.
Your education starts with this link — make sure to look at #4: http://bigfrog104.com/presidential-extramarital-affairs/
For George Washington, there was Sally Fairfax.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/washington.html
In fact, if you were to blame Clinton for the 2007-08 global financial crises because he signed the bill into law that contributed the mess, you would also be wrong because the bill passed in the GOP dominated Congress with enough votes to over ride a presidential veto. Not signing it would have been an act of futility because the GOP made sure it would pass.
Lloyd…once again I find I am closing in on your assessment and reasons to support Hillary (but with tears in my eyes and a very queasy stomach). I am not totally there yet, but am getting closer, for a Trump presidency is too horrifying to contemplate.
However, I do not agree that she has changed on her core beliefs and actions…and I do not hold out hope that she will be on our side as to education issues. She is far from a Phoenix, but rather she is a master manipulator/politician, and her statement about putting Bill in charge of the US economy is truly alarming.
However, I would feel much safer as an American, an educator, and a grandmother, to have her negotiating with Putin and with the Saudis than even considering a President Trump with his hand on the red phone and with his weak ego and need to carpet bomb all of the Middle East to prove his manhood.
For the members here who write to me and meet with me, and for Diane whose opinion I value, I feel I owe you these comments.
Ellen, Hillary might not save the public schools but at least she will not destroy the country like I think Trump would do. While the public schools are important to the future of the United States, they are not the country but only one part of it.
The United States has gone down the wrong road before and then made a course correction.
There was the 18th Amendment and Prohibition when a wave of religious revivalism swept the US. Traveling down that wrong road wen ton for more than a decade.
There was also the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that restricted immigration into the United Sates of a specific ethnic working group because of often violent racism against the Chinese just because they were willing to work harder for less. This wrong headed, racist law would be repealed in 1943.
Until a leader steps forward to stop the fraud behind the privatizing of public education, this war to save our community based, democratic, transparent, non-profit public schools will continue even if Hillary is the president. We also know from Trump’s own words that he supports turning the public schools into profit centers.
I have lots of reservations about Clinton as well, but I cannot imagine a world in which Trump rules. While I am not trying to sell anyone on Clinton, I know that she supported public education when she was senator and never made a hostile move. That was then, and this is now. I know she currently supports the Common Core and “quality charters,” I don’t care for her Wall St. friends, and I don’t know how deep her understandings are about all the issues facing public schools.
“I think you are condemning Bill Clinton because all he did was have an affair with an White House intern and then lie about it.”
No, that’s hardly all he did. He eliminated welfare and replaced it with TANF. He repealed the part of the Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial banks and investment firms – which is part of what led directly to the crash of 2008. He is directly responsible for the large proportion of African-Americans incarcerated through his support for “three strikes” laws and the discrepancy between powder and crack cocaine. He signed NAFTA, which sent good, livable American jobs flying out of the country. And the only reason he didn’t add more to the national debt was that he got lucky enough to govern during soaring economy of the dot-com bubble.
Unlike the right wingers, I don’t give a hoot what Clinton did with his zipper (although Hillary’s shaming of the women involved does concern me). In fact, that zipper inadvertently saved us from secret cuts to Social Security. It’s what he did to the country that I care about.
“He repealed the part of the Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial banks and investment firms – which is part of what led directly to the crash of 2008”
WRONG! Clinton signed the bill both Houses of Congress passed to repeal the Glass Steagall Act. The blame goes to Congress.
In addition, Clinton didn’t eliminate welfare. He changed it. The U.S. still has food stamps and section 8 housing subsidies.
For instance, under Clinton, Welfare spending increased by 2.5% compared to 12.1% under GHW Bush and 4.3% under Reagan.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2015/08/31/welfare-spending-by-president-and-congress-from-1959-to-2014/#6e03f4b23e12
An increase of 2.5% does not support that he eliminated welfare. If you click the previous link and scroll down the chart, you will discover that the largest increases of welfare are almost always under a GOP president.
“He is directly responsible for the large proportion of African-Americans incarcerated through his support for “three strikes” laws and the discrepancy between powder and crack cocaine.”
Nixon started the war on drugs and that’s when the misprision population in the U.S. took off and grew astronomically. As for the Three Strikes Laws, these are state laws, not federal. Only 24 states have some form of “three-strikes” laws.
http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/three-strikes-laws-in-different-states.html
It’s amazing how many things have been blamed on Bill Clinton that he was not responsible for, but it is understandable because far right hate radio and the GOP propaganda machine has an assembly line of lies they churn out about the Clintons.
Again, I urge you to educate yourself and start with the history of the “Three Strikes” Laws
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-strikes_law#History
I hadn’t intended to reply, but since your rose-colored glasses are blotting out the Clinton record like a solar eclipse, I’ll just address a few. First, I don’t need far right demonization to inform my opinion; I was there and was a strong supporter of Clinton in 1994. I was fooled when he took time off the campaign trail to rush back to Arkansas to oversee the execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a black man with severe mental disabilities who saved the dessert of his last meal “for later.” Clinton did so to demonstrate his bona fides show he had his own Southern Strategy.
He gave his wife the lead responsibility to create a national health care program, something she thoroughly mishandled to the point that it couldn’t even be considered again until the election of President Obama. Mrs. Clinton ran a secretive, imperial process that was designed to protect the interests of the insurance industry. The irony is that she rejected a deal proposed by Republican Sen. John Chafee, which could have garnered bipartisan support, that is almost exactly what became the Affordable Care Act. Broder and Johnson’s “The System” lays out the story in precise and exacting detail should you be interested in learning the real story.
As one who worked on an issue affecting seniors and people with disabilities, I got a pretty close to front row seat of one of the despicable tactics employed by Mrs. Clinton and her husband. What they do is promise everything to their most vulnerable supporters and then cynically plan to negotiate all those things away with the opposition when deal-making time comes around. The problem was that the deal-making time never came because of the incompetence of the strategy.
That episode presaged one of the more disgusting chapters in the Clinton presidency: the politics of triangulation. Clinton actually worked with Dick Morris (!) to as Christopher Hitchens so eloquently wrote, “use the language of the New Democrat to kill the New Deal.” I could go on with this.
As for the national debt, you fail to take in the tech bubble in your “analysis”. That’s kind of like leaving out the oil industry to explain why people in Alaska get nice checks from the state every year. Neither has anything to do with politics. You might as well, as Kasich and Gingrich do, give the Republicans credit for “bringing Clinton to the table.” Both are wrong. They rode an unsustainable bubble build on “irrational exuberance.”
And to bring up sexual peccadillos as a reason to be politically opposed to either Clinton is also wrong. Those of us who pay attention noticed that in order to deflect public attention, President Clinton would often resort to diversionary policy actions like bombings in Sudan and Afghanistan without the input of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He learned that playbook while he was governor and candidate for president.
I won’t get into it, but look up Peter Edelman and welfare reform. How’s that working out?
To pithily blame Congress for the repeal of Glass-Steagall ignores two things: his administration worked with Congress to undermine the law and he did not use the bully pulpit to explain to the American people what the dangers were. He could have vetoed it and forced Congress to override him to continue a national conversation.
As for Hillary Clinton’s term as Senator, her seat was bought by her rich friends in a media state where she had no previous history. This meant she really didn’t have to work on constituent contact. She never chaired a committee nor led a meaningful initiative. As one who brought in a number of constituents to speak with her staff, the one thing I took away from it was that they had little understanding of the issues and seemed fearful of her, which meant they had no access. The two times she had substantive votes that forced her to go on the record, she voted wrong on the Iraq War and the Wall St. bailout. Other than that it was a tenure filled with ribbon-cuttings and taking credit for pork she brought back to New York.
As Secretary of State, she amassed frequent flier miles, attended state dinners and celebrations all over the world. She was barely visible unless it was to voice hawkish policies in Libya (not the Benghazi garbage, but the policies that got us entangled without a clear strategy) or be in the photo op when bin Laden was killed. For evidence of how ineffective and inconsequential she was, one needs only to look at the effective, engaged work of Secretary Kerry.
She has had a Zelig-like political career. She’s in the picture, but has few, if any substantive achievements to point to that have improved the lives of average Americans. When she has had influence, it has been in back room triangulation that have sold out her most loyal supporters.
And despite all of this, I was actually considering voting for her because–and only because–of my disgust for Trump. But your rhetorical gyrations have convinced me that I’d be truer to myself by voting Green and for Jill Stein. You reminded me of what we should expect. And I don’t need a right-wing spin machine for that.
Bravo. Well said. Terrifying and sad.
Greg, why don’t you vote for Trump?
Lloyd….Although I agree with some of your assessments re Bill, I must agree with Dienne on the issues she raises.
Although it was indeed Congress which voted to install Welfare to Work as the law of the land… it was Bill’s collusion with those Right of Center Dems, and the Repubs, to impose this highly flawed law…and the same goes for Glass Steagall and NAFTA. All of these laws did far more damage as they were imposed in their climate of unity of Right Wing Dems and with their Repub colleagues.
Clinton worked it all out with Phil Gramm, aided by Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, the two original Goldman Sachs/Citigroup guys who wanted no more oversight of the banks, final DEREGULATION, and in league with them were legislators Bliley and Leach ready to carry the new bill. And with this back room dealing, Clinton and Gramm got the Congress to kill the FDR law that separated commercial and investment banks, which Roosevelt, in 1933 saw as “casino investing with derivatives” and which kept the economy on even keel for so many decades thereafter, until the Clinton era.
Clinton did mortal damage to the American worker and the Middle Class with this action, and with NAFTA which spurred the greed of corporations and of Wall Street with free market philosophy ruling their vultures. His oversight and this legislation caused the steady job decline in America, and lead to the call now for cutting Medicare and Social Security. If Nixon opened China, Clinton enriched China.
We are forgetting the cooperation with the Conferacy of Dunces (and bankster thieves) of the US government, first Clinton, then Bush, leading to the crash of 2008, and to the mild recovery of Obama who refused to even discuss single payer but colluded with Big Pharma and Big Insurance, and who jailed the head of the EPA for protesting in front of the WH…with so many Americans still struggling for a mere foothold in the economy.
It is my hope that Bernie’s revolutionary young followers continue the VOTING and VERBALIZING onslaught to right the economy, for they are the ones who are inheriting all this crap…which of course started mainly with the greed merchants of the Reagan Revolution. Clinton fit right in with them despite his words…and the Gore family holdings in the 1990s were still producing tobacco products killing many of us.
There are NO Golden Boys or Girls, in this scenario.
I won’t vote for Trump because, as I wrote above, I must remain true to myself. My roots are as a liberal Republican who worked hard for John Anderson. I don’t regret that vote.
Should hell freeze over and Trump be elected, it might be the event that actually prompts a progressive revival. It took Hoover to get us to Roosevelt. It took Buchanan to get us to Lincoln. A President Trump might actually get people in this country to become engaged, much like the civil rights movement did.
My grandfather voted for Ernst Thaelmann and he was told it was a vote for Hitler. He later lost his life, but, from what people told me later, he didn’t regret his vote for Thaelmann. He never believed in the lesser evil argument and according to the many comments I’ve read here, it seems a lot of people agree with him (and I with them).
While we disagree on this, I will continue to fight for the issues to which you and your blog are dedicated. We will, as you reminded me recently, will have to fight and educate our neighbors regardless of who is elected.
Diane, I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude, but “why don’t you vote for Trump” is getting old and tiring. People have said over and over again that they can’t, by conscience, vote for someone who has done the evil things that Hillary has. That means, by definition, that they can’t vote for someone who has done the evil things that Trump has. What we’re saying is that we are voting *for* someone we *can* believe in, not just the “lesser” of the evils. People have laid out in excruciating detail all the problems with Hillary’s record (and none of it has to do with Vince Foster, pantsuits, screeching, Benghazi, or any other right wing nonsense). If your only response is, “but Trump”, well, I personally don’t find that convincing, especially when everyone had the opportunity to vote *for* a man with a generally impeccable record and who is not bought by Wall Street. Hillary was forced on us, but don’t expect us to buy into her.
Using the Ten Commandments to define what is evil, what has Hillary done that is evil?
Um, murder comes to mind…. But then, I don’t limit myself to the 10 Commandments. I’m more of a “as you have done to the least of these my brethren…” type. By that standard, Hillary will definitely be among the goats.
Was Hillary found guilty of murder in a court by a jury or was she just accused of murder by far right hate radio?
Lloyd, here’s where you struck nerves: “The Clintons now have enough money to stand on their own…” overlooks a history of using other rich peoples’ money to be malleable to patrons (see corporate reformers); “…the far right has demonized…”, no one on this discussion disagrees with you, we can just discern issues as, it seems, you cannot; “Your education starts with…” and “George Washington…Sally Fairfax” (seriously?); a citation of a Forbes article to buttress your case; “Nixon…”?? (please take the time to read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, a book I’ve touted as the one of the two best American public policy books, along with Reign of Error, published thus far in the 21st century); “I urge you to educate yourself with…” a link to Wikipedia??? Would you accept that from a student? Ever?; and lastly “evil” and “Ten Commandments”????
And “…she will not destroy the country like I think Trump would do” denigrates us, I think a majority, who would never let that happen. Just because we will not vote for Clinton, please don’t impugn our love of country, the principles that built it or our willingness to stand up for them, especially if we don’t vote the way you condescending implore we should. Rather than pull out red herrings like “evil” and “accused of murder by far right hate radio”, make a positive argument about your candidate’s “experience,” “qualifications,” and “leadership.” If you can do that, more of us might pay attention. The hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent haven’t given us a reason to think otherwise. Instead, the only convincing argument is that we should be very scared of the alternative. We’re better than that.
One more thing, Trump calls Bill Clinton for advice about whether to run. We don’t know what was said. When nomination is clinched, Trump doubles down and seemingly wants to tank. A scared public votes for a candidate the majority cannot stand. Are we all being taken in by an elaborate grift?
It appears that you have not connected the horrors of what has happened to our education system with the fact that both major parties and their candidates are controlled by the satanic freaks that hijacked this nation over a hundred years ago. Either you are still clueless like many of our Americans or you’re helping to promote this evil right/left paradigm. I sincerely hope it’s the former and that you will STOP PUSHING their political agenda through your blog! The correct answer as to whom you should vote for is NONE OF THE ABOVE!!!
Satanic freaks?
And you sir, are delusional if you think Killary Will not be beholden to any special interest while she is in the oval office…she will sell access to the highest bidder…sorry, America is smarter than this…and we will choose a proven businessman, who will buck the establishment – which is frothing at the bit to coronate the Hildebeast…NOPE!
Donald Trump is a lying fraud who has gone through four bankruptcies, stiffing the people who get 10 cents on the dollar. Why elect a known fraud?
The super delegates don’t vote until JULY 25th! $hillary could very well be indicted by then! I am definitely a Bernie of Bust, lifelong Democratic Party member! She, the DNC, the corrupt corporate media and blind supporters have worked together to force her down our throats! In California and other states there has been exit polling that, the most valid measure of weather there has been election cheating, has been way off the 2-3% margin! There has been stripping and flipping on electronic voting machines!
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/23/could_the_2016_election_be_stolen
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/is_the_2016_election_already_being_stripped_and_flipped_20160404
Please check out these websites! The lesser of two evils is still very, very evil and I in good conscious will not go there!
I agree with much of what you say, Paul. As a Californian, with our state being the 7th largest economy in the world and being the second most populace state in the nation, it is a travesty that the media (was paid off) to claim Hillary won the day before we even got to vote. I would not put it past the Clintons to have arranged/manipulated this.
In my voting district, only one out of thirty registered voters bothered to cast their ballot.
Californians must DEMAND that this kind of election FIX never happens again. Because we are on the West Coast does not give the media and candidates the right to manipulate our ballots by announcing presumed winners before we get a chance to cast our votes.
As a Californian, with our state being the 7th largest economy in the world and being the second most populace state in the nation,
California is the *most* populace state in the nation.
It is certainly the most demographically diverse state.
“US States (plus Washington D.C.) Population and Ranking
State Population Ranking
Population Census Data: 2013
California 1 38,332,521
Texas 2 26,448,193
New York 3 19,651,127
Florida 4 19,552,860 ”
And as the most populace state in the union, California should have the largest voice, but we are DISENFRANCHISED by the media, the DNC, and the outdated unnecessary Electoral College. We must have a voice in elections beyond what evil forces decide to allow us by their manipulation..
NEVER should any organization be allowed to declare a winner, as Hillary and Debbie W-S did on Tuesday. Too many naive registered voters on the West Coast see this false information shouted all over, then they do not waste their time by standing in line to vote. It skewers all National elections and is completely undemocratic.
Of course she wants what is best for her grandchildren, and the beautiful school described is exactly what the Hillary, Rahm, Obama, Gates, and Duncan offspring will all get. Everyone else will get standardized testing, VAM scores, and provided a diminished public education that enriches all of Hillary’s buddies.
That’s it. I’m done. I’m out. We had a legitimate chance for change, and we got a neoliberal back-stabber instead. Maybe she and Randi will have a good laugh over some expensive wine at the people who supported her while she sticks it to them.
Exactly. Hillary wants the best for her grandchildren, and they will go to private schools, and never interact with the rest of us. Hillary may have grown up less priviledged, but that was decades ago. She has NO idea what the vast majority of us are up against. She has NO idea what has been done to public schools, and I doubt she would even care. Her family gets theirs, and that’s all that matters to the oligarchy, of which both she and Trump are a part.
My son is a first time voter this year. He’s planning to write in Bernie. I may join him, because I can’t in good conscience vote for Trump, but I’m not sure that I, in good conscience, can vote for Clinton either.
Reblogged this on Spark! and commented:
Former Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch, on why educators and other Americans should unite behind Hillary Clinton:
I am not voting for Hillary Clinton. She does not support public schools. She is bought and paid for by corporate interests. Those are the same parties who were bailed out by the taxpayers when the US economy was brought to its knees due to their recklessness. We are reaping the rewards of Clinton’s disastrous Middle East meddling. We are living the decline of the Roman Empire.
Abigail, if you prefer a racist sexist blowhard liar, vote for Trump
Trump is repulsive, but Hillary was an early practitioner of the war on teachers and public education. I don’t believe those big checks from Whitney, Bill and Eli don’t have strings attached so that seems evil in its own way.
If you are constantly voting for the least evil, you are still voting for evil.
I appreciate many people especially women are happy with this outcome.
I am not. I see it as more of the same continued destruction of the middle class, public education and only benefiting elites.
Diane, is that your only opposition to Trump? He’s a meanie? He’s certainly for more than just the 1%… that is proven through his actions throighout his lifetime. Trump is extremely generous.
I always trusted your blog to be reputable but it seems that you too, spend too much time listening to media and not enough actual research. Using your blog to promote hillary is a bad choice. In case you forgot, your blog is to save education…. Hillary is not compatible with your goals.
Jen,
I did not endorse anyone before the primaries. I said I would support the Democratic nominee, whether it was Bernie or Hillary.
Trump would be a disaster for America. He is a threat to our economy and our national security. He thinks climate change is a hoax. He is a racist and a sexist. He attacks anyone who disagrees with him. He is a vulgar crude bully. I live in NYC. Trump has never been known for civic activism or generosity, only for self-promotion, womanizing, and greed.
I would vote for Mickey Mouse over Trump. He is a buffoon.
Reblogged this on Equal Opportunities for All Students and commented:
There isn’t a snowball’s chance that I’ll vote for Hillary! I know I’m not alone on this.
My wife posted this comment earlier today. I agree: It takes a movement to build a third party over time. It can’t be done if our right to organize is taken from us. It can’t be done if xenophobia and racism and fascist repression become the rule.
So… Bernie has done an amazing job of organizing and framing the agenda and he should continue to inspire and keep his supporters energized but it is time to prevent Trump from getting elected EVEN if that means voting for Hillary while we continue to organize.
http://www.arthurcamins.com
I will not vote for Hillary no matter what. We do not even know all the unethical behavior that family is involved in.
Lorna, we do know all the unethical behavior Trump has been involved in.
Do you want a man with such a terrible temper in charge of our nuclear arsenal?
One of them will be president.
You don’t have to choose.
