Last week Netroots Nation, formerly Yearly Kos, went down in the city that best represents how well a corrupt, overweening government can respond to changing economic conditions. Detroit, Michigan hosted a meetup for particularly whiny and net-savvy liberals got together to whine about how the Democratic Party isn’t in touch with the people. And it’s within the belly of this discontent beast that we can see the key to defeating Hillary at the ballot box.
Netroots refers generally to the lefty blogosphere. It’s kind of like the Tea Party of the that side, in that it’s people who are more liberal than mainstream left wingers. For example, when Vice President Joe Biden was speaking, a faction of the audience had to be escorted out for chanting “Stop deporting our families.”
They also take social justice more seriously than mainstream Democrats. A candidate for state representative in Michigan asserted that water is a human right and called on the crowd to call Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s office to stop the water shutoffs for Detroit residents before Biden got up to speak.
But unlike the Tea Party, the average netroot netizen is actually younger than the average Democrat. In 2008, and less so in 2012, this young voter was essential to candidate Barack Obama’s success. He got this voter off their butt and into the booth with his lofty, lefty promises. He promised not to raise taxes one cent on those making under $100,000. He promised to close Guantanamo. He was going to oversee the most transparent administration in history. He would provide a path to citizenship, implement a non-interventionist foreign policy, and stand up to business corruption.
Today, that voter is disillusioned with the Democratic Party. President Barack Obama has been a major disappointment in every single area, and broken nearly every campaign promise he made. His one area of “success,” the policy on which he spent every cent of his political capital, his one accomplishment as a president, ObamaCare, is riddled with hiccups, underperformance, rollbacks, delays, exemptions, and errors. And, as the Netroots Netizen will point out, even if it works as intended, ObamaCare is not single-payer health insurance, which is what liberals want. Instead, ObamaCare is a major handout to those loathsome creatures the health insurance companies. Obama offered the companies every single American citizen on a silver platter. Obama told Americans, “Buy health insurance from these companies, or pay a fine.”
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In a way, Hillary Clinton is a boon to the GOP. She’s not even going to try to energize the young, liberal Democratic wing. She has nothing to offer.
She’s a typical tax-and-spend liberal, something young people who are chronically un- and under-employed are not exactly energized by. When Jon Stewart asked Hillary Clinton about her views on America’s foreign policy, she replied, “We have a great story about human freedom, human rights, human opportunity.” There is literally no space between her and whoever the GOP might nominate.
No mention of Guantanamo. No denunciation of extrajudicial killings of American citizens abroad. No drone strikes. No, America has been doing it right, we’re just not adamant enough about our rightness. On NSA spying whistleblower Edward Snowden, Hillary has called for his prosecution.
As far as standing up to business corruption, Hillary Clinton IS business corruption. From the Arkansas legislature to the White House to New York, Hillary Clinton has left a trail of backroom deals, shady businessmen, and crony capitalism in her wake.
These young, liberal voters may not all know about Hillary Clinton’s frankly establishment Republican stances on foreign policy and spying and collusion between business and government. But a candidate like Rand Paul could help bring these deficiencies to light. Rand Paul has stood up to President Obama about NSA overreach, extrajudicial killings, punishing whistleblowers, staying out of foreign conflicts and crony capitalism. Rand Paul would be able to, if not woo these young liberals, at least show them that they should stay home for Hillary.
Either way, it should be the goal of the Republican noise machine from now until Election Day to show the lefty young uns that Hillary Clinton is NOT one of them.
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