We are young voters. We are voting for the progressive candidate who doesn’t take a dime from big pharma, big banks, or the health care industry. On Super Tuesday we hope our voices are heard loud and clear as they have been throughout the primary contest so far.
It is certainly starting to look like a Hillary Clinton victory though. And we have to get behind her. We may dislike some of her foreign policy decisions and not like the facts on the ground that created SuperPac mania/Citizens United, but Hillary only wins if we get behind her in November.
Let’s not be the generation that blows this one like has been done before (see 1968 election of Nixon). Suffice it to say, the alternative this year is a little more dire than Tricky Dick.
jconway says
Thanks for posting this here!
petr says
“We are the young, our voice matters above all others and we won’t let our generation be screwups, like the generation of the guy we’re voting for…” (Bernie Sanders was 27 in 1968).
Your voices are being heard. You’re just not saying much. When your voices start saying things that make sense, maybe they’ll have a better reception…
johntmay says
Yeah, he’s to blame for our current food disaster of corn, corn, corn, but he was more progressive than many Democrats today.
His words in 1972: An all-directions reform of our health care system–so that every citizen will be able to get quality health care at reasonable cost regardless of income and regardless of area of residence–remains an item of highest priority on my unfinished agenda for America in the 1970s.
In the ultimate sense, the general good health of our people is the foundation of our national strength, as well as being the truest wealth that individuals can possess. Nothing should impede us from doing whatever is necessary to bring the best possible health care to those who do not now have it–while improving health care quality for everyone–at the earliest possible time.
Followed by: The National Health Insurance Standards Act would require employers to provide adequate health insurance for their employees, who would share in underwriting its costs. This approach follows precedents of long-standing under which personal security–and thus national economic progress–has been enhanced by requiring employers to provide minimum wages and disability and retirement benefits and to observe occupational health and safety standards.
He did not see health care reform as some theoretical debate about some better idea that will never, ever come to pass.
Nixon also signed the The Occupational Safety and Health Act into law (OSHA) as well as the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation in 1970 after Nixon signed an executive order. Clearly he was not in the pockets of big business.
He did not see health care reform as some theoretical debate about some better idea that will never, ever come to pass.
SomervilleTom says
The Richard Nixon I remember is the man who ran against LBJ’s conduct of the Vietnam war, then doubled down on it once elected. The man who chose Spiro Agnew as his running mate. The man whose corrupt abuse of the power of his office for his personal political gain was unprecedented.
America was FAR more rational about many things during the Nixon era than it is today. Richard Nixon reflected some of those differences.
I don’t share your apparent fondness for Richard Nixon.
johntmay says
I get it. So why all the support for a candidate who voted in favor of the Iraq War? Why all the support for one who pushed for regime change in Libya that has resulted in disaster? And abuse of power? In a phrase “release the transcripts”
No, I am not a fan of Nixon for many reasons but his good points cannot be denied.
doubleman says
He was one of the worst people to be President. That said, many of his policies were and still are great, and more progressive than a good amount of what we’ve seen from any of our Democratic presidents since then.
centralmassdad says
The whole “Lets torch the peace process so the Dems lose, and then double down anyway, and then bail on Vietnam means an awful lot of Americans and a whole lot more Vietnamese got killed after 1968 for absolutely so reason whatsoever.
No amount of OSHA and EPA points can wipe out the literal red in the ledger.
merrimackguy says
though Nixon didn’t help matters (understatement). I’ve read the sabotage the Peace Talks stuff and I don’t think it’s that strong. SVN wasn’t on board anyway. He couldn’t have just pulled out in 69.
Both Iraq and Vietnam suffered from really poor generalship on the part of the Army, enabled by an inept civilian management of them.
Nixon’s complicated. I’d say the ledger is ultimately red as well, as is Johnson’s. As bad as Iraq & Afghanistan has been, Vietnam was 55,000 dead against a smaller population base, inflicted on troops who did not volunteer to be there.