Everyone will choose for you
The joy, accomplishment & pride that should’ve been present in the potential of a woman as President was robbed from me due to the facts surrounding Clinton’s past record, who financed her campaign, & with what means & ethics she employed to achieve this nomination. There was no honor & respect in her candidacy.
Hillary Clinton is an embarrassment & insult to ‘Women’ & any cause associated with gender-issues.
A pyrrhic & empty victory…
As a feminist of over 40 yrs, let’s be clear. Hillary Clinton did not do anything for ‘me’, as a woman, mother[single parent], & grandmother but ‘historically document’ the monumental scope of corruption, decay, & deceit that both she & The Democratic Party now irrefutably define. I find the nomination of an individual for President of The United States who is & has been associated with so many fraudulent & deceptive activities to be totally surreal. Amazing that The American People could actually allow such documented scammers & wasters like “The Clintons[sic]”,even within walking distance of The White House much less in occupancy.
Clinton or Trump?
There’s a sense of some sort of inner shame in even having to confront such an unkind, tragic selection.We can no longer accept the things we can not change, we must change the things we can not accept.
“Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.”
Lucy Parsons
Donald Trump will protect the 1%. He cares for no one but The Donald.
I have never supported a woman because she was a woman. Sarah Palin? Michele Bachman?
Democrats should change their mascot to the lemming.
At least they are stubborn in sticking with lying politicians who promise to take “rich peoples” money and put it into Charters, corporate bailouts, lucrative contracts, and manipulation of the finances of this country.
WOW, raising the minimum wage just in time to be replaced by robots/AI and centralizing our government exactly the way Jefferson & Madison were afraid we would do.
BTW, will HRC establish her own computer server by fiat so no one can see her throwing stuff at the first man in the White House. Careful about letting your daughters work as interns in the White House.
I tell you what–get HRC to put in writing that she will appoint you, Dr. Ravitch, as the Sec of Ed and I’ll reconsider writing Bernie in. That would be the ONLY way I’d even remotely consider voting for her.
I am glad some people here are awake about Hillary (her past and what she will stand for). For the ones who vote for her-Good Luck!
Judi,
President Trump.
Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy record and tendencies must not be ignored if one supports better funding for domestic programs, including education. She is a militarist who has consistently supported armed confrontation, coups, and wars. Those illegal, unnecessary acts of aggression, aside from being war crimes (see Libya, 2011) and betrayals of democracy (see Honduras, 2009), waste precious lives and funds.
I will vote my conscience and vote for Jill Stein, a true progressive who takes the two existential threats we all now face – nuclear war and the climate crisis – as seriously as they must be taken.
Hillary, as Secretary of State, pushed fracking abroad, despite the utter necessity to keep ALL fossil fuels in the ground. She will, no doubt, support Obama’s insane trillion dollar nuclear weapons “modernization” program (over 30 years), despite its violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The threats to our existence of nuclear war with Russia and China, which Obama is provoking and Hillary will, no doubt, escalate, and accelerating global warming, which will only increase with the burning of more fossil fuels as advocated by Hillary’s corporate funders, will make support for true education reform and our public schools moot.
I won’t vote for Hillary, no matter what = I am willing to let an authoritarian, ignorant, bigot become the US president and live with the consequences. Remember, things are bad but can always get worse. It was the Allies war that ended fascism in Germany, not an internal struggle. There will be no one to rescue us once our freedoms are gone. Make no mistake, Trump will make struggles for social, economic, racial and environmental justice far more difficult.
Hillary *is* authoritarian. As far as bigotry, it’s just a matter of whether you prefer it all hanging out naked in the open, or whether you prefer it respectably masked behind dog whistles. I’d rather not have it either way, but at least naked in the open is easier to spot and call out.
Arthur…I always find myself agreeing with you and used your recent article on Huffpost on “how schools fail at teaching citizenship development” as a link to my widely published online article on Trump the Ignoramus. But in considering this vital election with the most devious and frightening candidate choices in my long life, I am wavering. To put our lives in the hands of a greed-drive egomaniac who has NO control over his prefrontal lobes, and could be in a state of dementia, is too dangerous to consider.
We cannot take the chance that he will take us into a nuclear confrontation as he has threatened…and his ignorance and lack of duty to listen to advisors, which he blatantly states, seems to me to be far more dangerous than the stained Clintons who at least know what governing means, and who have read the Constitution. Two Yale lawyers seem to be a better bet than the King of Failed Casinos. At least, that is what I am trying to process.
If Jill Stein had a chance, she would be my first choice at this stage of this deadly game that the whole world is watching.
Yes. This is not the usual lesser of two evils moment. Or, as Johnny Carson once said, a choice between the evil of two lessers. This is an existential moment. Voting for Clinton may be a vote for the evil of what we have. Letting Trump win is a vote for something far worse that will make the struggle for something better far more difficult. It is a vote for looking away from the hatred that supports him. Who is willing to live with that?
I will vote for Hillary. Trump is dangerous. Give him power and he will exploit it and draw others of like mind into his orbit.
In addition to Trump’s trigger finger, there is the matter of nominations for the Supreme Court vacancy, more in the next four years, and other court appointments.
I am voting to keep Trump out of office. Congress has already put in place the ESSA legislation that Hillary will inherit. There is a lot of other legacy legislation on education that cannot be changed overnight. How the legislation is interpreted matters. In my opinion, the next big cause for educators must be raising hell before she is tempted to appoint a Secretary of Education who will take pride in demolishing public schools, demonizing teachers, damning kids to a perpetual testing regime for not learning enough fast enough.
It is also essential to pay attention to other candidates for office–in both houses of Congress, every race for governor and state officials, also county and local officials. Presidential politics is not the whole what all of us should be paying attention to.
Anyone who considers this liar, cheat, immoral, selfish wealthy bastard for another government position is void of any form of knowledge or intelligence.
Are you talking about Trump? That racist, crude, vicious barbarian?
Only the uninformed or uneducated in things political could vote for this proven liar with Impeached proven liar husband. What the heck has happened to America when they are willing to accept immoral behavior!
Jim,
Don’t you think the lying, bragging thrice-married adulterer is an even worse choice?
Read some history. Social movements do not thrive under despots or dictators or when hatred thrives. That is the risk. Are you willing to risk the freedoms of your neighbors?
What’s so damned frustrating is that we had a choice of a candidate who was neither a “proven liar with an Impeached proven liar husband” nor a “lying, bragging thrice-married adulterer”, but he was rejected in favor of the former, so now those are the only choices we have. Unless enough of us get sick enough of it to reject the whole disgusting charade and refuse all of the “legitimate” choices.
Dienne, reject the choices if you will. Then watch President Trump pick 2 or 3 new Supreme Court justices, ban Myslims, deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, and bring back coal-burning factories with no minimum wage
Not ready for Hillary. The Democrats need to acknowledge Bernie’s influence and constituents with meaningful, inclusive concessions. That means adding Bernie’s ideas to the party platform if not including Sander’s and allies in the administration.
Hillary is Republican-lite. She is a weak candidate with high negatives. Her campaign is appearing daily as uninspiring and simply Obama 2.0. The sure way to lose to Trump would be to dismiss and disparage Bernie’s supporters. Democrats should not underestimated the populist anger Trump has tapped nor the blind obedience and deference to unquestioned authority of conservatives. Trump is inspiring Republicans to come out and vote. Hillary is not inspiring Democrats.
Ohio went through a similar experience when Democrats 1) refused to set up fair districts when they held the power, 2) offered a weak candidate for governor and underestimated their opponents. Now Ohio, a 50-50 state, is being run entirely by far right Republicans while our Democrats are wandering in the wilderness.
YES,,,but Trump is not only attracting many (under educated) Republicans, he is also attracting unadulterated FASCISTS like David Duke. His supporters represent to the worst of demagogue-lovers and gun-lovers. All these who see themselves as the DISENFRANCHISED are coming out of their caves to vote for and support Trump. Read The Turner Diaries which is their bible.
Hillary as Repub-lite…yes, VM.
She lauds Obama for passing ObamaCare and repeats ad nauseum that before it became ObamaCare, it was known as HillaryCare. So painful to see these two candidates fold to Big Insurance and Big Pharma and now insure the industries the buy-in of every single person in the nation. These two industries got the biggest economic and mandated gift in their history from Obama/Clinton.
Why did these Dem leaders not fight them to get universal single payer health care? Medicare for All is the law in every industrial nation in the world…only the US remains with a Third World, corporate serving, greed serving, view on the health of the populace.
Sanders continues to miss his opportunity to spell out the financial formula to transition to Medicare for All. The costs would be far less than what we now pay. We would go from spending about 30% of our taxes and direct medical/insurance costs, to only spending the current cost of running Medicare…about 3 – 5%.
If the upper income folks (2%) who only pay in to Social Security to $118,500 of their yearly income, were to pay up to a million dollar cut-off, as with all the millionaires and billionaires…both SS and Medicare for All could be fully funded in perpetuity.
Neither of these is an Entitlement, for we all buy this insurance for our entire working lives. And in retirement, Medicare insurance is taken directly from our SS checks. And SS payment is also taken from every one of our paychecks. We all pay the freight from our first job until the day we die. So don’t let anyone get away with calling these two insurance vehicles, ENTITLEMENTS. That is sheer crap and reflects on how polticos and their cronies, and the bought media, control the message with PR stunts and lies.
Both these current candidates lie. Pick your poison but stop trying to justify either one as pure, good, a wonderful leader for change…that too is so very mendacious.
Bet we don’t get this info from either candidate.
Hang in Bernie and use your voice to educate voters….but not with only sound bites…use the real information that is available to everyone who searches for it.
Strange that Bernie didn’t actually reveal much of the truth about HRC, and neither did our vaunted free press for that matter. Almost as if he was there to keep a large segment of the population interested in this race and to give them a feeling that they were actually represented. But that just couldn’t be true could it?
However this is interesting: Better Nate than Lever?
FBI criminal investigation emails: Clinton approved CIA drone assassinations with her cellphone, report says
WSJ: FBI is investigating Hillary’s classified emails on State Dept. approval of CIA drone killings in Pakistan
This from a democrat site
http://www.salon.com/2016/06/10/fbi_criminal_investigation_emails_clinton_approved_cia_drone_assassinations_with_her_cellphone_report_says/
Bob, can you just come out and clearly say whatever you’re trying to say?
The reason Bernie didn’t bring up most of Hillary’s dirt is that he wanted to run a positive campaign, based on the issues, and simultaneously not damage Hillary too much if he were to lose. And he knew he was very likely to lose.
A difficult task, no doubt one that HRC and her supporters have shown little appreciation for.
She truly is a miraculous candidate, since (with the help of the Associated Press), she was the Democratic nominee even before people in the nation’s most populous state had a chance to vote!
It’s just a taste of what can be expected from her Presidency. That, along with repression, war and worsening inequality.
Oh, and privatized schools, too.
Michael, I always enjoy your comments, but do you think our society will thrive under Predident Trump and Justice Cruz. Abortions banned; 11 million immigrants rounded up and deported; nuclear weapons for S Korea and the Saudis. You don’t see a difference?
Diane, do you think the election of Hillary will remove the forces that created Trump as a nominee? I think it will amplify them. And, by the way, I think your mention of abortion rights is a red herring, since access to legal abortion has been declining under Obama, and he and whom he truly represents seem no more concerned about that than they are about the increasing irrelevance of the AFL-CIO. Rest assured that, even if Donnie is elected President, abortion will still be available along the Acela corridor and on the west coast, the only parts of the country neoliberal Democrats seem to care about.
In fact, four years or more of Hillary in the White House, absent strong resistance and movements opposed to the neoliberalism she is an avatar for, guarantee more economic inequality, sexism, racism and war in the future, since the political environment we currently inhabit (to say nothing of the current incarnation of the Democratic Party) is in so many ways a product of the Clintons.
The rigged system founded on endless waves of propaganda – exemplified by that disgraceful planted AP article this week – which has caused disaffected, angry and ignorant people to flock to Trump is inseparable from the unadulterated neoliberalism the Clintons represent. They market it well, with Bill the avuncular glad-hander, and Hillary the sober technocrat, but the reality is that their entire political careers have been based on throwing the people they claim to represent under the bus, and that will not change this time. That seething resentment and anger will get worse, and spread, and next time it may get harnessed by someone scarier and more effective than a clown like Donnie.
I have to give a wry, mordant smile at the perverse times we live in, and the perverse responses I find myself having, since just the other day I was commenting on the Naked Capitalism blog, in response to the majority of commenters who were taking an anybody-but-Hillary stance, and warning of the potential dangers of Donnie as President, and now here I am urging people to be skeptical of Hillary. It’s a measure of how perverse the times we live in are, and how screwed we are.
I can’t criticize anyone for wanting to keep Donnie from naming the next Supreme Court nominees, and I recognize that living in New York State gives me the luxury of being able to vote my conscience (which would be a very different thing were I in Ohio or Florida) but please, don’t try to convince yourself or anyone else that Hillary will do anything different from what she’s done in the past, which is empower herself and her backers by selling out the very same constituencies that are being scared into voting for her by waving the boogie man of Drumpf.
A racist, sexist, megalomaniacal swindler and media clown, or a belligerent neoliberal technocrat whose entire career is based on screwing over those she claims to represent: pick your poison, America, and hunker down for what follows.
Michael, what’s your proposal?
The next president will pick at least one Supreme Court justice, possibly three (Ginsburg, Breyer, Scalia). Yes, Roe v Wade can be reversed. With Trump, we would be an international laughing stock. Once elected, who can keep him to a script? I am turning 78 in a few weeks. I have a limited number of years or months on this planet. I have no ambition other than to be able to live what’s left of my life with integrity. Elections in this country always come down to a choice between two candidates. You choose or you don’t. Your decision.
My choice is to have no illusions about who runs this country, or the political brokers they put forward to feign representation, and to act accordingly. Part of that involves trying to inform people of the false choices they are being presented with.
Hillary or Donnie, the choice is between endless war, dispossession, inequality and repression (certain to be provided by either) or resistance and solidarity on the part of working people against the smash-and-grab avarice of the Overclass and their technocratic enablers.
That’s the real choice, whomever wins in November.
I’ll have to hold my nose–and my stomach–to do it, but I will vote for her.
Try saying “President Trump” or “Justice Cruz.” Awful, isn’t it? Even worse than a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Enough said.
Mark…your comment re “Justice Cruz” says it all. We will have probably three new SCOTUS Justices appointed by the next President. The current opening of Scalia’s seat, and probably with retirement of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg (my number one hero) and Stephen Breyer.
Can you imagine Justice Ted Cruz, Justice Scott Walker, and even perhaps Justice David Duke???? or even Justice Mitch McConnell?
OMG….
I guess we can be thankful Scott Walker doesn’t have a law degree and couldn’t be appointed to the Supreme Court by Oresident Trump
Technically, you don’t need to law degree to be a Supreme Court Justice.
You are right, FLERP. A person may be a judge on the Supreme Court without a law degree.
In a Trump administration, we can watch for Justice Scott Walker, Justice Chris Christie and who knows.
I agree, Ellen. I do think the one place where Ms. Clinton can reach disaffected Democrats is by way of judicial appointments; it’s pretty safe to say she won’t appoint nutcase right-wing ideologues like Scalia, or Samuel Alito–or Clarence Thomas for that matter. As Diane rightly emphasizes, we really do need to stand together this time around, regardless of how we feel about Hillary….
Who among those who will never vote for Hillary are the Mexicans who he wants to deport, or the Muslims he want to keep out and whose rights he wants to restrict, or the African-Americans he calls, mine? Who among you who see little difference between Clinton and Trump are willing to accept the loosening of libel laws that he has threatened?
Definitely will not support her. The most I would ever do is “hold my nose” and vote for her, but I doubt I would even do that.
Campaign for her? Recommend her? Pretend like she’s a good candidate? Hill no. I don’t do those things for “evil” people, even if they are “less” evil (which is debatable)
Bernie as VP would hold her accountable.
How? What power does the VP hold over the president?
Ed, consider the alternative.
I have been, Diane. Consider how many thoughtful and well-researched educators on this page (and previous ones) are not convinced that Hillary is the lesser evil.
I worked hard for Sanders, and the vast majority of evidence pointed to him beating The Donald while Hillary would struggle vs him, or even that an indictment could sink her at any time. If Trump becomes pres, I will be no more at fault than anyone else. I also happen to think that while Trump is absurd, you overrate the horrible things he could/would accomplish while in office. We are not voting for an Emperor, and a lot of what he does is for show. On top of that, a Clinton II Administration is much more likely to be 8 years — vs 4 years of Trump. What if, 4 years from now, we can get a much better candidate than Clinton into the presidential office? Lots of people who see both Hillary and Donald as evil will take their chances on that one.
My state is almost certainly going Hillary, anyways. If there is no Sanders on the ballot, I’m personally voting Stein.
I will never work for Hillary. I’ll be spending my time and effort on progressive down-ballot candidates.
Diane, you may want to rethink your support. Below is partial transcript from Clinton’s first official campaign event in Iowa in 2015. I don’t believe she fully shares your vision and views especially if she feels that education is a “non-family enterprise”, I know that I have been involved in my daughters education from day one and she’ll be a junior in high school next year. Read for yourself and peruse the Internet for the supporting video to this transcript.
During her first official campaign event in Iowa earlier this week, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised Common Core and referred to children’s education as a “non-family enterprise.” Clinton’s controversial statements about education, which were captured by C-SPAN, came in response to a question from a participant about how to offer a quality education throughout the U.S.
Clinton initially responded to the question about how to fix the U.S. educational system by praising Common Core. She then said that families today are too “negative” about the current system, a system Clinton described as “the most important non-family enterprise” in the country. After noting what she described as “unfortunate” opposition to Common Core, Hillary Clinton also blithely dismissed the concerns of Common Core opponents by saying they just “do not understand the value” of the controversial top-down curriculum:
Although Clinton said there shouldn’t be “two tiers of education” in the U.S., she opposes school choice, which would help parents in failing school districts send their children to better schools. Her comment that children’s education is a “non-family enterprise” is also likely to enrage families who believe that parents should be key players in the education of their own children.
Here’s a transcript of Clinton’s remarks from the video:
Hillary Clinton: You know, what I think about the really unfortunate argument that has been going on around Common Core, it’s very painful because the Common Core started off as a bipartisan effort. It was actually nonpartisan. It wasn’t politicized. It was to try to come up with a core of learning that we might expect students to achieve across our country, no matter what kind of school district they were in, no matter how poor their family was, that there wouldn’t be two tiers of education. Everybody would be looking at what would be learned doing their best to achieve that
I think part of the reason Iowa may be more understanding of this is you have had the Iowa core for years. The U.S. had a system plus the Iowa Assessment Test. I think I’m right in saying that I took those when I was in elementary school. The Iowa tests. So that Iowa has had a testing system based on a core curriculum for a really long time. You see the value of it. You understand why that helps you organize your whole education system.
And a lot of states, unfortunately, haven’t had that. They do not understand the value of a core in the sense, a Common Core, yes, of course, you can figure out the best way in your community to try to reach — but your question is a larger one. How do we end up at a point where we are so negative about the most important non-family enterprise in the raising of the next generation which is how our kids are educated?
Laurie,
I will not rethink my decision to support Hillary because the alternative is a dangerous racist, a bulky and a buffoon.
Laurie…although I agree that Hillary is an awful alternative, she is the candidate. I have written against her for the last year, about her many failings, and thought I would never vote for her….but….I am coming to see that a Trump win will be the most dangerous thing that can happen to America and to us all.
I urge all my wonderful educator colleagues to rise about ed issues of VAM, Ruelas, charters, teacher jail, etc. and for at least the next six months, see the greater picture. Education is only one part of the American psyche, and there is also health care, economics, guaranteed Constitutional rights, international relations, world trade, so many additional issues to be taken into consideration.
Bottom line, Trump will pack SCOTUS with the WORST justices which will affect our nation for at least the next 40 years. Our grandchildren could be living in real, beyond existential, Fascistic hell.
With Trump it will be Storm Troopers at our doors…(and Romney is holding his secret Repub meeting with all the top leaders of their party, knowing how real this threat is)…so we cannot afford to gamble on any of this by losing this election standing on principle.
My head is throbbing as I write this…but this is not a Reality Show…it is today in American politics.
