Congratulations Hillary Supporters from a Bernie Supporter, and my hopes for a Clinton Presidency

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/16/1502215/-Congratulations-Hilla...

You won. I will no longer criticize your candidate here based on her past record, how effective a candidate she will prove to be in the general election or any other matter. It’s Kos’ site and his rules. Fair enough.

For the record, I am not congratulating Hillary Clinton. She’s not my candidate. But I will vote for her if she is the nominee.

Nor will I be offering constructive criticism (whatever that term may mean) on how she can be a better candidate in the general election. She has her own coterie of formal and informal advisers for that, and besides, I doubt anything anyone says on any blog, even the mighty Daily Kos, will alter her campaign’s strategy or tactics in the general election (since she is “our nominee” to quote Markos).

I will assume, because kos tells me its true, and, by my reading of Kos’ edict, I am not allowed to suggest otherwise, that millenials and left leaning independents will turn out and vote for her, hopefully in numbers that match the performance of President Obama in 2008 and 2012. For the record, Obama won 66% of young voters in 2008, and 60% in 2012, both years in which younger voters turned out in much higher numbers than in past elections.

So, since I am not offering criticism or suggestions for Clinton in the general, and because, as we have been told she will win the Presidency in November regardless of who wins the Republican nomination, what is the purpose of my commentary? Only this: an expression of my hopes (though not my expectations) regarding what Hillary Clinton will do once she is elected President.

A brief prefatory remark: I know that there is little any President can accomplish without the support of legislators, and we will have, at best, a divided national Congress going forward, assuming Democrats win control of the Senate. That said, the Oval Office gives one the opportunity to lead and influence the American people in a number of ways, from the issuance of executive orders, the enforcement of exiting laws, and by using the bully pulpit to rally the American people and advocate for an agenda that breaks from the status quo. And I believe we can all agree that the status quo is ruining our country. So, in no particular order, here are a few of the issues I hope a Clinton administration will actively promote, through executive action or by making the case to the American people that change is needed.

1. An End to the ruinous Drug War

The War on Drugs has resulted in the mass incarceration of millions of non-violent offenders with a disproportionate number of them being Latinos and African Americans. At the very least, I hope she calls for an end to the inequality in sentencing between white offenders and minority offenders, where whites receive much less harsh punishments than blacks and hispanics.

2. Crack down on Wall Street Fraud and Abuse

Few, if any, high profile figures in the financial industry have been indicted for the many documented crimes they committed (for just one example, see the case of Wachovia that laundered over $370 billion of drug cartel money, for which no bank official was ever prosecuted, and where Wachovia was allowed to settle the charges against it for the trivial amount of $160 million). That needs to change and it doesn’t require Congressional support, it only requires the President and her Attorney General to enforce existing laws.

In the same vein, I hope Clinton will seek, and actively call for, meaningful reform of the financial industry, particularly when it comes to the dangerous risk posed to the world economy by Wall Street’s continued peddling and profiting on derivatives trading. Financial reform is highly popular among a broad swathe of the American public, with majority support among both the old and young, and among Independents, Democrats and Republicans. Pushing for reform is not easy, but a President has the power to go over the head of an obstreperous Congress and speak directly to the people. And I cannot think of many issues that would help elect more and better Democrats in the next mid-term election cycle, provided the President made a point of spearheading that call for Wall Street Reform.

3. Eliminate and/or Reduce the Crippling Burden of Student Loan Debt

This one is a no brainer. Nothing is harming our nation’s young ( and not so young as well) people than the excessively large student debt load so many of them carry. It seriously harms their chance to achieve upward mobility, home ownership, save for retirement or even remain in the middle class to which many of their parents still tenuously cling. The high studen loan default rates and the prospect of of even greater rates of default during an economic downturn is a major concern for the economy, as well, since student debt exceeds $1.2 Trillion.

Debt that, by the way, has been securitized and sold on the derivatives market by Wall Street. Even the Federal government has gotten into the action, as the Department of Education sold off some of its debt as securities, receiving around $100 “billion in revenue from student loans from 2008 to 2013.”

What could Clinton do? One thing would be to call for a moratorium on payments of student loan interest, or the reduction of interest rates that exceed more than 3% over the prime lending rate offered by the Fed. Another would be to call for the elimination of the onerous provision in the Bankruptcy Code that makes for student loan debt non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. Large corporations are allowed in bankruptcy to get out of collective bargaining agreements and obligations owed under pension funds, so why shouldn’t student be offered relief.

4. Infrastructure Investment

Need I say anything more than Flint, Michigan? Well, I suppose I could add that upgrading our infrastructure (bridges, water and sewer systems, the electrical grid, the intertubes, etc.) would be a job creation machine, according to many, many studies and reports.

5. End Police Violence Against All Americans, but in particular African Americans and other Minorities

Again, this need no explanation as to why it would be good policy and good for Democrats, as well. It is also a matter than Clinton could make a point of emphasis by herself through increased investigations and enforcement actions, by the Department of Justice.

Theses are only a few of my hopes for what a Clinton administration would do, but I don’t want the eyes of anyone reading this to gaze over anymore than they already have. Other obvious examples is oppose the TPP (including threatening a veto if such agreements are passed) and other proposed trade agreements that have resulted in job losses here in the United States, the whole issue of income inequality, and campaign finance reform, but I’ll leave those for another time.

Meanwhile, it appears more and more likely that The Donald will be the Republican nominee. To that I can only say to all of us that I wish the following for our country:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zNdw4DaUM8 width:640 height:370]