As a political junkie, I have been consumed by this run for the White House. This is political theater at its most intriguing. Because there is so much at stake—the next President may have the opportunity to appoint as many as three or four Supreme Court justices—the person who succeeds President Barack Obama matters greatly. The field has been whittled down to five potential candidates and each brings his or her own special drama to the political stage. While conventional wisdom suggests that most social workers would be progressive and lean Democratic, there will be social workers voting for all five of the remaining candidates. I have met my share of social workers who are conservative and vote Republican.
On the Republican side, outsider Donald Trump appears to have the edge as of this writing with Texas Senator Ted Cruz solidly in second place. Ohio governor John Kasich managed to stay in the race by winning his state with less than half the vote. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was not long ago the consensus candidate of the establishment, suspended his campaign last Tuesday after barely garnering a quarter of the vote in his home state and losing badly to Mr. Trump. For the Democrats, former Secretary of State, senator and first lady Hillary Clinton appears to have taken an all but insurmountable lead over independent-turned-Democrat Bernie Sanders by sweeping the five states in last Tuesday’s primary and holding even in yesterday’s three contests. She now has 1,214 pledged delegates to Senator Sanders’s 911.
Many conventions of the past are being shattered. Both sides have candidates who were not card-carrying members of their party prior to the campaign. Donald Trump, while flirting with a run for the 2012 Republican nomination, has never been elected to any political office. Senator Bernie Sanders, who was elected as an independent in Vermont, joined the Democratic Party in order to vie for the presidency. Neither Donald Trump nor Bernie Sanders is relying on money from wealthy donors or Super PACs. Yet both have more than enough money to sustain a costly presidential campaign—Donald Trump with his own money and Bernie Sanders with more than 5 million small donations.
We are also seeing unprecedented levels of vitriol being spewed by candidates from both parties. Donald Trump gets the most attention because he makes the more controversial remarks: “We’re going to build a wall (between the United States and Mexico) and Mexico is going pay for it.” Or stating his intention to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, and that the majority of the planet’s 1.6 billion Muslims hate America. Marco Rubio, who vowed not to attack his competitors, lost his cool and his candidacy by equating Donald Trumps’ alleged small hands with other parts of the Donald’s anatomy—a statement Rubio acknowledged had embarrassed his children. Ted Cruz is just nasty and crude and shamelessly panders to people’s fears and prejudice. As a result, the Republican Party is splintering and spinning out of control towards a brokered convention that could literally shatter the Grand Old Party.
From what I read—mostly from the comments sections in mainstream news articles—Bernie Sanders supporters have a zeal for what they see as uncompromising principles: no free trade agreements, no money from Wall Street, no forgiveness for Hillary Clinton’s vote before the Iraq War that paints the former secretary as nothing short of evil incarnate. To be fair, Hillary Clinton has misrepresented Bernie Sanders views on certain issues but I am not seeing nearly the level of harsh words used against him that I see being thrown in her direction.
Many things that Bernie Sanders says are spot on. One is that the nation needs a political revolution—that the Citizens United decision needs to be overturned—and that this does not happen during the course of one election cycle but must be done over years with the concerted effort of progressive-minded people. However, I worry that some in Bernie Sanders army may become disillusioned and stay home on election day if he does not prevail in his quest for the Democratic nomination. That would be a tragic mistake.
Hillary Clinton is not a perfect candidate. However, she is an excellent candidate with the experience and judgment needed to be a good President. She will probably win the Democratic nomination because she is a longtime Democrat while Bernie Sanders is not. She should not win because she is a woman but she should win because is a qualified woman—the first who have gotten this close to the nomination. My hope is that Bernie Sanders will work as hard to get his followers to coalesce around Hillary Clinton should she win the nomination as he has in building an incredible movement that could possible change the way to do politics in this country. Sanders and his supporters must not let perfect be the enemy of good.
The post Do Bernie and Hillary Supporters Need a Social Work Intervention? appeared first on Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy.
Written By Charles E. Lewis Jr., Ph.D
Do Bernie and Hillary Supporters Need a Social Work Intervention? was originally published @ Charles Lewis – Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy and has been syndicated with permission.
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Hah. I would have agreed with this party unity early into the election season. And I did say several times that I would vote for the Democrat who won the primary. Then….. Things got nasty. It did not come from Bernie, nor his supporters. It came from the DNC, super delegates and Bill Clinton…. All plotting to shove Hillary down our throats. Bill campaigning at the polls in highly contested states… And being told oh it’s OK, but don’t do it again. Computer tampering with voter records, and making voters wait hours to vote, in Arizona. Mainstream media blackout of Bernie. Listing super delegates before the election to make voters think Bernie couldn’t win. All of this dirty stuff comes from the Clinton camp. Consequently, she has sacrificed the votes of many new and old voters that Sanders brought to the primaries. If Bernie doesn’t deserve equal and fair treatment by the Democrats, why should his supporters give them their votes in the general election? I’m going to wait and see what my options are in November, and I am not pledging to vote for anyone but Bernie, for now. He is the only one who really cares about the people. There’s where the party unity went.
I will give you kudos for mentioning Bernie’s name, at least. Most mainstream media completely leave him out of all discussions.
This story is mis-titled. It is an op-ed piece totally in favor of Hillary Clinton for president. If it were really about social work intervention on presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders then it would show that Hillary needs help understanding her errors in judgment over the years, then changing her views on those issues to now reflect the same views as Bernie Sanders on many key issues. Bernie Sanders has had correct positive humanity views on many key issues and kept those views as his morality is correct and doesn’t change over time as hers does. It should also point out to Hillary that her saying one thing to get votes then doing something else is hypocrisy and not good politics. Yes she has her staff and super-PACs play “dirty tricks” to try to sink her opposition. Yes she is bought out by Wall Street, big banks, oil and coal industry, pharmecutical companies, etc.. Her desire for wars and regime change (also known as assasinations) is not humane etc.. She really needs some psychological help with her morality not just a just social work intervention.