During her first official campaign event in Iowa earlier this week, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised Common Core and referred to children’s education as a “non-family enterprise.” Clinton’s controversial statements about education, which were captured by C-SPAN, came in response to a question from a participant about how to offer a quality education throughout the U.S.
Clinton initially responded to the question about how to fix the U.S. educational system by praising Common Core. She then said that families today are too “negative” about the current system, a system Clinton described as “the most important non-family enterprise” in the country. After noting what she described as “unfortunate” opposition to Common Core, Hillary Clinton also blithely dismissed the concerns of Common Core opponents by saying they just “do not understand the value” of the controversial top-down curriculum:
Although Clinton said there shouldn’t be “two tiers of education” in the U.S., she opposes school choice, which would help parents in failing school districts send their children to better schools. Her comment that children’s education is a “non-family enterprise” is also likely to enrage families who believe that parents should be key players in the education of their own children.
Here’s a transcript of Clinton’s remarks from the video:
Hillary Clinton: You know, what I think about the really unfortunate argument that has been going on around Common Core, it’s very painful because the Common Core started off as a bipartisan effort. It was actually nonpartisan. It wasn’t politicized. It was to try to come up with a core of learning that we might expect students to achieve across our country, no matter what kind of school district they were in, no matter how poor their family was, that there wouldn’t be two tiers of education. Everybody would be looking at what would be learned doing their best to achieve that
I think part of the reason Iowa may be more understanding of this is you have had the Iowa core for years. The U.S. had a system plus the Iowa Assessment Test. I think I’m right in saying that I took those when I was in elementary school. The Iowa tests. So that Iowa has had a testing system based on a core curriculum for a really long time. You see the value of it. You understand why that helps you organize your whole education system.
And a lot of states, unfortunately, haven’t had that. They do not understand the value of a core in the sense, a Common Core, yes, of course, you can figure out the best way in your community to try to reach — but your question is a larger one. How do we end up at a point where we are so negative about the most important non-family enterprise in the raising of the next generation which is how our kids are educated?
I can help explain this to her. She has been focused on foreign policy. She needs help.
With all due respect, Diane, it’s blindness to believe that Hillary is simply ignorant when it comes to education policy. John Podesta is her campaign manager. She’s good friends with Eli Broad. She was on the board of Walmart.
It may be legitimate to say that Hillary is better than Trump and that we should vote for her to keep him out of the White House. But please don’t pretend that she is anything other than a neoliberal who will continue to implement the neoliberal policies of her husband and the current POTUS.
Good luck with that, she’s going to need CONSIDERABLE help! She may believe that education is a “non-family enterprise”, but I certainly don’t and I don’t think you do either. Not only have I’ve been involved in my daughter’s education since day one (she’ll be a junior in high school next year), but it’s a parents RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to be involved in their children’s education. Again, I wish you luck, she’s so pro common core that it’ll take a miracle to change that!!
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta, is a long time supporter of corporate education reform. http://www.progressive.org/news/2016/04/188661/center-american-progress—not-progressive-education
Ken, I know that. Trump will destroy education, encourage the spread of nuclear weapons, alienate our allies around the world, and eliminate funding directed at saving the environment. He denies climate change.
Who will you vote for?
Ken…when I listened to, and saw, Podesta last night, I was nauseated.
We know that Hillary cannot be trusted, and your excellent article on her connection to Broad is a must read for all. I have sent it to all my lists.
Also no one has mentioned her close connection with Monsanto…but viewing the alternative is somewhat like choosing between Mafia Rule or Corporate Vulture Rule. Do we want the Fascistic Anarchy of Billionaire Trump, or the more known Oligarchic (also lucre oriented) Manipulation of Clinton?
My scholarly father used to tell me to listen carefully to the words people say, but watch even more carefully their actions.
At very least she would probably choose SCOTUS justices more wisely.
I worry that Trump cannot control his behaviors and has pre-frontal lobe damage perhaps due to dementia. Or he has such defective genes and emotionally stunted growth that he has NO impulse control. That seems to me to be far more dangerous than the lying and manipulation we all seem to agree is the Clintons stock in trade.
Diane,
I think you may have as good a chance as anyone else to connect with her. You have Wellesley in common, both NY and Southern roots, and seem to have covered similar parts of the political spectrum.
I hope your meeting happens. I have been disappointed that there hasn’t been more attention and clearer positions offered on education. Good luck!
Wdf1, I have a chance to meet her. I have met her several times over the years, the last time in 2008, when I supported her.
HRC will obviously continue the reform-based education policies of her predecessor and the bulk of the neo-liberal dems. To expect otherwise is ridiculous, ignorant, and at best delusional. Our side has in no way won the narrative war against the reform movement. The reformers continue
to win and as such, HRC will spend less than a minute crafting the direction of her Ed policy. She has no reason not to. She will also keep John King on board as her Secretary of Education.
What frightens me is that there will be a necessary renaming/rebranding of things once (if) she takes office, and many, maybe most, on our side will misconstrue that as a big change of direction away from the reformers. It won’t be of course. Then there will be a 2-3 year period when our side does A LOT of “how could this have happened!” bullshit that many on our side are still doing.
Regardless, rest assured that the reformers’ agenda will continue full steam ahead.
Now, on the whole vote for HRC thing or not. Well of course any person of even reasonable mind MUST vote for her! Those thinking about abstaining, writing-in, or whatever must have zero contextual thinking and an almost morphine-like delusional lack of historical understanding. Trump is an existential threat to the republic.
Understand this: there are issues bigger than educational policy (sorry folks, children are the future and all that, but it’s true…..stoping the rise of a neo-fascist is more important than education policy!) . Understand that your necessary vote for Clinton is also a vote against education. Yes. Deal. Nobody said doing one’s civic duty is all smiles and unicorns and joy. Your necessary vote for Clinton will certainly abbreviate the careers of many working teachers, further wreck public education, and hand over huge amounts of schools to charter companies. Yes. That is true. I will know and be in agony doing it, realizing that the next 8 years will be a continued diminishment of my career, but I will vote for HRC.
It’s called being a citizen. Somehow we have forgotten what the Enlightenment should have taught us…. Politics is always dirty business and those who play at it are always unsavory. Always. Stop expecting things that never have existed. That is actually and precisely childish. Children want everything arranged exactly their way. Adults….citizens…..should be better than that.
Besides, the fight against the reformers will not be won or lost via a president. If we are to ever win against the reformers it will be via labor-based action, organized regionally and nationally. Only if that is successful will an executive change their mind. When did we start believing in that deeply anti-democratic delusion and falsehood that our political leaders are our thought leaders? Politicians TRAIL the people’s will…..they don’t lead it. So many here seem to have their political philosophies all half-assed and jumbled….leading to half-assed and jumbled perspectives and positions and even actions…..like abstaining from voting. Voting and civics isn’t choosing a fucking color combo for your new car! It’s not about choosing precisely the person that matches your thinking. It’s about choosing the person least likely to damage your rights. Period.
Vote HRC and deal. The alternative is off the map crazy. Trump will leave us wishing for a time when school privatization and reformers were real concerns.
I will vote FOR Bernie rather than vote AGAINST anyone. Then I will start in my own state and become the change I want to see.
Rick, you will enjoy 4 years of President Trump.
Yep. A vote Hillary is vote for the status quo on education reform, trade and the assault on the middle class and optional mideast wars.
Even Trump gets that right.
Brief mention in Wall Street Jounal today that she has changed her mind on Common Core and charter schools. I did a double-take on the charter schools. There was no detail, but the word may actually have reached her staff, perhaps through the sendoff of some suggested language for the Democratic platform. Who knows.
Change of heart? C’mom. This is Hillary Clinton … expect garbled language, head-aching policy statements … coupled with cloudy and the chance of thick fog.
At least she is flip flopping in the right direction, but can we believe her? I once trusted Obama and lived to regret it.
I admit that President Trump is a terrifying thought and it does give me pause. But there is another angle I think needs to be considered: us. With Hillary in the White House she will pander to Wall Street and forget her promises to ordinary Americans. She will continue her neoliberal ways. She will find more Muslim countries to invade/occupy/drone bomb. She will continue to privatize education and other public goods. She will continue the quest to privatize/cut Social Security. And most of us, being good loyal Democrats, will perhaps mumble and complain, but we will never protest, at least not seriously.
But when Trump tries to pull his outrageous stunts, we will speak up in any and every way we can, just like we did with Bush. We’ll protest in the streets and call and write our elected officials and newspapers dozens of times a day. Sure, Bush still got away with a lot. But Obama has quietly codified and advanced most of what he did. Hillary will continue the slow and steady rightward march, while Trump will try to barrel over the right-ward edge. Which one, in the long run, will be more effective?
No. There’s no other angles to consider. Which candidate will LEAST damage your rights? HRC or Trump. And don’t forget one of your rights is the right to LIFE.
Nobody said Clinton isn’t going to harm you or stop the neo-liberalizing of our politics, economics, and culture. But chances of nuclear war are less with Clinton. Chances of maintaining some of our basic rights and New Deal-based protections and benefits are better with Clinton. Chances of avoiding full fascist-corporate life in the US are less with Clinton.
That’s that. No other angles. Ridiculous this is even a thing, this “choice”.
Yeah, I heard a lot of this in New York when Cuomo ran against Crazy Carl Paladino and Racist Rob Astorino—“the people will rise up to block them whereas Cuomo will sneak all sorts of bad stuff by us in the night!”
Does anyone in their right mind think that New York State would have legalized same-sex marriage, a $15 minimum wage, and a permanent ban on fracking if either of those two had been governor?
Does anyone in their right mind think that Mitt Romney or John McCain would have nominated supreme court justices who were in any way comparable to Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan?
Does anyone in their right mind think that even one tiny scrap of Bernie Sanders’s platform is going to be realized while there’s a Republican House, Senate, and White House?
Vote for whoever you want! But please spare us the notion that Trump will be gridlocked because the people will somehow put a stop to him AFTER he’s elected. It’s a horseshit argument. Elections have big, big consequences. Yuge, even.
“Chances of maintaining some of our basic rights and New Deal-based protections and benefits are better with Clinton.”
On what basis do you say that? The Democrats are the ones who, so far, have been most successful at rolling back New Deal protections and benefits. It took Nixon to go to China, it took a Democrat to get rid of welfare and Glass-Steagall.
BTW, yeah, “choice” is a ridiculous thing in a democracy, isn’t it?
What? I do not remember street protests that stopped our invasion of Iraq. I remember a frightened and angry populace very much in support of the invasion. Trump will do many unjust things if he is president. No thanks. I am voting for the democrat, which will almost certainly be Hillary Clinton.
There were massive marches against the war in Iraq in 2003, at the time experts said it was the largest global protest ever. Every major city in the US had a protest march, many smaller communities had anti-war marches, too.
No, the war wasn’t stopped, but so many people, including Bernie Sanders, stepped forward and said “not in my name.” Hillary was with the plutocrats, not with the people, when she voted for the war.
Concerned citizen, are you voting for Trump?
I am voting for Jill Stein, if Bernie is not able to win the nomination at the contested convention on July 25.
I firmly believe there should be a box for “I don’t support ANY of these candidates”. Without it we are victims of false assumptions and controlled thinking. Sorta like common core! I want to vote but there is no way I could possibly even imagine voting for HRC. Expect years of more common core, more charters, more war, more destruction like she advocated for Libya and Syria, more fraud like the Clinton foundation and more GMOs. About the same as Trump. Different hairstyle. Coke or Pepsi. Some claim to be able to taste the difference. Love your blog anyway!
“Nobody said Clinton isn’t going to harm you or stop the neo-liberalizing of our politics, economics, and culture. But chances of nuclear war are less with Clinton. Chances of maintaining some of our basic rights and New Deal-based protections and benefits are better with Clinton. Chances of avoiding full fascist-corporate life in the US are less with Clinton.”
Wow, what a ringing endorsement. The threats against a viable future for our children are merely lessoned, what, a little bit, with a third term for the Clintons? None of us can see the future. We can make guesses based on our own knowledge, biases and suppositions.
Clinton is the PRESUMPTIVE nominee. If she becomes the actual nominee, in July, I will decide then how I might vote in November.
Wasn’t supposed to be a ringing endorsement. Clinton sucks, for sure and absolutely. Civic duty is finding the least stinky turd and going with it.
Ringing endorsement……who the F, outside of hacks and pundits and people with something to gain give “ringing endorsements?” Citizens should know better. The republic was founded on the notion that a Citizen understand that politicians are always a necessary evil…a group whose ambitions must be steered by the people and used for our purposes.
Politically so many have their hopes pinned to this false idea: that a politician should be one’s superman. Ironic here.
Why do so many people have a fucking savior complex? There are no saviors! This is politics.
But Trump???? There is no choice here. Come on.
We don’t want superman. We want real leadership.
You will get real leadership from Trump. Straight to the abyss, guided by bigotry, ignorance, and hubris.
I would agree that neither Hillary nor Trump should be given power over a few people, much less the nation and world. I would rather pick a random high school student out of a hat to be president than either of these sociopathic megalomaniacs. Amazing how it got to this point of having the two most hated nominees in history — how much longer can we be ransomed to vote against the crazy idiot instead of “for” the person we believe in?
Maybe you’re right Diane, that at the end of the day we must get Hillary in office over Trump, this time. But does that mean we’ve learned our lesson? How long will the lesser great evil continue to be forced upon us, before the majority of us stand up and say “enough is enough”? Well — to all those who vote Hillary as a concession, I hope next time around they will be working to push an alternative to first-past-the-post, to get big money out of politics, to fight media propaganda, to donate and work for the right campaign, and then nominate the right candidate… I would hold all those who find this situation to be a horrible one, to do more next time so that it doesn’t get to this point…
Vote as you wish. That’s your right. At least it is your right now. Don’t take anything for granted when a sociopath is the alternative
I think that it might be better to be thrown into the cauldron rather than
vote for a slow agonizing death.
Now, some might argue that I am being selfish because, after all, what right do I have to hasten the ‘certain’ cauldron for those who wish the slow agonizing death?
Some might say that we have a better chance of escaping if the death of democracy is accomplished in slow incremental steps.
What was that story about the frog in a pot of water again?
Compromise someone said : Quite an interesting description of the Clinton years . Thomas Frank details the Major accomplishments of the Clinton Years all of them were Republican Dreams
Welfare reform That Increased extreme poverty. So much for Hillary’s
time at the Children’s Defense fund. Marian Wright Edelman might have been just a little disappointed in her .
The Crime bill expanding the American Prison population,creating
for profit private prisons, making the US a concentration camp for people of color or at least the largest gulag in the world. Michelle Alexander points out that the Clinton job miracle for Blacks was a mirage. They were not on the unemployment line because they were on a soup line at a private prison near you.
NAFTA a Plutocrats dream that cost 5million manufacturing jobs . Add the velocity of money and that number is 15million jobs . Leaving an eviscerated middle class and a private unionization rate under 6% .
Want a raise I’ll ship your job to China.No wonder millennials earn 20% less than the generation before, while being better educated.
The Commodities Futures Deregulation Act . No State shall regulate Derivatives as a gambling Instrument.
No they should have been regulated by the EPA as “Toxic Time Bombs” for the World economy .
Financial Modernization Act of 1999 . Love it, gamble with my savings so that we can bail you out . Who needs Glass-Steagall
Further deregulation of the Media allowing Rupert Murdoch to own Newspapers and Broadcast media in the same markets
Oh yes he raised the top marginal tax rate but dropped the gains rate .
So I’m sure the Oligarchs and Plutocrats were very upset as that almost all of their income is in gains .
Hillary-care was not a single payer proposal it was a managed care proposal that kept the for profit Insurance companies intact.
How many know that before Nixon the Blues were non profits.
So please tell when Billybob compromised and did something progressive .
Lets move on to Obama .I had “Hope for Change ” when I voted for him the first of two times . So did organized labor they hoped for the Employee Free Choice Act . That would have leveled the playing field and made it easy for workers to join Unions . They got bupkis never made it out of committee. But Obama took a tour of the Union Busting Caterpillar plant to push the Stimulus.
Then there was Wisconsin he never made it to the picket line or the campaign to recall Walker . I guess a trip to Milwaukee would not have turned out the Black vote in that effort and sent a chilling note to other Republican Governors.
A Bank bailout that rescued Wall Street, even let them keep their bonuses. Of course when Detroit went Bankrupt did those workers keep their Pensions . Contract law is only sacrosanct for the one percent . No need for some leadership here calling out the injustice by Obama .
While we are in Michigan instead of sending in the Core of Engineers and the FBI to Flint .Go have a glass of water to show how safe it is . Maybe if the water is so safe Milia could spend a year there on the way to Harvard as Volunteer working with under privileged youth.
Now , Ronald Reagan should rot in hell with Nancy . But even Ron sent a thousand Bankers to trail in the Savings and Loan crisis.
Forget the Mortgage Fraud, Not even LIBOR outright fraud warranted prosecution a single prosecution. Just fines that were minimal and tax deductible
Obamacare an insurance plan that only that industry would love .Which extended the patent protection on life saving drugs costing Americans Billions . A plan that was the right wing Heritage answer to the inadequate Hillary-care It is dying of its own failures.
We have a national healthcare plan its called Medicare just like in Canada .Time to make it for all.
Then we had a Debt Commission with Simpson and Bowles gee
lets gut Social Security and Medicare while we cut taxes on the 1% now that’s a compromise the American people would love .
Anyone have any doubt what Obama meant in the first debate of 2012. When he turned to Romney and said they agree on Social Security and Medicare . But of course last week he had another populist moment and called for strengthening it .It must be Election time .
Then of course there was a budget COMPROMISE that maintained tax cuts .
Or the 2014 budget reconciliation bill that gutted protections on define benefit pension plans .
Now Americans are not in enough economic pain from NAFTA ,and Most favored Nation status for China . Who are you going to believe every major Labor, Environmental and Consumer group , you own eyes or OBAMA? We need the TPP !!!,would he do anything that was not in the interest of the American people . And beside in the pivot to Asia we can counter China’s influence by making the Vietnamese pay more for prescription drugs and Bill Gates software.
So how has Obama treated American education a true hero of Public Schools and the dedicated teachers who work in them . Those dedicated teachers who work in non union Charters that is .
So Ronald Reagan may have started the neo-liberal assault when he pushed Milton Friedman and “A Nation at Risk” but it takes an Obama to destroy the Public School system
Now Ive been in Philadelphia twice, once as a child to see the Liberty Bell the second time at a demonstration to protest the fact that Obama located the Democratic convention in Charlot the most non Union city in the Nation . If I go to Philadelphia in July I might have to study Gandhi . .
I guess I should be scared of Trump but I am petrified of Clinton as well . Because 4 years more of Clinton/Obama and Trump could look like a moderate .
Joel Herman,
Why don’t you vote for Trump?
So what if he is a racist, sexist boor? So what if he wants to ban Muslims from entering the country? So what if he wants to expel 11 million undocumented immigrants? So what if he thinks climate change is a hoax? So what if he wants S. Korea, Japan, and Saudi Arabia to get their own nuclear arsenal?
You should vote for him anyway.
Oh, yes, and it will be something to see that 50′ wall across the entire southern border. It will cost only $26 billion, according to the New York Times. A bargain.
Thank you Joel!
A third term for the Clintons is not a viable alternative to ‘Never Trump’
Perhaps the thing we most need to fear is fear itself! Didn’t someone with some political clout once say something like that?
I can smell the fear here. No ringing endorsements… just fear!
There must be a better way!
I will probably do just fine. I will survive another Clinton term. Between my husband and myself, we bring in over $200,000 a year. He is retired with a good pension. When I retire I will have a decent pension and health care benefits, unless of course the NY state constitution is opened next year and public pensions are decimated.
My children’s prospects don’t look as promising and there are far too many children in my classrooms who have been greatly harmed by Clintonism and the neoliberal left.
Diane . I will not vote for Trump . Did you note, I voted for Obama twice . The second time only because he was the lessor of two Evils . I have voted Democratic since 1970 . I voted for and campaigned for George McGovern in 72. I voted holding my nose for Carter twice . In retrospect he is a fine Human being . For every Democrat on that ticket or working families since .
Do I agree with you on Trump . Yes I do , But it is not his racist rants that bother me . He is the embodiment of the Republican policy that dates back to Nixon’s Southern Strategy ,Reagan’s Welfare Queens and the Wall that the right has been calling for for decades .
