Why I support Hillary Clinton, and Love Bernie Sanders

When I was 19 years old, the Constitution was amended to allow 18 year olds the right to vote. The first opportunity I had to vote was in the Presidential election on 1972. I was young and idealistic and sick of the war in Vietnam. There was one candidate who offered a clear choice to end the war - George McGovern. Most of today's electorate are too young to have experienced the 1972 Presidential election the way I did. I had posters with sayings like, "What if there was a war, but no one showed up," and "Make love, not war."  Unbelievably, I was selected as a delegate to the 1972 Missouri Democratic election. What an experience!  It changed the trajectory of my life. Instead of pursuing education to become a psychologist, I changed my major to political science, which led me to law. As a lawyer, I have chosen to fight for civil rights. I learned so much from that election. And one thing I learned, from being an avid supporter of George McGovern is that candidates on the fringes or extremes of a party will lose in the general election. George McGovern lost every state except Massachusetts and President Richard Nixon, one of the worst presidents in history, was elected in a landslide.  If only Hubert Humphrey had publicly cut ties to President Lyndon Johnson sooner, this country might be a different place.

Bernie Sanders has a great idea. I support a political revolution. Wall Street is too powerful. The recession was a series of crimes committed by investment banks. And, yes, I believe it could happen again. The banking crisis politically is akin to the Vietnam War.  And, for the same reasons George McGovern lost in 1972, Bernie Sanders will lose if he is the Democratic nominee in 2016.

Bernie Sanders has one big idea - breaking up the banks, like McGovern's one big idea, which was ending the unpopular Vietnam war. Plus, I live in middle America. We are the Midwest, but more appropriately, we here in Kansas City are the Heart of America. I have many similarities to Bernie; I am descended from European Jews, even Polish Jews on my dad's side, and I am not very religious. I don't know if Bernie's supporters realize that in this day and age in middle America being a non-religious Jew, especially with a pronounced New York accent, is not a great selling point. There are many evangelicals in middle America and Bernie's views, spiritually and politically, differ greatly from theirs. I am more practical than my 19 year old self, I do not want another Nixon in the White House.

Plus, I like Hillary. I relate to her. In trial, jurors have commented on my clothing, jewelry and whether I "look" like a lawyer in ways the youngest or weirdest male lawyers have never known. Hillary is the most persistent person in the world. She has been the subject of public scorn since the 1992 presidential campaign of her husband. Her marital problems and personal life have been the subjects of public comment for decades. She has "cankles'', wears ugly pants suits, gained weight, is shrill, is phony, and everything she does is scandalized. She is 'bossy' and too loud. There is no other presidential candidate who, during my lifetime, has been subjected to such scorn. You can't tell me that this is anything but sexism. Yet, she never gives up.

I do not agree with everything Hillary does. I was saddened when she voted to attack Iraq. I wondered how she could stay married after her husband's dalliances became so public. I think she is overly hawkish at times and I disagree with her position on the death penalty. But that woman never gives up. She is an incredible role model for America's, and the world's, girls and young women.  We need a woman president. The world needs us to have a woman president. And she is smart, and savvy, and hard-working. We need Hillary Clinton. The Republican alternative is way too scary.