Why I Won't Vote for Hillary

I once heard a minister at a public event say, “It’s illegal for me to tell you who to vote for, but I can tell you who not to vote for: don’t vote for anyone who doesn’t vote for you.”

Next week is New York’s Democratic Primary, and I intend to vote against Hillary Clinton.

Senator Clinton is certain to win the primary, and faces no serious Republican challenger in November. There are advantages to having her as our state senator: certainly she comes with clout, connections and a public profile that could never be summoned by any of her rivals for the seat. She has been an important advocate for the people of New York on a variety of different issues, ranging from anti-terror funding to post-9/11 environmental quality.

However, on two issues of great importance to me, Senator Clinton has been an enormous disappointment.

In early July, the New York State Court of Appeals handed down an utterly idiotic decision, claiming the state constitution, despite all its guarantees of equal protection, does not “require” same-sex marriage. They handed the issue off to our do-nothing assembly in Albany, along with a series of recommendations about how a “rational legislature” might find that it was “reasonable” to restrict marriage to heterosexuals because only straight people have children by accident.

The ruling, a classic case of judicial activism, where judges ignore evidence and abandon established constitutional analysis in favor of “assumptions,” “intuition” and “experience” [those words lifted from the decision itself] in order to reach a pre-determined conclusion, was met with utter silence from Senator Clinton.

Sure, she’ll show up for the annual pride parade in Manhattan, inserting herself into the march several blocks past the starting point and remaining just long enough to wave at the New York Times photographers before disappearing, but when it really counts, she’s not there. Can’t let the fundamental civil rights of her constituents interfere with her national ambitions. On her website, if you look up her positions on Civil and Constitutional Rights, you will see not one mention anywhere of LGBT people or issues. Nor will you find a mention under Children & Families.

On the war against Iraq, I do not accept her explanation that she – along with the rest of the Democratic party – voted to give President Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq as “diplomatic leverage.” First, the act itself was unconstitutional, as only Congress has the power to declare war, and that power does not include delegation of its responsibility to the executive branch.

Second, I am disgusted that the woman who coined the phrase “vast right-wing conspiracy” could trust those same nefarious conspirators to competently execute an experimental war of choice while assisting them in its promotion as a war of necessity. If anyone should have known not to trust these guys, it was Hillary Clinton. Instead, during the crucial months before our invasion, she failed to ask the important questions that needed to be asked about the post-invasion occupation or to challenge the White House’s assertions about the imminence of the threat and its significance to the larger war on terror.

Today, as a major leader of congressional Democrats, she continues to fail to put forward a valid, alternative plan for the repair and reconstruction of Iraq. Withdrawal, phased or immediate, is not a solution to the problems of our own making. It’s a political trick: declare “victory” and bring the troops home (minus 2,600 and counting).

I'm going to vote for Jonathan Tasini for Senator in the Democratic Primary. While I do not agree with his call for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, what Congress needs are representatives who don’t and won’t trust the Bush Administration. Furthermore, Mr. Tasini expressly supports marriage equality for all people.

I do not expect Mr. Tasini to win, but it would be nice if Senator Clinton at least got the message that some of us aren’t happy.