No more dangerous than any other republican .
What makes him dangerous is that once he is in office, he will work with the establishment republicans to gut labor rights .To appoint right wing judges He will build a Wall a very tall Wall with special passages to let enough immigrant labor in to man his non union, union busting casino hotels and every other business that thinks American wages are too high as he does . Is the fear and ignorance that he appeals to on Muslims any different than Andrew Cuomo or Chris Christi appealing to fear rather than science during the Ebola crises. Seeking to ban travel and quarantine medical personnel who risked their lives in service of mankind. .
But I am tired of giving Democrats a pass the lesser of two evils is still evil. The flow of immigrant children coming across the border running from horrific violence was heart breaking. The Republican rights response was despicable. But it was US policy including in the Obama administration that created the crisis . Hillary Clinton sanctioned a soft coup in Hondurans . Obama signs a trade agreement with Colombia where the most endangered specious is a union leader seeking rights for workers at American Multinationals . Then he visits Argentina to congratulate the new right wing government . Next visit will be Brazil another soft coup engineered in the USA.
Will I have the guts to vote for Jill Stein I don’t know. I do know that unless progressives in this country keep pressure on the Democratic party and force Hillary to take positions that she has no desire to take. And unless they keep that pressure on to the election and through the next 4-8 years . The working class of this nation will continue to suffer, sacrificed to the interests of a corporate elite . The peoples of the world will continue to be brutalized by American policy that cares little about the “SOB in office as long as it is our SOB” and he is working in the interest of American corporations and not his people.
But regardless of how I vote if Trump gets elected it will not be my fault .
He will have gotten elected by a majority of the American people and the question that has to be answered is why they felt compelled to vote for a demagogue only four and eight years after electing the first Black President. The question that that has to be asked is why Hillary and the Democrats were not able to reach enough of them to get elected .
So if they want to reach me. I would love to vote and campaign for a two women ticket and there is a Senator up in Massachusetts that I would trust to keep Hillary in line . It would not hurt if our dear President withdrew the TPP from consideration in the lame duck. And left it to the next President to convince the American people . Because I am tired of arguing with working class people about the dangers of Republicans including TRUMP. .
Wonderful summation, Joel! Obama lost me when he caved before the fight even started to repeal the Bush tax cuts.
Bmarshall: It would seem we both have pensions to lose .My three kids are Millennials all with degrees and I fear that they will not as you say have the standard of living of my generation . That is what is driving Trump a declining standard of living.
But neo-liberal is not Left . It is as right wing as you can get . Which is why I need a vomit bag after last night . Liberal refers in this sense to removing all controls over capitalism and letting the market rule .
But it is a fantasy. There are no free markets .” Economics is defined as who gets what” Politics who determines who gets what when and how.” So unless one wants to “live among the savages ” there will always be a government making those decisions and the question is whose interest they will be working for.
Don’t worry Diane, Trump is going to make Mexico pay for the wall.
I’m no Hillary fan, but if the citizens of this country actually elect the Republican madman, the giant sucking sound we will hear, will be the sound of America going down the toilet. And the giant chuckling sound, will be the rest of the world laughing us off the planet.
Right on Joel…all you said about the Dems is factual. Big disappointment in the Clintons and Obama…but now we must look forward.
Dr Ravitch has said it nicely. I am no big fan of Hillary but will vote AGAINST Trump by pulling the lever for her. How anyone in their right mind could vote for Trump or allow him to be our nation’s leader is beyond me but many will.
THAT is the scary part, that so many Americans are seduced by such demagoguery.. If you believe in demagoguery, fascistic, racist leaders do not bother to vote. Let Trump seize the White House and wait for the inevitable.
Our own history which claims that all men are created equal has had our own share already of demagogues. Slavery, the trail of tears, the Japanese interment camps are some of the scars on our history. To allow another demagogue or more demagoguery to be in a position to promote that is madness.
Bernie started a movement. Had he been made president the nation still would have had to rise up and demand the changes he asked for if changes he promoted were to be implemented. THAT can still be done, MUST be done if our planet is to be inhabitable by our progeny and .the middle class are to survive He has already forced Hillary to the left. It is up to us to finish the job. Ralph Nader has said similar things. We must not sit on our backsides but must get involved. Nader has spoken about the power o fthe people IF, when they utilize that power.
Too, Thom Hartmann has made a similar cogent remark. FDR made the changes, the New Deal when the time was ripe for change and when he had the backing of the electorate. Please let us not wait until things get as bad as that again before demanding from the elected officials the changes that MUST be made. It is up to US. Hillary and Congress will move to implement Bernie’s agenda IF we DEMAND it by making our voices heard. Politicians want to be elected, re-elected. IF they believe that enough people are serious about items they will implement them. Right now, as Bernie said, politicians believe that they are elected by adhering to the wishes of the power brokers, moneyed interests.
AND
the presidency is not the ONLY political office that is important. Keep THAT in mind..
Gordon…thanks for your comments…and I hope readers/writers are working for all the support offices such as Congressional and local candidates elections to support a Dem president.
Too bad that Obama was so busy making nice to the Repubs and the corporations when he had a 60% Dem majority in Congress, however.
it seems to go over everyone’s head that Obama vastly strengthened both the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act in order to give the President far greater independent powers than ever before. Using an Executive Order, a President (eg. Trump) could call out the military to police our cities and do his/her bidding, whatever it might be.
Compare how this has affected Egypt and how their society has suffered from a too powerful Presidency which put down April Spring. It is only that the military and the police joined forces to put down their Muslim Brotherhood President and he is now in prison awaiting trial and a death sentence for all the protestors, the educated youth who fought for a secular and democratic land, that he murdered.
Do we want the US to emulate Egypt?
Obama and the US Mayors did it on a smaller scale with the Occupy Wall Street movement. If Trump had been President, we would have probably seen vast blood shed as our protesting youth would have been summarily shot rather than to be tear gassed and clubbed, as they were.
Obama was just as dangerous and insidious as Bush, in quietly increasing unilateral Presidential power…and Clinton MIGHT be more so…but definitely Trump would use these powers, which are now the law of the land, beyond our imaginations. It is hard to have faith in the Clintons, but it is harder to believe that a PROVEN an egomaniac and demagogue such as Trump, with huge anger management issues and no control over his behaviors, would not be crazed enough to use ultimate retaliation as with a nuclear bomb, or killing his own citizens.
Addendum…and I want to suggest to NY Teacher who usually writes so well and is so in touch with ed problems, that he/she stop insulting all the rest of us, particularly Dienne whose comments are well conceived and based on an educated perspective. Many of us seem to be losing it today…hope we can settle down an not engage each other with angry insults.
So perhaps we should be in Philadelphia in mass not to disrupt the convention , not to change the results of an election that was manipulated from the start till the finish by the establishment of the party controlled by the Clinton political machine and by the corporate media. But to force the party to see that the time for business as usual has ended.
Good suggestion Joel…a gathering of supporters of public ed at the Convention, maybe at both Conventions, would certainly get the notice of media and delegates.
My mind wandered…meant Arab Spring, not April Spring….sorry.
Thoroughly disappointed. Guess you haven’t seen the “dear Hillary” letter? Hillary is all about common core. And let’s not forget, she doesn’t believe in parental rights.
Jen,
Vote for Trump for President.
Diane, why are you willing to accept that those are the only two options? Upwards of 40% of the country is fed up with *both* parties. Why can’t those 40% of us find a better alternative and unite behind him or her? Saying that Trump and Clinton are the only two choices sounds too much like Thatcher’s “There Is No Alternative” that ushered in the era of neoliberalism and austerity.
Jen I am no fan of Hillary . The Common Core is the fully owned project of the Business Round Table, long before Hillary and Bill made it to office 1989 .The Round Table is the most powerful business lobby in the Nation . Diane could correct me but I would say that the Gates involvement was probably as the point man for the Round Table of which he is one of 250 members.
I assure you Trump will eliminate the Common Core and replace it with the Core Common .
It is no accident that Obama’s education policy continues Shrubs policy that Jeb ,,Jindal and most Republicans were on board with most Democratic governors probably sight unseen by their education departments .
The problem is money in politics and corporate influence and nobody does it better .
Are you then admitting that Hillary is a war monger rapist enabler, charity scammer, Monsanto lover NAFTA lover, common core charter school lover?
I voted for Bernie in the NJ primary, I actually thought he would win in NJ but I was sadly mistaken. In any case, I will vote for Hillary in the general election barring asteroid hits or invasions of Jovian body snatchers. At least Hillary will not appoint far right wingers to the Supreme Court, that is quite significant. She will not try to privatize Social Security as Bush attempted in 2005.
Ah but Bill almost got to Social security
http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/10/30/how-monica-lewinsky-saved-social-security/
You must be a diehard democrat to be supporting Hillary. Hillary is a big fan of Common Core. Trump says he will get rid of Common Core. .???
I was a Democrat for 50 years. Then I became a Republican so I could vote for Lamar Alexander in 2000, but he was gone before the New York primary. I wasn’t comfortable as a Republican, so I became an independent. After a few years I re-registered as a Democrat. Diehard Democrat? Not really.
I don’t like Common Core. But Trump has no idea what it is, and has no power to stop it. Even if he could, I would never vote for this con man, bully, phony, and braggart. He is everything we teach our children not to be.
With all due respect to Diane, I will not be voting for Clinton under any circumstances. We have a corrupt electoral system where money controls all and 3rd party voices are silenced in order to continue corporate rule. Clinton is a supporter of corporate rule and has a vast track record to prove that.
I will not vote for a former board member and supporter of Walmart. I will not vote for a candidate who as Secretary of State vigorously pushed the agenda of the Fracking industry and the Monsanto lead GMO lobby (and is trying to hide the evidence). I will not vote for a candidate who pushed for and enthusiastically supported the Welfare Reform Act that decimated the lives of millions of families (mostly women and children- some “feminist”!). I will not vote for a candidate who vigorously supported and promoted the Crime Bill which sent millions of African Americans to languish in prison and built up the prison industrial complex more than ever before. I will not vote for a candidate who called young African American men and boys “super predators” .
I will not vote for a candidate who supported the illegal coup of the democratically elected government of Honduras for the sake of corporate greed, resulting in vast destabilization and deaths of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. I will not vote for a candidate who supported and promoted the illegal assassination of Gaddafi in Lybia which devastated the country causing massive deaths. I will not vote for a candidate who supports the drone program and the “extra judicial killings” of innocent people all over the world (including children and American citizens) without trial or any presented evidence. I will not vote for a candidate who supports the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia because of business interests (her own family works for the Saudis!) and has no problem with the way women are treated there (again, some “feminist”!). Yet, she thinks leaders of other countries or dictators should simply be assassinated. I will not support a candidate who vigorously supported NAFTA and now is wishy-washy about the TPP. I will not vote for a candidate who voted for an illegal war in Iraq when she knew there were no weapons of mass destruction.
I will not vote for a candidate who fakes left (but will go far right) in the face of the Sanders campaign having revealed a dissatisfied voter base that is clamoring for the end of corporate rule. When Clinton says, “we have to get UNACCOUNTABLE money out of politics” I think I am standing in the middle of Orwell’s 1984. When she slips the word unaccountable in there, she is really counting on us not hearing that word so we will think she wants to get money out of politics. What she really means is that she has no intention of doing that.
And of course, I will not vote for a candidate who is a complete “corporate reformer” when it comes to education.
Top scientists have just revealed that climate change is much worse than predicated even a few years ago. They have warned that sea levels will rise by 9 FEET by 2050. When that happens we won’t have to worry about education because NYC and all other coastal cities will be under water and civil society as we know it will not be the same. So, I will not vote for any candidate who has no REAL plan to deal with climate change and who continuously supports big oil and polluters (the Fracking industry is Clinton’s best friend!).
Nothing will ever change inside of the corporate controlled Democratic or Republican Parties. Clinton will not somehow have a change of conscience and go against her vast record of greed, war mongering, and undemocratic behavior.
So, I will be voting for Jill Stein of the Green Party. I’m sure some of you will say I will be “causing Trump to win”. That would be extremely simplistic and untrue. No! If Clinton looses to Trump because she can’t appeal to the massive voter base of Sanders supporters or because there is low voter turnout and/or voter suppression (two things the Democrats have done NOTHING about) SHE and the Democratic Party will cause Trump to win. Taking out your frustration on the messenger will not help. Instead we need to face the fact that the corporate control our corrupt electoral system is the problem and the result has only brought us all the things we have been afraid of: Endless war, a toxic environment, continued lack of social justice, rampant racism and bigotry, devastating and dangerous foreign policies, education “reform” and climate catastrophe (among many other horrors). No candidate is entitled to my vote and any candidate who is for profit over people and planet does not deserve yours.
I will be voting for and working for the greater good, not the evil of two lessers.
Glad I live on the highest point on Long Island . Trump / Clinton any nation take American expatriates.
Bravo! Love this essay.
I’d just add that Bill and Hillary have amassed a huge fortune, over $120 million dollars, giving speeches to companies and trade groups with business before the government, including Wall St firms and banks. Many of the speech transcripts are secret, and Hillary has so far refused to release the transcripts, despite promises on the campaign trail to “look into it.” The Clinton’s penchant for selling influence via campaign donations, Clinton foundation donations, PAC donations, bundling, and speaking fees, is horrifying, and I genuinely cannot comprehend how any liberal or progressive can stomach it.
Hillary has also shown unbelievable hypocrisy on the subject of classified data. She has condemned courageous whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Ed Snowden, while claiming for herself the right to maintain an unsophisticated and unprotected private server in her bathroom to send and receive classified emails. Before handing her emails over to the State Department, as any outgoing SOS is required to do, her staff deleted 30,000(!) emails that she said were about her daughter’s wedding and yoga.
If Bernie doesn’t prevail at the brokered convention on July 25, then I will also be voting for Jill Stein.
Yes! Thanks for adding all the other horrible Clinton facts. I just didn’t want to write too much and freak people out!
Daniella,
Well said. We are surely living in frightening times. This is the most depressed I’ve been about an election. 😦
Hillary will protect the 1%. Why won’t she release the transcript of the $250,000 speech she gave to Goldman Sachs? The corporate education nightmare is my daily reality. Diane, how will you spin Corey Booker if he is the VP choice?
Abigail, I won’t spin Corey Booker. He would e a terrible choice. Who do you think will be Trump’s VP? Maybe Ben Carson will be Secretary of Education. Why don’t you vote for him?
Trump might pick my buddy Christie!
NJ would be happy to get rid of Christie
Oh lord. Please stop with the laundry list of Hillary’s downsides! None of this is about that!!!!! None of it! As I said before: HILLARY SUCKS!!!!! She will continue to advance the reform agenda…..yes. She will continue to advance a devastating neo-liberal agenda….yes. She will be the soft right wing….yes.
But how can any of you even pretend that you aren’t PRIVILEGED in your positions of not supporting Clinton!???? There are actual people in this country that stand to be treated in a medieval fashion if Trump gets elected!! Do you people understand that? Trump’s calls against Muslims, Latinos, etc etc have been what some would call a pre-genocidal incitement to action of the deeply violent and racist elements of our society. And yet there are people that will abstain from voting for Clinton because she isn’t their perfect candidate…..because her education policy is ridiculous. Do you people even begin to realize how you are speaking from a privileged position……the privilege of class, race, INS status, etc, etc!!!!??? It’s actually disgusting. Some of you are actually toddlers…..zero political philosophy, zero historical consciousness, zero perspective, and the audacity to tantrum when you realize you can’t have a unicorn as your candidate!
Nobody here loathes the neo-liberal Clinton agenda more than I do. Nobody here loathes the entire reformer ethos more than I. Nobody has supports deeply progressive positions more than I. And I will vote for HRC because I am many things, but not a privileged, tantrum-throwing TODDLER!
you’ve got multiple exclamation marks, question marks, and all caps and other people here are throwing tantrums? You are the one engaging in uncivil discourse calling people toddlers. And your playing privilege politics? What about all the Black and brown people who are going to stay home this election cycle or vote for Jill Stein such as myself cause we refuse to vote for the lesser evil yet again? I know plenty of them. Are they also super-privileged? Lesser evilism is not a strategy for affecting real change in this country, and even if Trump was not running in this election, I can bet that any of the other Republican candidates would be inspiring the same lesser evilism from you and those who hold the same viewpoint. The only way to go beyond the corrupt two party system is to well….actually go beyond it, and not to put it off.
NYSTEACHER said: “And yet there are people that will abstain from voting for Clinton because she isn’t their perfect candidate….. Some of you are actually toddlers…..zero political philosophy, zero historical consciousness, zero perspective, and the audacity to tantrum when you realize you can’t have a unicorn as your candidate!”
You have thrown a tantrum more than anyone else here. For someone with such great philosophy and perspective, your argument is a basic logical fallacy, a strawman, since nobody is abstaining “because Clinton isn’t our perfect candidate.” Not even Bernie Sanders is perfect to Bernie fanatics, yet they ardently support him. Nobody is waiting for a unicorn.
I’m so sick of this privilege talking point. As many here have continued to point out, millions will suffer under either Hillary and Trump. Those who supported Bernie for the nomination were the ones who valued equality and justice.
I’m also surprised at this idea that Trump could just do whatever he wanted, as if the president were some kind of dictator or emperor.
In 2012 , I nearly intentionally crashed a vehicle into a Subway column under the Flushing line when I heard Booker defend Romney’s Vulture Capital Fund. That could probably drive the entire progressive wing over the edge .
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/09/do_liberals_know_cory_booker/
I refuse to vote for Kissinger’s pal in 2016.
Bernie Sanders is the strongest Democratic Party candidate against ANY Republican that’ll be on the ballot in November’s general election. If Democrats want to control the White House in 2017, they should support Bernie Sanders! There are more independents than Democrats; therefore, Democrats ought to respect and work to earn the votes of the country’s independent voters. A coalition of independents and Democrats—with Bernie Sanders representing them—will defeat ANY Republican running for POTUS in 2016. I’d much prefer to discuss a ban on fracking, raising the minimum wage, reducing wealth and income inequality, investigating the coup in Honduras, ending global warming, expanding Social Security, free college tuition, improving veterans’ care, defending organized labor, fighting for Native American rights, reforming Wall Street, lowering prescription drug prices and reforming immigration policies. Bernie Sanders is better on the issues, and Americans are finally challenging ‘establishment’ control of the Democratic Party. Evolution means change; revolution means fast change. The American people want and deserve change NOW. In other words, the American people call for a political revolution. I’m tired of waiting for coy, establishment politicians—-those representing the wealthiest and most powerful corporations and individuals—-to ‘evolve’ on issues of dire importance. Called the “Amendment King” while serving in the House of Representatives, Bernie Sanders has been able to work with representatives of both corporate-funded political parties to enact policies favored by a majority of Americans. Bernie Sanders has the courage, character, voting record, policy positions, life history, values, knowledge and experience necessary to do the job of implementing practical economic, political and social reforms RIGHT NOW. Feel the Bern!
Sorry that will split the vote and elect Trump .Believe me I am sick over last night and may still vote for Stein, but she wins if she can blame a loss on Bernie and the progressive wing rather than the short cumming s of her candidacy and NDC politics .
I keep waiting to hear from the people who get angry when someone questions the aptness of Nazi/fascism analogies, to no avail. So I’ll try to kickstart things.
Flash poll: Assume that somehow, Adolph Hitler is now the Republican nominee and you’re in a swing state. Hillary Clinton is just as evil as Hitler, plus she won’t release her Goldman Sachs speeches. Hitler is, um, Hitler, but he’s against the Common Core, and it’s possible that a quick descent into a Nazi state will ultimately galvanize progressives.
Obviously voting for Clinton’s out of the question. So who do you go with, Hitler or Jill Stein?
Oh crap, I misspelled Adolf. That’s going to be a tough one to live down.
If Donald Drumpf is elected POTUS in 2016 it’ll be the fault of those voting for Kissinger’s pal, the weaker of the two candidates vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination. A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Donald Drumpf!
Are Bernie or Busters holding the Dems hostage right now? Maybe. They need us to beat Trump.
