Here is something I will never understand…

Well, let’s take this back a bit first.

I’m a Democrat with a big D. Have been most of my life, although I admit to Libertarian tendencies. But the why is what I want to address here for a moment. I’m a Democrat because the Democratic party is the major party that aligns most with what I believe and hold to be most important.

First and foremost I believe it is my responsibility to care for others. That means it is our responsibility as a country to care for those in need, regardless of who they are. To me, that means providing health health care to those who can’t afford it. It means providing a safety net to keep children and other at risk individuals from slipping through the cracks. It means providing a living wage for all workers. It means providing a quality education for all children, not just the children of the rich who can afford private school. It means preserving our forests and our wildlife for future generations, not just because so future generations can see trees and animals, but because I believe that biodiversity will be critical to the survival of our species. It means protecting the environment, not just for ourselves and our future generations, but for the entire world.

It means that it is our responsibility for look out for those who are most vulnerable, and if that means that some people game the system and take advantage, so be it. We cannot allow the actions of a handful individuals to become an excuse not to care for those in need.

And I believe that the policies of the Democrats are most in-line with these strongly held personal beliefs.

(Don’t even talk to me about the Green Party or any other “third” party. The US is a two party system. That’s the way it is. In order to affect change, at least for now, we have to work within the system. I won’t waste my vote on a third party candidate unless I am opposed to both candidates.)

So where am I going with this?

Where I am going is my disbelief at the rabid Hillary “supporters” who say they refuse to vote for Barak Obama.

Did they not listen to a word she said during her campaign?

Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama hold many similar beliefs, and the differences between them are minimal compared to the difference between them and John McCain. If they truly believed as she did, if they truly felt that her beliefs were their beliefs, then there is no way they could vote for John McCain.

John McCain does not stand for the things that Hillary Clinton finds important. And so to claim that one would prefer to vote for McCain over Obama means to me that these individuals never truly listed to a single word she said. It means they saw her as the flavor of the month and wanted to jump on her bandwagon, but never understood in the slightest what was important to her and what is important to the Democratic Party.

No, I was not a Clinton supporter. I have been saying for years that she has too many liabilities to be elected. But if she had won the primary, you can be damned sure I would have rallied behind her.

Because what is truly important is the system of beliefs for which she stands, and that they match the system of beliefs for which I stand.