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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Like I said, I do not have time for a long, detailed post on this today. It would take me all day to outline my reasons that Sanders is a better feminist but, most of all, it is important to point out that you really can't separate gender from race and class. Feminists are about equality for all, and not just the equal rights of financially privileged women. For that reason, a living wage, single payer healthcare, childcare, maternity leave, equal pay are a very big deal for women. Economic fairness should not be downplayed and Clinton is simply not on the same level as Sanders on those issues. She is okay on some but not all of these issues and, if single mothers are not entitled to a living wage, they really don't stand a chance and neither do their children.

Sanders was a leading opponent of welfare reform, NAFTA and TPP. [b]I can't understand how any feminist could downplay the harm to women of those particular policies. [/b]

As far as where the two candidates stand on specific women's issues, they are pretty comparable. They are about the same on reproductive freedom and on childcare and I do not expect either one of them to flip flop on those issues.

I could say a lot of things about the reasons I do not believe Clinton is a real feminist and, if I were to get into that, we would have to discuss a lot of things which have already been discussed on this board. I am not going to do again that since you asked me about Sanders and the main thing about Sanders is that there is not much I can say about him and his record on women's issues that isn't positive. He is a self identified feminist who has shown us that he will always stand up for the rights of women. Clinton has shown us that she is perfectly willing to compromise. 
 
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Sanders supporters keep talking about this and welfare reform, but in truth, both of those things hurt men as well as women, and in some instances, arguably more. So that particular argument for Sanders as the better feminist sounds about as non-sensical as the anti-choice claim that since 50% of the fetuses killed by abortion are female, it necessarily follows that being pro-choice is antifeminist. Furthermore, Hillary wasn't in elected office at the time of any of those policies' creations.

And a rebuttal that argues my thoughts more cogently than I: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/more-than-just-a-symbol/476490/ Bernie's no anti-feminist, but it's just another issue for him. [/quote]

This is really twisted logic and shows a misunderstanding about feminism which has been promoted by the right wing and not by feminists. Just because an issue affects men does not mean it is not a feminist issue. [i]Everything[/i] affects men. [i]  I have no time to read your article but that is a completely erroneous statement. [/quote]

Well then, if welfare reform and TPP were feminist issues, so was Sierra Blanca. And the Brady Bill, and like someone said before, the Minute Men.

If child care and healthcare are important feminist issues, Hillary was a pioneer in health care reform and then she was instrumental in implementing healthcare for children. She was also very involved in Children's Defense Fund. I am not sure why that doesn't make her a "real"feminist. [/quote]

[b]Clinton's work for the Children's Defense Fund is not something to brag about since the founder and president of CDF has made clear that the Clintons are not "friends in politics."[/b] CDF strongly disagreed with Welfare reform and stated that Bill Clinton's signature on that bill made a "mockery of his pledge not to hurt children." While it is true that HRC was not an elected official at the time, she advocated very strongly for welfare reform.

I am not defending Sanders on Sierra Blanca, the Brady Bill, or the Minute Men. I have said before that he is not perfect but his record is much cleaner on women's issues than Clinton's. It would be very difficult to make the case that his policies have done significant harm to women and children like the Clintons have. His healthcare proposal is far better for women and children as are his economic policies. I have said before that I believe that Clinton is a feminist when it suits her politically.

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I'm a NP in this thread.

They said that in 2007. In 2013 CDF honored her at their 40th anniversary for her work in child advocacy. http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/cdf-in-the-news/press-releases/2013/honoring-hillary-clinton.html (that's on CDF's website - not an opinion piece). It doesn't appear that they are active in politics, or I can't find an endorsement anywhere. They may not have a political action arm in the same way planned parenthood does.

Bernie may have been consistent in his [b]voting record[/b] but his leadership skills are untested because he refuses to lead the charge on anything. I'm very concerned about what appears to be a complete unwillingness to compromise - because he can't just govern the progressive minority. He has to govern the entire country, and all of the people in it. If he thinks he's going to get anything done without compromising, well, we're going to end up in a 4 year stalemate where absolutely nothing gets done and no one benefits.

I also firmly believe that his "free college tuition" plan will cause the inequality gap to widen because it will make public colleges and universities very difficult to get into (so only top students will be able to get in), and will drive underrepresented and low SES students to private school (where they will graduate with high debt loads). I think the rising cost of college can be addressed in other, more effective, ways that don't exclude underrepresented and underserved populations from public schools.

His campaign conveniently ignores the root causes of the widening inequality gap which I see as (1) a lack of high quality childcare available to every working family (raising the federal minimum wage isn't going to make working class families capable of paying for high quality childcare here in DC), and (2) addressing the huge gaps in primary and secondary education in lower SES communities. Raising teacher salaries and improving services available to underserved and underrepresented students in primary and secondary schools - which is compulsory here in the US - would be a much better use of resources than giving tuition free college to the middle and upper middle class.

Bernie can have the most perfect voting record in the world - his leadership skills are untested and probably nonexistent. He has not shown an ability to take ideas and turn them into action. He has not shown an ability to get others on board with his ideas so that his brilliant plans can become reality. Without that, he's not qualified to be president because gaining an office is not the same as honing those skills. He will not be respected just because he was elected. He will still be that crazy guy from the Hill without any leadership skills.[/quote]

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