Maybe the DNC and establishment Dems shouldn’t have foisted such a terrible candidate on us. Remember, Bernie polls way ahead of Trump in the general, Hillary is neck and neck.
I like and respect you, Dr. Ravitch. This is your blog, and I tip my hat to you for running it and giving us an opportunity to voice our opinions. I hope those in charge are reading and listening and trying to figure out a way to win us over. Empty rhetoric and broken promises won’t do it for me.
Here’s a way to win you over:
President Trump.
And if that fails to motivate the decision to buck up, hold your nose, and vote Clinton, then you have some fundamental issues that relate to a lack of perspective, humanity, selfawareness (yes, you are speaking from a place of privilege), historical knowledge and thinking, political philosophy, and politics.
Clinton sucks. Sure. Last I looked elections weren’t a forum for picking the picture-perfect candidate of your dreams, like a little girl likes to imagine herself picking a prince! Every day I wish we could have mustered up someone other than Clinton. I supported Bernie big time. He didnt win. So now what? Tantrum? We are messing with a once in two hundred year existential crisis of our republic. And you want to whine because you aren’t happy that its not the prince/candidate you imagined in your dreams?
Where did this idea come from that we only support a candidate that parrots our interests and thinking in detail? That’s not how it works! That’s never how it worked! At best we choose people who, broadly, won’t fuck with our rights and see things roughly as we do. At worst, we are forced to choose against the fascist. Period. Bedrock citizenship.
Many of you folks here are proving a problem with education in this country. Few of you have exhibited even a mere understanding of the Enlightenment principles that formed our government and civil society. Understanding the Enlightenment is fundamental to resisting fascism and genocide……the two cancers of human society. That many of you are flirting with enabling a Trump presidency proves this.
No wonder we are losing the war against the reformers with all the big thinkers here on our side.
That many of you can’t see what we are facing is, it turns out, not just a fundamental problem against ed reformers….it looks like you won’t be happy until you foist your lack of perception on the country, enabling a Trump presidency.
Yes, it’s that simple.
Go read some hard history folks.
Save your condescension and strawman arguments, NYSTEACHER. There’s plenty of philosophy, perspective, and self-awareness on my side of the fence.
NYSTEACHER : Again the answer may be in the streets of Philadelphia and I don’t mean 1968 . I mean the Climate March a half million citizens peacefully pushing the Democratic party back to FDR. Not to change the results of the primary which was not rigged but was manipulated ,but to box the party in to abandoning the NDC wing in the platform and beyond.
NYSTEACHER… No one here likes the dissonance of the tune you keep playing. Your’s is not a popular song! A few key changes might help.
If people were so worried about a Trump presidency, they should have voted for the candidate who clearly beats him. If people are truly worried about progressive issues, they should have voted for a candidate with a clear track record on those issues. But instead people chose the *less* progressive candidate who polls *worse* against Trump. I can only conclude that people must want a Trump presidency.
Hillary supporters denied a once-in-a-generation candidate, in the face of overwhelming evidence that a Hillary nomination would be disaster. Never will a Hillary supporter make me feel one ounce of guilt. They apparently thought this was a game of choosing your favorite piece of candy from the candy store. Talk about privilege.
Dienne,
Candidates don’t beat other candidates. Voters do.
That’s what this whole thing is about. Sad to say, as I was a supporter, Bernie didnt win. So, here is what’s in front of you as a citizen right now: Clinton or Trump? No…..that’s it. There is no 3rd way. Clinton or Trump. You Citizen Dienne….those are your choices. Not voting is a vote for Trump. Writing in someone is a vote for Trump. Period. What are you going to do?
Did you ever read anything about Nazi Germany? Mussolini’s Italy? I assume you did. You seem bright and well-read. You know that feeling you get in your gut when you read stuff about those two regimes? That feeling that its just so damn clear what you’d do f you were living there at that time? That feeling that you would be compelled to resist? Maybe it’s even a book about the Civil War…..and you just know you’d help with the Underground Railroad. I know that feeling.
Well, here you go Dienne. Time to be counted. Time to do the right thing. History is watching.
Don’t get all mealy-mouthed about it and argue some verb-laden chain of half-logic that attempts to say that I have it all wrong. I don’t.
Pick.
Come on.
You know you would have helped Anne Frank. You know you would have hid the escaping slave. You know you would have resisted Hitler.
What side are you on Dienne?
What’s your choice?
A 3rd party vote is not always a vote for Trump.
Clinton could be indicted and Sanders re-enters.
Trump is not confirmed Hitler or Mussolini, and would exist in a system of term limits as well as huge checks and balances.
The logical fallacies in your post are: false choice, strawman, and begging the question.
NYSTEACHER – not quite. Voters who are *allowed to vote* do. All through this primary independent voters have been “legitimately” and illegitimately disenfranchised (200,000 Brooklyn voters alone were not able to vote, most of them registered Democrats who mysteriously didn’t appear on the voter rolls). At caucuses (by definition skewed in favor of Hillary supporters) and closed primaries, Independents have been told that since this is the Democratic primary, only Democrats should have a voice. I suppose that’s fine if that’s the Hill (pun intended) you want to die on, but you can’t pick a candidate for us and then turn around and tell us we have to vote for her. We’re independents, remember? If you were really concerned about the Democratic candidate winning in November, you should have voted for the one most likely to win, or, at the very least, allowed greater voice for Independents considering that you need our support not. Hillary supporters have never had a good reason for supporting her over Sanders other than “she’s a woman” or “it’s her turn”. Bernie supporters have had multitudes of reasons not to vote for her, but Hillary and her supporters failed to listen and heed – at her and your peril.
Just so Im clear: I not only supported Bernie with money, I worked on his campaign here in NY.
And I will support Clinton now (just with my vote) because a Trump presidency is a threat to civilization.
That simple.
Ed D.
Ok. I guess we’ll ignore Trump’s Muslim-baiting, the whole wall thing, the Mexicans-as-rapists thing, and the whole gender thing and simply say that he will never be anything like Hitler or Mussolini. Ok. However you want it. He will be constrained and won’t be that bad and wtf, Hillary will be just as bad. Ok. Listen Ed. lets play it your way. Lets stay super mad and pissed that Bernie didnt make it. We are on the same team in the end.
What are we going to do now? Really. What’s the adult thing to do? You convinced me that Im the one with the tantrums and I want to do the adult thing. Bernie lost. What should we do? Tell me. Should I disenfranchise myself? Would that show em? Should I write in a candidate who will never get above single digits? Really. Please tell me what the path forward is.
NYSTEACHER, I speak for myself, but it is probably true for the others here also, that we are not ignoring Trump’s evils. We are simply not convinced that they are greater than Hillary’s. One factor in this indecision is that Trump’s conflicting words are, in some ways, not as harmful as Hillary’s proven decades of destructive history, and we know for a fact that most of Trump’s ideas will not see the light of day in the form of policy — due to previously mentioned term limits and checks and balances. Another strong argument is that Trump will engage a much greater activism in this nation, and Hillary may lull us into complacency.
Now, if you held a gun to my head and said I must vote for one of these two, I would probably check the box for Hillary.
If I lived in a swing state, I would probably push myself to vote Hillary.
And I get over anger quickly — I am now simply disgusted. But I do not make decisions like this out of anger or a desire for revenge. I speak for myself only on that. I understand that many Bernie people want revenge, but they simultaneously have compelling arguments against Hill.
Since neither of these are the case (threatening my life or this state going red), I will vote for someone who is aligned to my values. What does this accomplish? It sends a message that we are prepared to use our voting power for something different than establishment politics, and that we are prepared to vote according to our values rather than our fears. And if Jill gets 5%+ of the vote, the Green Party gets national funding next time around.
And I am not convinced that Hillary will get away from an indictment. We’ll see.
And I understand the skepticism when someone says Trump and Hillary are about equal evils, but here’s why I think it is true in one sentence: Hillary Clinton is the epitome of neoliberalism, which has destroyed this world as much as anything else.
So here we are all Bernie supporters and I get the generational divide .I understand why those under 45 voted for Bern . I get why those close or over 65 as privileged as we were to have enjoyed prosperity not available to younger generations voted for Hillary . I have been dealing with selfish attitudes since the draft lotto weakened the antiwar movement. The all volunteer army buried it.
But here is the one that gets to me . Last night Trump ran unopposed
in Jersey and only got 80% of the vote .
So how did Hillary get 85-90% of the Black vote in the deep south which propelled her victory..
I have disused this with my Black friends most Bernie supporters .
Every answer given by the pundits is either demeaning of Blacks or ridiculous on face . Michelle Alexanders take down of the Clinton Years nailed my sentiments of Bill and Hillary as a white person .They were a bigger disaster for Blacks . Clinton got out just in time to dump a recession and a near depression on Bush. I am not feeling sorry for Bush . Clinton’s Republican policy just beat Bush to the punch .
And yes I am being coy . Hint Cornell West discussed this problem years ago and it is almost as ugly as what we see on the right.
“Clinton got out just in time to dump a recession and a near depression on Bush.”
You make it sound as if Clinton left the White House days before the crash. Bush moved into the White house in January 2001. The global financial crises hit in 2007-08. GW had plenty of time to do damage control and avert a the disaster to come, but his party was the one that passed the bill Clinton signed and GW wasn’t going to go against his own GOP. In fact, GW was probably all for repealing Glass-Steagall.
And Clinton did not act alone when he signed the bill that contributed to the financial crises several years later. Both Houses of Congress passed the bill that Clinton signed.
Why does Bill Clinton keep getting all the blame for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act?
The final version of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed the House by a vote of 362-57 and the Senate by a vote of 90-8. This made the bill “veto proof”, meaning that if Clinton had decided to veto, the bill would have been passed anyways. Having said that, if Clinton truly didn’t want the bill to become law, he could have vetoed the bill in a symbolic gesture, but this did not happen.
If anything, the only thing Clinton is guilty of here is not making a symbolic gesture. In 1999, the GOP held a majority in both the Senate and the House. The three co-sponsors of the bill were all Republicans.
Loyd : why would Bush do damage control the first recession came in 2001 on the heels of the Election when the NASDAQ crashed . When the bubble burst the economy was already on its way to the loss of five million manufacturing jobs . Robert Rubin was instrumental in pushing both Bills . Yes when a Democratic President pushes a Republican bill there are few Democrats that stand in his way . The Commodities futures deregulation act was pushed as part of a budget bill in the lame duck session . A parting gift . Do you remember that Truman fella where does the buck stop. At no time was there a republican supper majority in the senate no less a veto proof majority .
But no one said that Bush was a genius few saw the housing crash coming . Forget Rubini ,or Robert Schiller or Dean Baker or Joseph Stieglitz , or Stephen Roach chief economist of Morgan Stanly who warned institutional investors in a closed door meeting of economic Armageddon in 2003 or 4 . An article that I read from the Boston Globe at the time. So yes the warnings were there, but even if he had wanted to kill the only thing that was keeping an eviscerated economy going after the loss of 5 /15 million
jobs due to trade policy. The cat was out of the bag . Do you think Greenspan retired because he was tired of the financial press guessing which hand he was carrying his brief case in . He jumped off a sinking ship .Dismal Democrats create Trumps when working class voters feel abandoned . They may have authoritarian personalities that lend to seeking demagogues with simplistic solutions . But their complaints are real .
Joel…Stiglitz and Roubini are a good place to start to learn about the crash. Stiglitz’s book Freefall is accurate and defines the history carefully, starting with Clinton and then through the Bush administration with Paulson as Sect. of Treasury. Also about the Fed and the appointment of Geithner…all of it shady. He subsequent book On Inequality also should be mandated reading.
And Roubini, Dr. Doom at NYU, called the whole collapse from the day that Bush and Paulson had the nerve to ask Congress to trust them and to turn over billions to them or the world would crumble.
Just learned that Eric Holder was in the DoJ in the Clinton years. So Obama kept all the worst of the Clinton crew and added his own with Rahm and Immelt of GE, etc. He used all the Goldman Sachs bums…Furman, Orzag, etc. all are deregulators who took their orders from Rubin and Summers…and maybe even Kissinger. Pics online show endless party times with Hillary and Blankfein laughing together recently. Blankfein should have been indicted, convicted, and sent to the federal pen…..It is too disgusting.
And we are talking about Dems. It is painful in the extreme to see how big money has destroyed the American ethos and the American dream…and the Clinton Foundation takes a lead now in all of this. Hillary keeps saying they were broke at the end of his presidency, but they had over $5 M in real estate. Why did Bill choose to team up with Papa Bush, former head of the CIA, to run his Foundation and take vast amounts of donations from Middle Eastern despots? Why did he take money from Denise and then let pardon her husband?
These are all very slimy folks. Not a true statesman in the entire mix. Not a single one to be trusted…and it led us to the up and coming tyrant, Trump, and his opponent who he labels Crooked Hillary, she who moved to NY right from the WH as a carpet bagger to run for the Senate.
I have never experienced such disgust for both candidates…and will probably have nightmares at the thought of voting for the Clintons. But Trump is too close to a Nazi-like mentality and draws to himself, knowingly, the worst sort of bigots for supporters. His Croatian wife is scary and gave an interview this week with strong anti Semitic overtones. She is far from a role model, posed nude repeatedly in her modeling career, and obviously set her sites on the big money. She and Hillary chose men who impacted both their graven futures. At least Hillary had the best education and showed her brains not her boobs. I do recognize Hillary’s intelligence and experience as unique in this cesspool of candidates.
Joel…I have said it before and reiterate, I am glad you are commenting here. If you wish to have any aside conversations you can reach me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
He should have started with Eisenhower who warned us about the threat of the military industrial complex and then signed the legislation that created the monster that started it all.
From the depths of my being, every cell screams NO HILLARY. NEVER.
EAS9,
You said it as clearly as any toddler would.
NYSTEACHER – again with the “toddler” nonsense. Do you notice that you’re the only one on this board name calling?
I don’t need to go into all of the logical reasons why no Hillary- many have already listed them quite succinctly here. Toddlers act/speak as they see things, so I guess you’re right…just speaking from the heart.
Not name calling. Labeling. That’s what that is. I am applying a label to behavior that I see demonstrated. Don’t worry though. Ed Detective convinced me I’m all wrong.
Not my behaviors, my beliefs- big difference. Labeling and name-calling are two branches on the tree of semantics. You could’ve simply said, “I’m sorry, but I disagree.”
Et tu Brute?
From this here teacher in California, a Bernie supporter, who had a really challenging middle school day today, here’s a song for the whole Donald vs. Hillary thing:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IQT9Rtlh3Ik
“Everything’s gonna be alright.”
I share your pain from across the continent. My middle schoolers were crazy today as well! Students can smell summer- and freedom. Trying to tap hidden reserves of patience.,.
I like Don Williams’ version better, but this is acceptable :-).
Love you pal…great song.
Love you back. And agreed. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4qkoZQRbl3s
One possible advantage of an HRC presidential victory: she just might pluck Cuomo out of Albany for a new home in DC. This would eliminate any possibility of a third term for our slime-bag Governor.
Rick,
I second that!
Do you think it is likely?
I’m confused. Those who use arguments to point out substantive flaws in Hillary Clinton are answered with gratuitous sarcasm, yet there is humor in wishing that Cuomo be part of a Clinton Administration so that he can bring his inept corruption to a federal agency instead of staying in New York? Have I got that right? What does this imply about both Clinton and Cuomo and those who are willing to give them greater responsibilities?
Greg, of course, Hillary has flaws. But the election will come down to Clinton vs. Trump. Vote for Jill Stein or stay home if you can’t vote for either. The idea of President Trump making foreign policy decisions, building a wall, deporting 11 million immigrants, etc. is more than I can bear. If it doesn’t bother you, that’s your choice.
So why is it that progressives have to see Democratic Governors as disasters. Not just on education but a whole host of Issues . Again Thomas Frank nails this one in “Listen Liberal” but its not a novel idea . It really is CW Mills “Power Elite” regurgitated, you are who you have social networks with. When you spend your time with the donor class .their concerns become your concerns. This is the insidious effect of money on politics no quid pro quo need be shown. Andrew spends little time on the golf course with Joe the Carpenter . (That plumber guy sucked ). How much time with does he spend with hedge fund members of DEFR.
Another reason to not vote for Trump and to vote for the much lesser evil (Hillary) is Chris Christie. I live in NJ and I can say that Christie is the worst NJ governor, ever, on education. He’s the anti-education governor, he H A T E S real public schools, public school teachers and their unions. He L O V E S charter schools, school vouchers and the whole school privatization scam. Education isn’t the only issue, there is the supreme court, too. If too many progressives stay home, don’t vote or vote 3rd party, Trump could win which would be a major disaster far worse than Hillary.
Supporting Hilary is like supporting the Gates foundation. Not quite sure where that leaves education. If you line up behind Hilary you support killing of Muslims, attacking black mothers, making money off of Haitian poverty, violating election protocols…. seriously help me understand how you could possibly request support for anything you deem worthy?
The absence of voices speaking out against all the fraud in the election system unfortunately suggests a lack of integrity. I do believe America is getting what she deserves.
Thanks for making this point. Fearmongering arguments about “you have to vote for Hillary, Trump is a racist” are undercut by Hillary’s record. Ask the children of Berta Caceras, an activist murdered in Honduras, if they’d prefer Trump’s wall or the Hillary-backed coup in Honduras. Ask Muslims around the world if they’d prefer Trump to ban their entry to the US, or for Hillary to wage wars and rain drone bombs down on them. Ask Haitians if they prefer Trump’s plan for stronger trade deals, or Hillary’s advocacy for reducing the Haitian minimum wage to less than $5/hour.
Diane – I have the utmost respect for all you have written and done in an effort to save American public education. And, I fully understand the position that the prospect of a Trump presidency entails. However, Hillary will not be able to stand up to the “corporate education reform” movement as long as John Podesta is her campaign advisor and Ann O’Leary is her education advisor. A simple google search of “John Podesta charter schools” reveals more than you will ever want to know about how Mr. Podesta has – for years – advocated and lobbied (through his think-tank Center for American Progress) for high-stakes testing, Common Core, and charter schools. He also served as Obama’s transition advisor when Arne Duncan was chosen over the more highly regarded and experienced Linda Darling-Hammond as Secretary of Education. To think that Hillary will be able to entertain any rational education agenda against his powerful influence and self-interests is naive. To make things worse, Ann O’Leary serves as Hillary’s education advisor and she – in her role as aide to Sen. Clinton – had advised her to vote in favor of the destructive NCLB law. When candidate Clinton recently appeared to waiver in her support of charter schools, Podesta had to convince Eli Broad that she didn’t mean it and would still support corporate education reform. O’Leary also worked overtime to take back Hillary’s words. It is really time for those who are trying to salvage American public education to make these connections public and call Hillary’s campaign out on it. Hillary needs to feel political pressure that may force her to begin to understand the extent of the damage that the past fifteen years of billionaire-driven education reform has done, not just to the teaching profession, but – more importantly – on the learning process. Unless Hillary feels that she is in danger of losing a significant block of voters, she will see no reason to change…and her closest advisors have been allied with the school privatization agenda for years. I hope you will be able to bring more light on these unfortunate connections and use your influence to call her campaign to account.
Jack, I posted a blog about Hillary’s statement on charters and the effort to take it back.
As I wrote in my post, I have hopes of a one-on-one meeting with Hillary Clinton. I know how to be blunt and straightforward. If I get the meeting, I will tell her that charter schools are destroying public education and high-stakes testing is a danger to education and to children. Bear in mind that education is not the only issue that faces the nation. Clinton is bad on the education issues I care about. Really bad. But Trump would be a disaster for our nation and our relationships with other nations. We cannot elect a man who has spelled out his biases, his ignorance, his boorishness, and his lack of civility. I won’t go through the litany. Do you really prefer a President Trump? What do you think he will do for public education? I doubt he has ever set foot in a public school and never met a public school teacher.
We can’t do those things, Jack, because Trump.
The problem here is not Diane. The problem was the early endorsement by the NEA and AFT without getting concessions like other unions and special interests do.
I and others are under no illusion that Hillary will continue with the RTTT stupidity because her checks don’t come from the taxpayers, but the likes of Eli Broad who is launching a pretty successful campaign in Los Angeles to increase charters.
