I Voted

I voted for Hillary Clinton over the weekend!

In down-ballot news, in previous elections I have often voted for Green Party candidates for state and local positions. Not this year. Democrats all the way.  I'll think long and hard about ever supporting Greens again, in fact.

I've been pretty clear about my disappointment with the way Jill Stein has been running her campaign. She's promoted many of the same "Crooked Hillary" talking points Donald Trump parrots, doesn't seem to understand the political realities on which our governmental system operates, and is too much of an anti-identity-politics Cool Girl to really make gender, and her gender specifically, an issue in her campaign.

I finally unfollowed her on Twitter when I saw that she Tweeted a screen shot of hacked/leaked Clinton campaign emails and using it against her. I won't re-post it here for what should be obvious reasons.

I will say that I'm deeply uncomfortable with the way that Clinton's non-public emails are so cavalierly shared, read, and promoted, even among progressives. For one, who among us would look stellar if our communications not meant for public consumption were shared for all to read? Have we all not expressed anger, impatience, or other strong emotions at some point? Has Saint Jill Stein always been a paragon of civility and progressivism in each and every one of her emails?  Is Gary Johnson even more ignorant in his communications?  Has Bernie Sanders ever been unkind?  And, well, if Donald Trump says what he says in public, can you i-m-a-g-i-n-e what he says in private?

In fairness, perhaps all candidates should release their own emails and those of their staffers.

Secondly, and related, those who have been part of the email-sharing bonanza would do well to remember that whatever tactics they condone for political purposes can and probably will one day be used against them, too, one day.