If Hillary wins and Randi gets a cabinet post, then I will probably kick myself for not voting for Trump. But then I can only imagine what bigoted Asshats Trump will surround his cabinet with and nominate to the Supreme Court. And that’s scarier.
But let’s be clear, the minute Hillary pulls what’s left of the Public School life support, Randi and Lily will be standing close by. They also stood silent when Obama nominated King. The fault is also with the teachers who hide their heads in the sand by supporting weak leaders, or doing nothing at all. Not an email, phone call, signing a petition, rallying, etc. As a collective unit, they did NOTHING that would have stopped this madness. Teachers are large in numbers but low in activism. They make themselves easy to step over and Randi and Lily use it to their personal advantage while screwing the rank and file.
Diane will continue to fight for change, but unless she has deep pockets, I’m not expecting miracles.
Bingo. I am extremely upset with the two major teachers unions jumping to endorse Hillary while getting nothing in return. The two VPs of both unions squirmed at the NPE when asked about this, and the audience was not happy with their lame explanations.
One of the reasons the detested NRA is so effective is because they are a single-issue lobbying group. We need our lobbying group to advocate for education, not get in bed with the corporate overlords with the money. We need to fight high stakes testing, VAM scores, the attack on tenure, and the siphoning of public dollars to for-profit charters and vouchers. Do you see the AFT or NEA fighting that or cozying up to those pushing it?
I have become a single-issue voter now that gay marriage has been settled, and my single issue is education. Period. If you are with the DFER, with Gates and Broad, share a stage with Jeb (looking at you, John Podesta), are on the same side as the Koch bros and ALEC, then you aren’t with me.
Which is why I am not with her.
Call me a toddler, tell me I am just not seeing the big picture, threaten me with Trump, I will not cave. There is only so much crap I can swallow before I throw up, and my stomach is churning.
Thanks, Schoolgal. I wish I had Eli Broad’s or Bill Gates’ billions.
I have spent five years searching for a billionaire or even a governor who would fight to protect public education for future generations. For a minute, I thought it was Lincoln Chafee of RI, but he flipped and joined the parade of privatization. Then I thought it was Jerry Brown. But he turns out to be a member of the charter defense team. Please elect state legislators, governors, and members of Congress who will fight for the public interest. Citizens United has allowed big money to corrupt our politics. We could take it back if people bothered to vote.
Liz,
Glad NPE made those sellouts squirm. I am not telling you who to vote for….but let’s put this “education” issue into perspective. We are losing because the unions are in bed with the Reformers.
Teachers in NYC had a chance to throw out the Randi machine and instead didn’t even bother to vote!! As long as teachers in this country act like sacrificial lambs, nothing will change.
Trump will have Ben Carson whispering in his ear and public education will die regardless who wins this election.
You say that Gay Marriage was your issue, well, don’t overestimate the power of the Supreme Court because Trump will throw it back to the states and an override is possible. Look what’s happening with transgender issues.
Not all Trump supporters are racist. They just feel marginalized. I think Bernie supporters feel the same. But if the issue is Education, Bernie’s remark about charters being “public” show just how far removed he is when it comes to the 1% and education issues. He also voted against Opt-out which surprised me.
It’s hard to get behind any candidate who says they stand with public ed because they flip flop. Look at deBlasio. He hired a Bloomberg crony as chancellor and brokered a contract that takes away due process from one class of teachers.
I stopped years ago getting excited about any candidate. And until we have strong union leaders in office, education and collective bargaining will become a thing of the past.
Now if every teacher in America started showing teeth instead of letting union leaders handle matters, this election would probably had much better choices on both sides of the fence instead of the Circus and clowns that America has chosen.
There are no winners here and public education will become charters, until every school is turned into a charter and all the same problems we encounter will be Wall Street’s problem. Watch how quickly they will abandon education if they can no longer make a profit and blame the teachers.
Also it saddens me to see my COPE (PA money) going to candidates who don’t support us.
Imagine if every teacher signed a petition saying they would opt-out of contributing tot their political action fund if policies are not changed by these useless politicians that live off our dollars as well.
Will that light a fire under Randi and Lily!!!!
Will have to vote for Hillary.
Can’t imagine, though, giving a single cent to her campaign.
But, you know, does she really need my $27 anyway?
The fact that Diane has to “hope” to get a one-on-one meeting with Hillary is troubling to me. It bothers me more than anything I’ve read in all the comments above.
It should be Hillary who is doing the hoping….worrying that Diane Ravitch has the time to advise her on what she already should know….what she should already feel in her heart.
We were waiting in line for more than an hour last night at a wake. A wonderful colleague’s wife died after many years of trying to overcome cancer. It was very cold for a June evening…..rainy, too. And, up and down the line of people waiting outside the funeral home you could sometimes hear snippets of conversation about Trump, Hillary, Bernie…. I met up with a great friend of mine, a retired teacher. He spoke quietly to me at one point as we waited about how he could never vote for Hillary.
It was a somber, sad evening. And, these are sad, troubling times for our nation, too.
Hillary already knows her education policy and so do the union leaders who stand behind her during speeches. Even if Hillary made the gesture, it would not change.
If she wins it will be up to in-service teachers around the country to put pressure on her since they equal votes.
In October 2014 I was among 80-90 people who heard Bernie Sanders give a talk at Dartmouth College. He was there to begin feeling out whether he should run for President and gave basically the same speech gave to NH Democrats a few months later at their convention to the roaring approval of his supporters. He concluded his speech with an exhortation to the small group of students in the audience: VOTE!!!! He reeled off facts and figures about the scarce turnouts in mid-term elections and the need for young voters to engage in the process because if they didn’t the lies of the Koch brothers will decide who rules this country and we’ll become evermore of an oligarchy.
I am deeply dismayed– but not surprised– at the treatment the DNC gave Bernie throughout the process and even more disappointed that groups like the AFT and NEA pre-emotively supported HRC who will clearly continue the neoliberal direction Bush set and Obama followed. But here’s a bigger concern: the students who were enthusiastic about Bernie might not turnout to vote and their failure to do so might deny seats in Congress to progressive candidates like Feingold and Teachout and might result in some of the pro-charter candidates in local races to run unopposed.
Because I live in a purple State I’m going to hold my nose and vote for HRC… but one takeaway from Bernie’s campaign— and the targeted spending of the right wing plutocrats in the past few years— is the need to find some high quality Progressives who can win seats in the Statehouses and state legislatures. This is extremely important now that ESSA has handed off more decision making to states and even more important in the long run because Progressives need to develop a slate of candidates who can oppose the neoliberals and Tea Party types who currently hold sway at the state level.
I greatly appreciate is NPE’s efforts to flag candidates who need our support in order to push back against the tide of neoliberal privatization. Now that Bernie’s gone I’m switching my donations to Progressives who need small donations to fight back against the oligarchs who are going to direct their campaign spending to Senate, House, Statehouse, and— yes— even school board races. I hope that in the coming months Diane and the NPE will find candidates we can vote FOR… and trust that we will all eventually find reasons to vote AGAINST Mr. Trump even if it means we have to vote for HRC.
Why not Jill Stein? The Green Party platform is closely aligned with Bernie’s philosophies. A vote for HRC now seems like the absolute death of the revolution.
I’m voting my conscience and going Green.
And for anyone that would like to tell me that it would therefore be my fault if Trump is elected president, I will say in advance that THAT would be the fault of those who mind-numbingly adhered to the “oh-boy-we’re-going-to-have-a-woman-president-yay!” mindset despite her money laundering/political corruption and ineptness when it comes to national security.
Questions for the “we must vote Hillary to keep out The Donald” folks: what’s your plan going forward? Where does this lesser evilism end? If we vote for Hillary we’re pretty much guaranteed to end up in more Middle Eastern engagements. It’s very likely that we’ll have another major crash and Hillary will bail out her banker and corporate friends and leave the rest of us to rot. More privatized prisons, more privatized schools. More profiteering, more social service cuts. Four more years of incrementally growing misery. Over on the Republican side, the nominee four years from now is likely to be, I dunno, Cruz or Santorum or someone equally extreme and unacceptable. So what are we going to be hearing fro you four years from now? “Yes, Hillary’s been awful, but we have to re-elect her because … Republicans”? Once Hillary is in office, what is your plan for moving this country back to a sane direction? Or are we just going to be right back here again four years later, lather, rinse, repeat?
Exactly Dienne! Hillary is the status quo with added punch. I understand the disdain and fear people have of Trump, but he is a threat to the status quo. I think Hillary is every bit as despicable as Trump, and I do not operate from a spirit of fear. It’s time to shake things up.
Thank you, Dienne. You’ve succinctly summed up what many of us feel.
Hope you all listen to Rachel Maddow this evening. She just had Elizabeth Warren as her guest, and Warren endorsed Hillary. Maddow pushed her to admit she feels ready to be in the role of VP despite Trump’s criticism of her. Bit she reiterated that she loves her job in the Senate.
But she spoke so highly of Bernie and how he opened to door to a real national discussion of what are American values, and the what should be the values of the Dem Party. She gave him much credit for his campaign.
Dienne.. you raise important and all-sensical questions. Change cannot happen when a system is orchestrated to keep those in control in control. Democracy needs to be restored. Voting the “lesser” of the evils is not a “democracy-restoration” strategy!
Hmmm…
1. “Super predator”
2. Voted for Iraq War.
3. Invaded and destabilized Libya
4. Lied about the cause of 9/11 uprising in Benghazi.
5. Blamed internet video on said uprising, filmmaker was jailed until after Obama election
6. On the lynching of Ambassador Stephens: “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
7. Willfully ignored State Department ruled on email. Kept a private and unsecured server.
8. Goldman Sachs
9. “Super” delegates
10. Common core supporter
11. fellow Cabinet colleagues: Rahm Emmanuel, Arne Duncan.
If you teach and support Clinton, you are nothing short of a hypocrite.
Rum,
Make up a similar list for The Donald, and then let people compare them.
I may not vote for Hillary ,but a NYC Teacher voting for Donald Trump.
Quoting Peggy Noonan or Tucker Carlson is an inherent Oxymoron.
You might even want to drop the Oxy . Like my fellow brothers in other parts of the labor movement your hubris exceeds your common sense or your value as an employee. . You would do good to apply for a Charter now, but don’t expect the salary there to be anywhere s near where it is today . . You my dear man are very replaceable and do not think for a moment that in a free market you wont be replaced .
Ask an adjunct college professor what they get paid discount the food stamps.
My problem with the Democrats is that triangulation has brought them close to the Republicans . That is why I am battling this thing to the end with Bernie . Call me an optimist.
Don’t think that after Trump passes a national Right to Work Law because “Americans make to much money” that the elite will seriously care about the quality of your replacement . The price will be remembered long after the quality has been forgotten.
4,5, and six on your list probably disqualifies you from any serious conversation .
I voted for Sanders in the primary, and I am going to vote for Clinton in the general election. Your list is ridiculous.
#2 Did you vote for Kerrey? I did. He made the same vote that Clinton did.
#3 The United States did not invade Libya. We had a bombing campaign in support of Libyans who had already revolted against Qaddafi, a man who authorized the bombing of an American passenger jet. Also, Clinton did not authorize these actions. Obama did. He was the president. Also, what is your view about Syria? Should we help the rebels there against Assad or not?
#9 Super delegates have been around for a while. In 2008 the super delegates hurt Clinton.. This time she benefited. She certainly did not create this system.
#11 Obama elevated these men to positions in his administration.
Question: If Obama could run for a third term, would you vote for him? I would, but we could make a similar list of supposed flaws about him. So what?
Donald Trump is a complete racist. He could take this country, and the world, down a very dark path. I’m voting for Clinton to stop him.
“You might even want to drop the Oxy . Like my fellow brothers in other parts of the labor movement your hubris exceeds your common sense or your value as an employee.”
Dearest Joel,
I didn’t become a teacher to be your “brother” or to be a unionista comrade. I’m not much of a “joiner.” Sorry if this non-conformity offends your Soviet sensibilities.
Sincerely,
Rummy
It seems you and many of your readers already have.
Rum, not so. A fair assessment looks at both candidates. Where’s your Trump list or are you a Trump troll?
Someone please inform the esteemed Ms. Ravitch that we do not, in fact, have to swallow a 2-party system and that there are options besides the weak “lesser of two evils” argument.
Are you a Trump troll?
Not at all, and a pause for thought about what I wrote would show you I think he’s one of the evils. My “esteemed” adjective was not sarcastic; I hold you in esteem. However, we are not beholden to the almighty (and crookedly fixed) 2-party system. And I must say that you are capable of far more than an oft-repeated “Trump troll” accusation for those who disagree with your endorsement. A quick look at my posting history would also have clued you in on where I stand with respect to issues and candidates.
Hillary has problems but voting for the Green Party or Trump will bring on a catastrophe.
Trump has been endorsed by North Korea, disliked by heads of nations around the world, twice divorced, married three times, four times bankrupt, Viet Nam draft dodger, genius behind Trump University that swindled people out of hard earned money, egotistical, racist, woman hater, denying climate change, narcissistic anger filled bloviator who wants to be admired and worshiped but has no intention of learning what is necessary to run this country.
Is this really what the Hillary haters want for President? I can hardly stand the thought of what might happen to this country under Trump.
No, not a Trump troll (is that a paid position?). I’m a NYC teacher and a fan of yours. I simply believe birds of a feather flock together.
I’m not making a list on why I support Trump. For your edification, I suggest reading some of the columns published on Trump by Peggy Noonan and especially Tucker Carlson’s:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-is-shocking-vulgar-and-right-213572
Is Trump right that we shouldn’t have any minority judges because they are all biased? Is is racism right? I don’t think so.
The fact is Hillary Clinton has actually DONE all those things and Donald Trump has not
Agreed. Hillary has already shown herself to be against public schools. I would also rather go along with Trump. He may let the states make their own decisions, and this is a thousand times better than what we had with Obama for eight years. Many teachers I know are also voting for Trump “secretly” of course. We live during times of liberal fascism where you don’t have the right to speak freely. GO TRUMP!
1. Trump has been endorsed by North Korea (who cares?)
2. Disliked by heads of nations around the world (this is bad?)
3. Twice divorced, married three times (welcome to America in 2016)
4. Four times bankrupt (Owns/owned 500 plus companies)
5. Viet Nam (sic) draft dodger (So was Bill Clinton…thought liberals admired that?)
6. Genius behind Trump University (His mistake was to call seminars for Realtors a “university”…)
7. That swindled people out of hard earned money (That would be a crime. The only candidate accused of a crime is Clinton.)
8. Egotistical (me too)
9. Racist (30 years in public eye and now he’s called a racist? And really, don’t you guys call ALL Republicans racists? Kinda tired.)
10. Woman hater (his daughter is his closest advisor)
11. Denying climate change (Me too! Magical graphs and charts, just like VAM.)
12. Narcissistic anger filled bloviator (No one’s perfect.)
13. Who wants to be admired and worshiped (Me too!)
14. But has no intention of learning what is necessary to run this country (But managed to defeat 16 Senators and Governors for the nomination.)
The following is a partial quote taken from the New York Times under the headline, “Former Trump University workers call the School a “Lie” and a Scheme” in Testimony.
“…Mr. Trump, who started the university in 2005, owned 93 percent of the now-defunct company. From the start, he acted as its chief promoter, rather than day-to-day manager, selling it as a tool of financial empowerment that would improve life for thousands of ordinary Americans. It would, he said, “teach you better than the best business school,” according to the transcript of a Web video.
Within the documents made public Tuesday were internal employee guides encouraging customers with little money to pay for the tuition with their credit cards. “We teach the technique of using OPM … Other People’s Money,” explained the internal instructions for salespeople. The documents pushed employees to exploit the emotions of potential customers. “Let them know you’ve found an answer to their problems,” read confidential instructions to salespeople…”
….
Apparently this crookedness is being investigated. Dear rum, sodomy & the lash do you really believe this is acceptable business practice?
I believe a formal application or demand needs to be made to the democratic convention powers, for someone to speak on behalf of the problems which such huge numbers of educators have had, and are apprehensive that they will continue with the election of Hillary…….education is an issue which gets tossed aside….the republicans do not have a whole lot to complain about, and the democrats attitude would be…don’t ask for trouble. The response will be negative or lacking in meaning…..but there would still be a record, and it needs to be something the democrats should have to live with. A lot can happen in four years….or four months, for that matter.
“…formal application or demand needs to be made to the democratic convention powers….”
And when that application or demand is denied (or simply ignored)?
Apparently this crookedness is being investigated. Dear rum, sodomy & the lash do you really believe this is acceptable business practice?
A. I never feel bad for Realtors and their finances. Perhaps I’ve seen too many episodes of “flip or flop.”
B. Fill me in when the “investigation” graduates from a civil case.
C. No one really cares. It won’t change anyone’s mind. Not being sarcastic. It’s really a non-issue. People love him/hate him no matter what. Drivel on.
Diane, it was generous of you to provide the space here for people to vent.
As a voter in California, I heard many people over the last couple of weeks explain that they were voting for Bernie in the primary and Hillary in the general. That demonstrated a rational understanding of the nominating process. Others, though, never intended to participate in a legitimate primary process. Their goal was to destroy the Democratic Party. How that became a righteous goal is as baffling to me as the reformers’ appropriation of civil rights as a rationale for destroying public education.
Legitimate primary process? You mean the one that has been rife with voter suppression and election fraud? Yeah, that was legitimate alright.
Apparently this crookedness is being investigated. Dear rum, sodomy & the lash do you really believe this is acceptable business practice?
What difference, at this point, does it make?
😉
“What difference, at this point, does it make?”
This is a classic! Some people lost money, other people lost their lives.
What difference does it make?
Diane I agree with your statement completely. Although I voted for Sanders in the primary. I find your position logical, pragmatic and principled. I too am grateful for Sanders historic contribution in bringing important issues to the national discussion. But I doubt that any of the national candidates really understand the complicated education issues that face us today. I hope you get the opportunity for that one-on-one meeting with Hillary Clinton and also an opportunity for some kind of ongoing input. Although the task is huge, I agree that the timing is perfect for organization and push back as never before. I also hope a SOS March will also be organized for the West Coast. In the meantime we will be with you in spirit at the Lincoln Memorial.
Part 1
Aristotle said democracy exists, “when the indigent, and not men of property, are the rulers.” Gandhi echoed that sentiment in saying that democracy “gives the weak the same chance as the strong.” That’s the theory.
In reality, there are competing factions in any democracy. They can and do conflict. Often. That can lead to trouble. James Madison warned of the “mischiefs of faction” in Federalist No. 10. Madison wrote that “…instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished.” Madison called factions “adversaries to liberty” and “to the rights of other citizens.” Madison likely had in mind when he warned of the “mischiefs of faction.”
In Federalist No. 10, Madison wrote that “…instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished.” Madison called these factions “adversaries to liberty” and “to the rights of other citizens.”
Perhaps that’s why the social critic H. L. Mencken called democracy “the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.”
So, the question is, which candidate will protect the “indigent” and “the weak” against the propertied interests and best manage the circus from the cage?
The comments on this thread reflect what Jeremy Stahl (Slate, 6-9-16) called the “dark feelings” that “have hardened in the past couple months as Sanders’ odds have slipped away, and he has insisted that he was losing because of a rigged process and media bias, not because the minority voters that make up a large share of the Democratic Party prefer his opponent by wide margins.”
Is Hilary Clinton an ideal presidential nominee? Was Bill Clinton a perfect president? Is Obama? The answer is “No” in each case. But was Bill Clinton preferable to Bush1 or to Bob Dole? Absolutely. Was Obama a better choice than John McCain or Mitt Romney? No question. Is Hillary a much better choice than Donald Trump? Does that question really need to be answered? For some, apparently, it does.
Some commenters here have tried to rewrite history. One shackled Bill Clinton with the Financial Modernization Act of 1999 (the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Both were passed when Clinton was president, but it’s unfair to blame Clinton for both.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was the brainchild of the banking industry and pushed in Congress by prominent Republicans including Phil Gramm, Senator from Texas, and representatives Jim Leach (R-Iowa) and Tom Bliley (R-Virginia). It passed Congress, and it as signed by Clinton. It did, in fact, lead to the enlargement of financial institutions. But did it cause the financial crisis? Not likely. That crisis came about because of incredibly weak Bush administration regulatory practices and rampant greed. NYU economist Lawrence White suggests that “the crisis hinged on…mass investment in notoriously bad mortgage loans.” There were rules still in place, but nobody was enforcing them.
I learned a thing or two valuable from journalism school.
(Yes, I now teach….. long story but i promised the university I would not sue them for my poor decision.)
Nobody has time to read a screed. Succinct. Pithy.
Clinton had the option of vetoing Gramm, Bliley, Leach. He did not use his power, especially as a lame duck, to do that. Instead he pardoned a renowned criminal who filled his personal coffers with lucre.
Like I noted, Ellen, Gramm-Leach-Bliley had very Republican roots. Clinton’s advice from the -so-called “smart” guys was to sign the bill.He should probably have vetoed it. But that bill did not likely cause the financial crisis.
Sorry to disagree, Democracy.
It gave the banksters like Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and Rubin of Citicorp, and their ilk, carte blanche to trade bundled derivatives and sell them off across the planet. Credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations were/are fraudulent gambling with the public’s money. The ratings agencies (which are actually owned by the corporations they rate), colluded with the banksters to show this crap to be triple A rated. Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s are not to be trusted….ever.
They then cried foul and said their banks were “too big to fail”, and the Wall Street Fed economists (Greenspan and Geithner and short termer crook named Friedman who Geithner/Obama put there) supported them.
Nonsense….The banks should have failed, gone into chapters 9/11/13, reorganized with sell offs, and followed our anti Trust laws. Instead the took the bailout stimulus money, our money, and used it to their own advantage by buying up failing smaller banks for a tax write-off….so they screwed us all coming and going. (Read Naomi Klien’s Shock Doctirne, and also Lester Thurow from MIT.)
Clinton, Bush, and Obama protected these crooks..and by extension, their actions should be actionable. Obama actually saw to it early in his reign, that the FDIC now protects the banksters from their self serving risks. You and I pick up the tab for their failures…and they stay unindicted as with a proven crook like Jamie Dimon who got a mere slap on the wrist for his British fraud and theft, and then he was rewarded with a $24 M bonus.
If Clinton had been a protector of the people, he would have/should have vetoed this bill. He knowingly chose to support the crooks. He is culpable for the collapse of our, and the world’s economies…and his wife supported this. Of course, the part played by Baby Bush and Paulson finished it off in 2007, and they handed off the debacle to Obama. Much of the debt we face was from all the Bush wars which he did figure as a line item in his budgets, and Obama did add them, so now owe so many trillions.
And who is the proven war candidate…Hillary. Look out world, you are all targeted by both our Presidential candidates.
typo…Bush did NOT use the costs of the wars as a line item in his budgets…so we suffer now for his creative self-serving book keeping.
Part 2
What about the the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000? That too was signed by Clinton. That too came from the banking industry and its chief stooge in Congress, Phil Gramm, who inserted the provisions that “exempted over-the-counter derivatives like credit-default swaps from regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.” As the Huffington Post reported, Gramm added deregulatory language to the bill, then attached the entire package to a must-pass 11,000-page bill funding the entire federal government.” Yeah, Clintonites like Larry Summers and Robert Rubin were staunchly in favor. Clinton should have listened to Brooksley Born (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/warning/ ).
A commenter says that Obama was responsible for “a bank bailout that rescued Wall Street.” Actually, it was Bush2 who bailed out the banks that caused the financial crisis, not Obama.
It’s okay to be critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Obama. But let’s be fair too. Clinton’s economic policies did lead the creation of 23 million jobs, and to balanced budgets and budget surpluses that might have been used to secure Social Security and Medicare. Obama’s policies have helped to turn around the economy, with 14 million jobs created since the end of the Great Recession, which was – it’s important to note again – caused by conservative economic ideas and policies. As The Washington Post pointed out in January of this year, “every Republican candidate is essentially promising to bring back George W. Bush’s economic policies.”
One commenter said that “Obama was just as dangerous and insidious as Bush.“ Oh c’mon. That’s just silly.
Another said that “I will be voting for and working for the greater good, not the evil of two lessers.” Well, there’s a reason that Bernie Sanders tried to co-opt the Democratic Party machinery even though he’s snot a Democrat. He knows third party candidates just don’t cut it, and he wanted – needed – the resources and information and machinery of the Democrats. But he didn’t win. So, there are two major party nominees left.
Most commenters failed to note that Bill Clinton placed 373 judges on the federal courts. Those were very different judicial appointments than might have been made by his Republican opponents. As USA Today noted in November of 2013, “The federal courts — particularly the appeals courts — often set precedents in areas ranging from national security and economic regulation to abortion, immigration, voting rights, affirmative action, gun control and gay marriage.” Clinton placed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.
Obama has put 327 judges on the federal bench so far. Here’s how Jeffery Toobin put it in the New Yorker in October of 2014:
“When Obama took office, Republican appointees controlled ten of the thirteen circuit courts of appeals; Democratic appointees now constitute a majority in nine circuits. Because federal judges have life tenure, nearly all of Obama’s judges will continue serving well after he leaves office.”
Who are the judges nominated by Obama? Toobin continues:
“The majority of Obama’s appointments are women and nonwhite males…Forty-two per cent of his judgeships have gone to women…Thirty-six per cent of President Obama’s judges have been minorities…Obama said that the new makeup of the federal bench ‘speaks to the larger shifts in our society, where what’s always been this great American strength—this stew that we are—is part and parcel of every institution’…”
In a democratic republic, people get the kind government they vote for, and too often ideologically-driven factions get in the way of promoting “the general welfare.” One political analyst recently said that “The Democrats are the party of multicultural America, while the Republicans have become in essence a white ethno-nationalist party.” And Charlie Pierce at Esquire pointed out that “Republicans are discovering that their presidential candidate wasn’t putting on a show during the GOP primaries: He’s an actual racist…”
If protecting the rights of all citizens is important, and if Mencken is right that democracy is “running the circus from the monkey cage,” then isn’t it clear which party nominee is the better choice?
Please remind me if I ever commit a bank robbery to look you up. Your
rewrite of history is great. Almost as good as the Republican rewrite of Ronald Reagan .
” That too came from the banking industry and its chief stooge in Congress, Phil Gramm” and the President had absolutely nothing to do with any of the legislation that he signed . He did not have a Treasury dept headed by Rubin then Summers . He did not have a Federal Reserve Board although quasi independent. He does select and consult with the Chair.
Sorry the Revolving door on Wall Street put Rubin right onto the board of Citibank for his services during the Clinton administration.
Yes the Bankers wrote the legislation and isn’t that the problem . Today Corporations are writing the TPP in whose interest. Yes the legislation was tucked into a budget reconciliation bill with the tacit approval of the PRESIDENT who signed it . “The Buck stops here” unless you are Slick Willy .
Kennedy/Johnson created16 million jos. Jimmy Carter created 10 million jobs in four years. Ronald Reagan 16 million jobs . Like GDP the raw number does not tell much about the quality of those jobs the durability who was getting those jobs or why.
With a population increase of 70 Million people the 10 million that Carter created in four years was far greater than the 23million that Clinton created in 8 years . Absolutely no one thinks of Carter as the Great Jobs creator. As I was reading “Irrational Exuberance “in 2000 , you may have heard of Robert Schiller, the Clinton miracle was unraveling workers who were given 401ks in the mid eighties to replace secure defined benefit pensions were treating those accounts like day traders. Then they were purchasing on debt against fictional assets . The economy boomed .
When the charade came to an end and the Tulips wilted the economy went into a steep recession only to be revived by a another debt bubble in housing. Clinton/Republican trade policy has left an eviscerated middle class with declining wages incapable of generating enough growth to create enough jobs to keep up with population no less create any wage inflation. We don’t need Republicans to tell us this . Ask Baker, Stieglitz, Krugman, Reich fantasy is nice but reality is Trump has taken the Democratic base because of real economic pain and no it did not start with Clinton but he triangulated right in.
However the one area where you got me is is on Federal judges and although I can survive four years of Trump like an old Bolshevik hoping for the Revolution to come. I will not survive his appointments to the Court. Hillary might get me yet.
Joel,
The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 was – in fact – slipped into “a must-pass 11,000-page bill funding the entire federal government.” The Clinton “smart” boys – Rubin, Summers – were all in favor. Brooksley Born was not. He should have listened to her.
By the way, Bernie Sanders voted for that bill.
No question, the courts are important. Incredibly so.
Thanks for bringing up Brooksley Bornm the only truth teller of the whole motley crew. When she was interviewed by the Congressional investigators, they shredded her.
Operative line.
“after coordinating with top Clinton administration officials !!!!!!!!!!!”
“But in December, Gramm — after coordinating with top Clinton administration officials — added much harder-edged deregulatory language to the bill, then attached the entire package to a must-pass 11,000-page bill funding the entire federal government. After Gramm’s work shopping, the legislation included new language saying the federal government “shall not exercise regulatory authority with respect to, a covered swap agreement offered, entered into, or provided by a bank.” That ended all government oversight of derivatives purchased or traded by banks. He also created the so-called “Enron Loophole,” which barred federal oversight of energy trading on electronic platforms”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-wall-street_us_5617f634e4b0dbb8000e5a58
So as with the evisceration of the protections on multi employer defined benefit pensions in the 2014 lame duck must pass budget reconciliation bill. It is a dog and pony show that the American people are tired of .
Opposition to the TPP unites Labor, Environmental and Consumer groups a major part of the progressive coalition. against the Corporatocracy . The same plutocrats attacking Public Schools and their teachers Progressives have managed to pressure most democrats to oppose it . Of course their will always be just enough to pass it and provide cover for the rest. As a Democratic president once again works with Republicans .
As Ed Schultz said today ,Clinton has to go to Obama and convince him to withdraw the TPP which should be a political no brainer as bad trade deals are the only populist message Trump has.
As much as I loath her past. I will not only vote for her . I will work for her . How is that for a quid pro quo.
Of course for some strange reason Schultz and the Turk are no longer on MSNBCLINTON . Schultz is on the RT network . Putin being more progressive than Obama LOL.
If protecting the rights of all citizens is important, and if Mencken is right that democracy is “running the circus from the monkey cage,” then isn’t it clear which party nominee is the better choice?
What difference, at this point, does it make?😉
This is extremely disappointing to me.
AN ASIDE as we inch past noontime on Thursday…. As a regular supporter, promoter and huge admirer of this blog, I have to ask…. is this one of the longest posts ever on here? Does anyone keep track of this sort of thing? Wow.
Gotta go work now….
I disagree John…although there are some who toss out insults, we have some very learned people commenting on vital issues. History must be dredged up on all sides in order to make the case for voting for Hillary, or not. I do not see it as a diatribe to vote for Trump. But there are many legitimate reasons to worry about voting for Hillary.
Ellen,
You must have misunderstood my comment. There’s nothing really to agree or disagree with…. My post was really a factual question….Is this one of the longer entries on this blog? I’m just curious. That you apparently incorporated my question into the ongoing debate over Hillary does seem to show how heated this issue is. And, when I said “I gotta go to work”….I wasn’t kidding. I had to leave to watch another teacher’s class…at that very moment. That’s no disrespect to whoever is commenting on this blog… pro Hillary, pro Bernie…..
But, you know, this whole discussion is now “below the fold” so to speak on this blog ….I guess people have moved on to the next day’s posts.
BTW…..what’s up with this person posting as “Rum, Sodomy & the Lash”? I just looked it up on Google and I see references to the Pogues and Winston Churchill. What’s with that? Again, just curious.
After reading this blog day after day (it’s often the first item I look at) I guess I’ve just become fascinated with some of the people on here and the way issues are discussed. Sometimes even the smallest details are interesting to me, Ellen.
Enjoy your day…..that is, if you even see this comment……
I did indeed misread your comment, and I apologize.
You are correct about this being the most active post I can remember. It reflects, it would seem, how many people understand that this election is unique in our history, with a woman candidate who has spent much of her adult life in government, and a man who has no experience at governing nor how to promote his positions for the greater good.
I had my vote stolen on Tuesday. Even after I went don’t to the registrars office 3 weeks before the election to verify I was an active Democratic voter. I was. My name was purged.
I will not vote for her EVER.
Reply to CPSdoc…..
When people here comment that others opinions seem to “want to destroy the Dem Party”, as Karen Wolfe did, I would take issue.
It is not destruction of Dems that followers of Sanders seek, but rather to change the entire voting and political system that no longer works to benefit the entire American populace.
When Bernie says “it is rigged” the vast majority of highly educated folks here agree with him, after seeing the influx of cash to rig elections, SCOTUS activism to this end as with Citizens United, the potential for tampering with voting machines to rig elections, the lies told by candidates to rig elections, and the actual theft of votes as with the above comment from CPSdoc to purge voters/close polling places early/eliminating polling places to make voting too difficult, and endless ways to shut down democratic opinions and votes.
Millions of declines to state and Independent voters had their votes stolen last Tuesday. They probably would have been Sanders voters, and they left the two parties when they recognized they were not getting true representation. When Hillary could announce, chose to announce, that she won even before allowing California voters a voice, that is reason enough for disillusion in this process.
These are just a few reasons that Bernie could marshal a huge constituency who recognize that our democratic republic has actually be stolen from us and America has become an oligarchy. We do not go along to get along.
So sorry you were jobbed, CPSdoc.
Solely from a public education policy perspective, how can any candidate possibly be worse than Hillary?
JEB! Would be worse. Another reason to support Trump. He saved us from JEB!
I can’t do Hillary. I just can’t.
Not ever. Not never.
Denis I may have to hold the Vomit bag for you . Me I’m hopping for Nate Silvers 538 blog to call a blow out in NY for Clinton to save me from having to do it
I have hesitated to speak up, because this board is so relentlessly one-sided. In my diverse city neighborhood before the primary, I saw Sanders buttons, bumper stickers, and signs everywhere. And yet when I checked to see how the neighborhood voted after the primary, it was Clinton with a solid majority, just short of a landslide, actually. Nobody was talking, but lots of us were voting, apparently. To be honest, I felt intimidated about saying that I supported her.
I’m nervous about Clinton on education, but I think she’s starting to hear the message from those who have been fighting the reformers for these many years. I hope so, and I pray she doesn’t choose Booker for VP. I’d be thrilled with Warren. And I’m thrilled about Clinton. I voted for her eight years ago in the primary, with real excitement, and voted for Obama in the general, also with real excitement. I’m a lifelong die-hard liberal, leaning progressive. I’m not a teacher, but I’m a public school parent and saw what happened to the schools during the worst of the Bloomberg era. I have volunteered hundreds if not thousands of hours in the schools and on school board committees.
The issues that I care about this year in the general are the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court. Without the ACA, I would be uninsurable. Education matters enormously, however, and I think Clinton will come around, at least somewhat.
Just speaking up–and expecting flames–as one passionate reader of this board who feels strongly that Clinton, who has been tarred and feathered in the media for so long, is about as strong as a candidate can be.
There is a big dark elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss as to why Sanders could not generate support in the minority community and it is as virulently repulsive as anything on the right. But I am glad that the ACA is helping you . It is dying of its own short coming’s . As premiums rise as well as copay’s and insurers abandon markets. . Patients are choosing forgo care enriching the insurers and defeating the purpose . However what existed before it was also dying between 2000 and 2009 , 16 percent fewer people had employer provide healthcare .
Canada has a national healthcare plan. They call it Medicare it covers all of their citizens . Now Hillary brought out all sorts of economists to swear that America could not do what the rest of the civilized world can do. Funny thing about that we already have a national health plan and it takes care of the sickest people in the country we call it Medicare. Time to extend it to all Americans and join the civilized world.
Thanks for this courageous and well meaning post, Diane.
I agree, I select Hilary Clinton over Trump – hands down.
I stand with you, Diane.
I think Diane’s comment that Hillary Clinton really “cares about her grandchildren” to be worthy of The Onion. Which leads me to think she must be pulling our leg!
I won’t vote for such a horrible person. At least I can keep my integrity. And it is very foolish to think she will be any better than Trump, who I won’t be voting for either. She is more trigger happy than Cheney from what I’ve seen. “we came, we saw, he died”. Unbelievable. Maybe you should move to Canada Diane.
Bob, I get angry and have no patience for people who throw out crap like “Maybe you should move to Canada” just because they don’t do what they want or think like them. Have you ever considered following your own advice?
This is a period in time where I need to vote my conscience and not for a “lesser of the evil” candidate. I don’t buy into arguments that not voting for Hillary is a vote for Trump. At some point you just have to take a moral stand and say enough is enough. If enough people did that an independent party candidate could be voted in (but I do not hold out much hope for that). I cannot see either Trump or Clinton… in the age mega-billionaires or in the age of super-pacs and super-delegates being good for the continuance of democracy. Hilary had super-delegates (and so so many) in her pocket as well as Wall Street before the first primary ever took place. Is this democracy???? Why do we even have super-delegates? It is clear that they exist to take “the voice” away from “The People” and give voice to a select few who will run this nation into the ground if this continues. All I can hope for is that Bernie Sanders along with a torch bearer (like a Robert Reich) fights the good fight relentlessly and with no let up for the next 4 years because there will be way too many youth and older generation folk like myself who WANT REAL DEMOCRACY RESTORED. There is no way democracy can be restored with either Trump or Clinton. I will vote my conscience and it won’t be either of them and I won’t feel the least bit guilty about it – in fact I would feel GUILTY voting for either one of them.
I’ll guess that there’s a fair number of those 97,000 Florida Nader voters in the presidential election of 2000 that feel some guilt.
Bernie is going to support Hillary Clinton.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/seeking-to-exit-on-his-own-terms-bernie-sanders-comes-to-washington-thursday/2016/06/09/0b252f10-2e39-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Democracy… the root problem needs to be addressed not kicked down the road. You bring out Nader to defend an analogous point? Not! Lack of democratic process is a huge problem and gives our citizens total lack of power in the electoral process making it a moot point if you vote for a “Nader” type candidate or not because you in reality do not have a true say in the election process to begin with as things currently stand. If a gash is deep enough, putting on a band-aid will accomplish nothing and eventually a person will bleed out. Voting for Clinton just “because” is a “bandaid argument. Our nation is “bleeding out” over campaign finance reform laws and this has never been so apparent as super-pacs and super-delegates commandeering the nomination process. “Clinton” was not nominated by “The People” she was nominated by DNC-selected super-delegates who basically supported Clinton WAY BEFORE the very first primary; clearly “The People” had no say in the “democratic” process! I am hopeful that what Sanders started in this process will gain momentum over the next 4 years; we desperately need honesty in the electoral process. But my fear is that nominating a super-pac candidate like Clinton can only lead to continuing the entrenchment of anti democratic systems designed to keep a few in power at the expense of many. I don’t take voting lightly and I do feel there is a time to take a moral stand. I sure wish all those angered by this lack of “democracy” would take a moral stand.
I can’t be happy with either candidate. The teaching profession has no friend in either party. Both parties have created this mess, so I won’t pretend either is my friend. John King, the teacher hating opportunist, has been snuck in the back door of the Department of Education, and with Trump doing all he can to make sure no one votes for him, Mr. King is poised to unleash his hatred on the night Hillary is sworn in. What should I be happy about? We are reliving the death of Socrates.
I hope you get to meet with Secretary Clinton. I am concerned that the party I have traditionally leaned towards seems to have abandoned principles in favor of a spot at the feeding trough and I find myself wondering why the presumptive nominee was so presumptive from day one. Also, why the call for unity has seemed so panicky and desperate. if you watch CNN (which I won’t any longer) there has been an almost angry entitlement, “Why won’t Sanders just be quiet and tell his people to be good obedient sheep and get in line?” (My quotes, same idea with more drama).
Why has Sanders caused such discomfort, almost indignant anger, among party leaders and even people you would hope would report and comment objectively? CNN’s Brian Stelter interviewing Cenk Yugar, finally frustrated with the facts broke down into a desperate plea to Cenk that he agree that because we have a historic opportunity gender-wise, that openness and honesty should really come second.
Why is Hillary vs Donald Trump not an almost dismiss-able, laughable contest? Why is she so lacking in desirability that the party is desperately whining for Sanders to convince his followers to settle and “fall in line”, nervous that she is incapable of providing what many, many disenfranchised citizens and Independent voters are looking for?
Believe me, I am 100% in favor of the right woman candidate, but Hillary is the consummate, evasive politician who will claim that she is and always was what you think she may not be that she historically shown that she wasn’t but that the records will clearly show that she has consistently fought for what you think she should do what everyone else befor her did that she won’t do until everyone else does first. Sad that our nation has pretty much backed us into a corner, and I wonder if the Trump candidacy wasn’t a long time, take-a-dive scheme to install Hillary. You couldn’t make it up much crazier than it really is.
I just imagine my three daughters, who have watched current news and debates, old footage (that pro-establishment media won’t show)m if I suddenly say:
“Yeah, girls, the choice here is establishment, systemic evil over bat-**** crazy evil…guess I need to fall in line behind the systemic evil because they are holding us hostage and neither really are representing us.”
Great Dewey quote:
“What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”
Is Hillary serious about shipping poor kids off to boarding school?
I’m voting for Trump even though I voted for Bernie in the NY primary.
1) Trump’s not Hilary.
2) The republicans haven’t taken my vote for granted.
3) The democrats think we progressive voters will just wince at the thought of Trump, hold our nose and vote for Hilary. If we do, they will never give us anything better than corporate Hilary.
You’d vote for a tool like this?
“Donald Trump has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades — a large number of those involve ordinary Americans who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them…Trump’s companies have also been cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act since 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage…The actions paint a portrait of Trump’s organization frequently failing to pay small businesses and individuals, then tying them up in court and other negotiations for years, draining their resources… The number of companies and others alleging he hasn’t paid suggests that his companies have a poor track record hiring workers and assessing contractors, or that Trump businesses renege on contracts, refuse to pay, or consistently attempt to change payment terms after work is complete…”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/
Elizabeth Warren has endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Bernie will too.
Yeah, she’s an opportunistic politician. Yeah, she is overly concerned about her “image.”
But in the end, she will better protect civil rights for all citizens, and she’ll put people on the federal courts that subscribe to “liberty and justice for all.”
Jane, Even though Trump and Bernie seem to sometimes address the same issues (for example, trade deals gone wrong) it just appears to me that Trump is the ANTI-BERNIE… Yikes, don’t do it. If you must, choose a third party candidate, I guess.
The fact that your comment was apparently posted at 4:06 a..m. shows you really care about this issue. That or you’re an early riser, Of course, are Trump or Bernie or Hillary awake at this hour and thinking about us and our students…..about “better education for all”? Sad to say, I don’t hear any of them talking much about it at any time during the day.
Yup, I’m pretty mad at the Democratic Party, too. Best of luck….to us both.
Agreed. Bernie, despite his being a geriatric Marxist, is a likable fellow and would have been my second choice. We live in Gilded Age .2 and need a good house cleaning. Big Money has aligned itself with Big Government in the name of equality and the outcome is soviet. Common Core is just a little example of that.
I think Trump, however, is the man for the job.
Rum, you puzzle me. Trump won’t clean house. He is an ignoramus who knows nothing of policy or government. A businessman who went through multiple bankruptcies. He is the embodiment of Big Money. If he ever releases his tax returns, you will be shocked by how little he pays, if any.
Just received apparent Obama spam Hillary promotion. My response:
Dear Obama for Hillary promo,
I am sorry. I need to see Hillary’s highly paid speech transcripts and an explanation of foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation-donations that may have greased the wheels on later-sealed arms deals between the U.S. and countries that demean and diminish women.
Please help me decide who I will advocate for and how I will use my vote.
Dan McConnell
And execute gays!
Rum, you puzzle me. (It’s on purpose)
Trump won’t clean house. He is an ignoramus (there we go again!) who knows nothing of policy or government. (Clinton’s “experience” comes with a list of scandals and even a body count- Andy Cuomo learned from the best.)
A businessman who went through multiple bankruptcies. (Four of his 500+ companies filed bankruptcy. Hardly a failing record.)
He is the embodiment of Big Money. (Really? Like the Kochs? Soros? Gates?)
If he ever releases his tax returns, you will be shocked by how little he pays, if any. (I try to pay very little as well- and so do you! I also know that a tax is paid on everything he buys for his business and on the income of his 30K employees. In other words, he contributes far more to the government coffer simply by expanding his business and creating more tax payers. You know this too.)
The Clintons have amassed a fortune since leaving the White House by taking advantage of connections and 501c tax laws. Under 501c tax regulations, The Clinton Foundation only has to prove that a small amount of actual dollars are actually spent charitable giving. Everything else is gravy. All other expenses are business write-offs. You, out of anyone, should be aware of how this scam works. It’s a major factor behind the hedge fund push for more charters. And I haven’t even mentioned the Clinton Foundation/Goldman Sachs nexus brought to you by Cheslea’s hedgefund husband.
Trump knows this and gives almost nothing to charitable organizations. Neither do I.
So I’ll support Trump releasing his taxes (which tells us nothing) when the Clinton Foundation gets a well-deserved audit.
Paint me cynical, but exactly are you gaining for your support for such a corrupt family?
Latest on Clinton Foundation/State Department nexus:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-donor-sensitive-intelligence-board/story?id=39710624
An Ode to HRC
Super predator or super delegate
….What difference, at this point does it make?
Stand with her, she’s a girl,
orange boy is an ape, Bill accused of rape
…What difference, at this point, does it make?
Took a grand, made a hundred grand
Give me four, I’ll make a million more
…What difference, at this point, does it make?
Was for charters, now she’s not
Loves the Core, but Trump’s a boor
…What difference, at this point, does it make?
Trump tax, he should release , never mind the Goldman speech
Clinton Foundation has made me rich, media doesn’t bitch
…what difference, at this point, does it make?
At 3 AM phone rang but nobody there
Ambassador lynched, plead for help, no one cared
…what difference, at this point, does it make?
Once was for a wall, but border should be wide open
My husband executed a retarded man, you won’t remember, I be hoping
…what difference, at this point, does it make?
My accent is a changin’
dependen’ on ma mood and ma given location!
Because I’m a troo New Yawker when it fits
See, a pandering I never do despite it being obvious to you
And you
Any you
Some of the high points for social justice in American history are women’s suffrage, New Deal-era workers rights and social welfare programs, and civil rights legislation. None of these achievements started out as campaigns to elect someone. They were the product of long, persistent, strategic movement building with mass appeal. Along the way, there were defeats and setbacks. Success is when the setbacks bring people together, instead of retreating into bitterness and giving way to bitterness. Electing people amenable to new laws was the final step, not the catalyst. However, it is also important to remember that they were not accomplished under divisive depots. Voting for Clinton, instead of Trump is not abdication unless we stop struggling for justice. It is a smart, defensive strategy. I think it might we wise to think about this: Does legitimate critique of Trump or Clinton get interpreted by their current supporters as a condemnation of them rather than the candidates? If so, how will we ever grow the movement? The challenge is to put forth solutions that are more appealing and more resonant and more inclusive.
I made an attempt at that here in Three Strategies for Fair, Diverse, and Broad Education: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arthur-camins/three-strategies-fair-div_b_10361118.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education
Diane, I hope in God’s name, and for the future of our children and the democracy, that your decision to endorse Hillary lends strenght to our cause. I for one am not as hopeful as you. Here’s why I don’t hold much hope, on the heels of his nomination, President Obama met with teachers in Colorado where he issued these words, “I don’t believe that teachers and students should be spending the better part of the school year prepping for a single test….”. Then he appointed Arne, and as the saying goes, the rest is history. We all know where that promise went. Two weeks before announcing her candidacy, Hillary met with Gates, then soon after, our union leaders gave her an early endorsement without looking at her platform, one that supports everything we are fighting against. She’s cozy with the Walton family and many of the corporate enemies we have encountered. Wal-Mart, the richest corporation that began with the biggest child labor scandal, the one enemy of education that is reaping off the public. So, if you are able to influence her, and convince her to changes her position, I will be the first to say that you have done what many in the country doubt. I will say to you as I said to my dear friend, Congressman McGovern, Jim, if you can convince Hillary to stop supporting the educational malpractice that is being forced upon the children in our public schools, I will personally volunteer in her campaign, I would go knocking door-to-door to help her get elected.
Ruth,
I know all the negatives you cite, and I am not holding out much hope that Hillary will be good on education issues. A betting woman would say she will be the same as Obama, who double-crossed us.
I said I would vote for the nominee of the Democratic party because there are other issues at stake besides education.
To us, education is paramount. But national security, the economy, civil rights, social security, the environment, and the Supreme Court matter too.
I would vote for Mickey Mouse over Donald Trump.
Diana Ravitch: “I would vote for Mickey Mouse over Donald Trump.”
Good for you Diane. (I also agree with you.) Donald has no knowledge of how to run this country. He would cause a lot of problems both domestically and internationally. Education is an issue but there are others that need to be considered.
I would add that even though Clinton is likely to follow the same education policies as Obama, it will be easier to fight for progressive values and policies under her than a divisive, racist authoritarian , who may further erode democracy by restricting freedom of speech and the press and exacerbate hatred.
http://www.arthurcamins.com
It’s worth mentioning that The Donald will also probably take anyone to court that disagrees with or does not support what he wants to do with the United States. Going to court is one of his negotiating tools.
According to USA Today, The Donald has been involved in at least 3,500 legal action in federal and state courts during the past three decades. And if court doesn’t work, The Donald has already revealed that he will just ask someone to punch the person he doesn’t like in the face, and he’ll pay for the assailant’s lawyer.
“As he campaigns, Trump often touts his skills as a negotiator. The analysis shows that lawsuits are one of his primary negotiating tools. He turns to litigation to distance himself from failing projects that relied on the Trump brand to secure investments. As USA TODAY previously reported, he also uses the legal system to haggle over his property tax bills. His companies have been involved in more than 100 tax disputes, and the New York State Department of Finance has obtained liens on Trump properties for unpaid tax bills at least three dozen times.”
The Donald has also broken every fact check record for telling lies as a politician running for office. For instance, “And despite his boasts on the campaign trail that he ‘never’ settles lawsuits, for fear of encouraging more, he and his businesses have settled with plaintiffs in at least 100 cases reviewed by USA TODAY.”
https://www.quora.com/How-many-lawsuits-has-Donald-Trump-filed
According to Empire News Mickey Mouse has decided to run for president in 2016.
When interviewed, Mickey allegedly said, “Everyone loves me – I’ve learned that in all my years at Disneyland. And although kids are sometimes scared of me, I’ve never told them that the world is on fire, which already puts me at an advantage over Ted [Cruz].”
http://empirenews.net/after-years-as-1-write-in-candidate-mickey-mouse-announces-official-presidential-run/
But doesn’t Donald Trump also claim that everyone loves him. After all, doesn’t DT have a smart brain.
Lloyd, anyone who tells you he is smart is not smart.
Anyone who refuses to release his tax returns while running for president has something to hide.
What might it be?
He doesn’t pay any taxes?
He has less income than he claims?
He is not as rich as he claims?
Or he uses every trick in the book to avoid taxes?
If everyone did that, there would be no money for anything–not Social Security, not veteran benefits, not any of the public services we take for granted.
The answer to all of the questions is “all of the above”
Carolmalaysia,
Think of it. Donald Trump has never been active in civic life in NYC, where he lives. He has not, to my knowledge, supported the New York Public Library, any of our many museums, or served on the board of a hospital or any institution that helps the community. Many people in NYC live in poverty. There is dramatic inequality. Trump is known for having three goals: Money, women, power.
HillBill on for profit education #BernieorBust #NeverHillary #Hillary&Donald4Prison
How does one verify stats from a for profit educational online institution like Laureate Education where Bill was paid $16.5 million to serve as mouthpiece? #ClintonLieCheatSteal
Luckily, our Constitution says you only have to be a citizen (imagine that!) and over 40 (or is it 35?) Otherwise, you needn’t even have to visit a library. BTW, Trumps record on private giving to those in need is quite extensive, albeit unofficial. His “official” giving, to the Clinton Foundation for instance, was exclusively to gain favors, as he freely admits.
I can’t in any way understand a person who considers themselves a thinking person, one who understands we all share one planet, who also says they’ll vote for Trump. Even when he loses the presidential race, so much damage has already been done by a person who is nothing short of a fascist. And I’m not a name-caller.
So much dangerous precedent has already been set by Donald Trump being involved in this election. There appear to be absolutely no rules nor accepted guidelines of ethical, moral, respectful, nor civil behavior in a person running for the American presidency. We are a laughing stock for the world to ridicule.
Diane, if you are able to get an audience with Hillary before the election, how incredible that would be! (Maybe pitch the idea that she should openly assemble her cabinet – which must include Bernie and his ideas – and publicize that action as an election strategy. That would demonstrate real intention to include Bernie’s issues as part of her platform, which is critically important if she plans on winning.)
I know this is very very naive of me and may even expose how very unknowing I am about how campaigns run. But I am so fearful that unless she shows with action, as opposed to words, that she is including Bernie Sanders’ campaign platform and his supporters’ concerns in her presidential quest, then too many people will vote for Trump, or not vote at all, in order to not vote for Hillary. Hillary doesn’t have enough going for her as a solo candidate to win over those who are completely fed up with our current political system.
We need real change. Promises have been made by politicians before. Bernie really was our best chance for real change. Just because Hillary is the presumptive nominee doesn’t mean she’s free to disregard what a lot of voters wanted when they/we supported Bernie Sanders. We have to find a way to hold her accountable to what so many Americans want – real change.
Somehow, we have to find a way to turn things around.
I don’t think it is name calling when the evidence proves it is true.
8 Reasons Why Republicans Must Dump Trump
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog
13 June 16
The Republican Party still has time to change its mind. Right now it’s supporting for President of the United States a man
1. who divides us by race and ethnicity and religion.
He says undocumented Americans “bring drugs, crime, they’re rapists.” That the Mexican government “sends bad ones over because they don’t want to pay for them.” And who says he’ll round up and deport all 11 million undocumented workers in the United States.
This is a man who equivocated on repudiating an endorsement from David Duke, former head of the Ku Klux Klan. And when asked to repudiate the vicious anti-semitism of some of his followers said “I don’t have a message to the fans.”
A man who claimed “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the Twin Towers collapsing, when there’s no evidence at all to support that statement. And whose response to terrorism is to prevent all Muslims from coming into the United States.
A man who, in response to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, did not mourn the victims, but instead crowed “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” and repeated his call for his temporary Muslim ban – even though the shooter was an American citizen. “What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough,” he said.
A man who says black criminals are responsible for 81 percent of homicides against whites, which turns out to be a racist myth.
2. whose incendiary lies are inciting violence across this land, but he excuses them.
When he learned that some of his supporters punched, kicked and spit on protesters of color at his rallies, he said “people who are following me are very passionate.”
When a handful of white supporters punched and attempted to choke a Black Lives Matter protester at another of his rallies, he said “maybe he should have been roughed up.”
3. who bullies, humiliates, and threatens those who dare cross him.
He mocks their physical characteristics, makes up lies about them, degrades them, tries to intimidate them by unleashing hostile attacks on the Internet – announcing, for example, that a family who donated money to a political opponent “better be careful, they have a lot to hide.”
He calls a federal judge who’s considering a case against Trump University a “total disgrace” and a “hater,” and alleging he’s Mexican although he was born in the United States.
4. who spreads baseless conspiracy theories.
He conjectured that President Obama was not born in the United States, and that the government hid information about the Ebola virus and a plague would start in America if flights from Ebola infected countries weren’t cancelled. He opined that Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald during the Kennedy assasination in Dallas, and that child health vaccinations cause autism.
And he suggested that the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia might have been a part of a plot.
Such baseless conspiracy theories can do great damage, when, for example, parents don’t vaccinate their children because they fear autism.
5. whose hateful and demeaning attitudes toward women and boastful claims of sexual dominance have been filling the airwaves for years.
They’re best summed up in an interview where he said “women, you have to treat them like shit.”
6. who believes climate change is not caused by humans, contrary to all scientific proof.
And he calls for more fossil fuel drilling and fewer environmental regulations, vows to cancel the Paris agreement committing nearly every nation to curbing climate change, and to rescind Obama’s rules to curb planet-warming emissions from coal-fired power plants.
7. who proposes using torture against terrorists, and punishing their families, both in clear violation of international law.
And if all this weren’t enough,
8. who wants to cut taxes on the rich, giving the wealthiest one tenth of one percent an average tax cut of more than $1.3 million each every year – exploding the national debt and endangering the future of Social Security and Medicare.
This man is Donald Trump, and the Republican Party wants him to be President of the United States.
Why are there so few statesmen left in the Republican Party? Are there no principled Republicans whose loyalty to the nation is greater than their eagerness to win back the White House? No Republican leaders with the courage to stand up and say this is wrong – that this man doesn’t have the character or the temperament to be president, and his election would endanger America and everything we believe in and stand for?
If not, shame on them.
Republicans still have time to dump Trump. For the good of the country and the world, they must.
If you are supporting Hillary, you are supporting her Common Core, Toxic Testing, Data Mining agenda. And we’ll NEVER get out of it if she has her way. Anthony Cody did a great job of explaining why here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-cody/hillary-clinton-feels-common-core-pain_b_7096406.html It is hard to read this and still justify supporting Hillary, as an education advocate.
I don’t like Hillary’s education views. But I don’t like Donald Trump’s views on climate change, cutting taxes of the 1%, appointing rightwingers to the Supreme Court, deporting 11 million undocumented people, banning Muslims, spending billions on a wall on the southern border, not releasing his tax returns, scamming ordinary citizens, etc. The President doesn’t have the authority to eliminate Common Core. Arne Duncan bribed them to endorse it, now the state’s have the power to stop it.
No I won’t. She has killed people and a CIA person was on the radio today (he wrote a book) about how mean she is to people when others are not around. I have met her. Do your research!
I do not think education with change. I believe that the that the rich will continue to get rich, while the poor continue to get poorer. Education is catered to the elite, where parents can send their children to private schools with smaller class sizes, less behavior problems, more financial support and parents that value education and teachers. Public schools are suppose to make do with the little finances they receive, larger class sizes, behavior problems, students with learning disabilities and students whose parents
offer no educational support. Something is the great nation of our needs to change to make education fair and equal for all.
Rick Ingle, the idiot is you, an alleged US citizen that says someone else should lose their Constitutional right to vote, because that real idiot called Rick Ingle doesn’t agree with her 1st Amendment rights to express her views.
The extreme-right, what I call MAGA RINOs, is apparently responsible for this example of the end of civility. What you should have said was, “I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it.”
“I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is said to have come from Voltaire. It is not from Voltaire, the 18th-century philosopher, but it was a paraphrase from a biographer named Evelyn Beatrice Hall of what she thought Voltaire was thinking.
Thanks, Lloyd. I deleted that vicious comment. How stupid and how Trumpian to say that someone should lose their right to vote if they don’t vote your way.
Apparently many if not all MAGA RINOs, a term I use to identify Traitor Trump’s angry, hateful, dangerous, ignorant, and racist supporters, thinks that anyone that doesn’t agree with them should not be allowed to vote, own property, or be a citizen of the United States, even if they were born here and their ancestors arrived with the Pilgrims.
Why are we getting comments from a blog that was posted on June 8, 2016?
I did vote for Hillary.
Hope she isn’t running again. Can’t stand Trump.
I doubt that Hillary will run again, ever. If she couldn’t beat Trump, she can’t beat anyone but another woman.
Greene vs Clinton
And if Hillary did run, I’d vote for her again, against any Republican (with an emphasis on ANY) now that I know who the real Hillary is instead of the fake Hillary the theofascist, always lying, misogynist, extreme right spent decades creating with war-like propaganda.
During the 2016 presidential debates while fact checking traitor Trump’s lies (that’s all that he does, is lie), I learned who the real Hillary Clinton was, that she’d probably turn out to be one of the president this country ever had, if she had a Democratic Majority in Congress to support her agenda.
With a Repulibican majority, Hillary would have been impeached monthly for the clothing she wore, her hair style, every word she says, the way she walks, talks, farts, et al.
How did the word “best” vanish from my comment. I wrote “one of the best presidents”
All anyone has to do is follow to real facts from primary sources like Vote Smart, and avoid any sites that spreads lies to support the MAGA RINO movement.
Dianne, have the Republicans hacked your site so they can revise our comments as we write them?