Politics Matters

Behold the latest stupidity:

“Women are just apoplectic about the sexism that has come out in course of the campaign,” said Cynthia Ruccia, spokeswoman for Clinton Supporters Count Too, a women’s group threatening to boycott the election and abandon the Democratic Party.

While Ruccia and members of her group, made up of women from Ohio, Pennsylvania and other swing states, believe Clinton remains very much in the race, they are preparing for an Obama nomination.

“If Hillary Clinton is not the nominee, we will not support the nominee,” she said.

[Emphasis Added]

This is the ultimate cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face. If you’re a Clinton supporter, in all likelihood you’re a Democrat and a progressive—staying home and helping John McCain become President is neither Democratic nor progressive.

How could you call yourself a Hillary Clinton supporter but then turn around and say you’re willing to hurt the very party, the very political movement, that Hillary Clinton herself helped build? As Hillary herself has said, it’s not about her—it’s about the people of this great country. So why are you treating this like it’s all about one person?

Identity politics sucks because it boils politicians down to their component parts—race, gender, religion, etc. It strips away ideology, beliefs, policies; it removes what they’ve said, what they’ve done, what they’ve accomplished, and sticks them into narrow little boxes. If we Democrats only ever voted for people from our own little groups, we would never elect any Democrats and Republicans would be a permanent majority.

Politics isn’t a game. Politics matters It’s not about scoring points for your group or your team. Nobody’s keeping score. Who you vote for matters–I thought 2000 taught us that lesson. I’m sorry, but the choice this fall won’t be between Clinton and McCain.  It will, however, be between Obama and McCain. Democrat and Republican. Progressive and Conservative. The future and the past. There is no way you can be a Democrat and not acknowledge, deep down, that one of those candidates would be far better than the other. No way.

Yet you’re intent on hurting the Democratic candidate and the Democratic Party. But if the Democratic Party is hurt, you know who else is hurt? Democratic women. If Republicanism becomes dominant again then no progressive woman will get elected President. The more popular the Democratic Party is, the more likely it is that we’ll get a progressive woman President. Does it make sense to do something spiteful on behalf of one Democratic woman if it means hurting all other Democratic women?

You have the right to vote—or not vote—however you want. But remember, politics matters. You will have to bear responsibility for your choices. If McCain gets elected President, if he takes away a woman’s right to choose, if he gets more of our brave soldiers killed in unnecessary wars, if he further destroys our economy and puts more Americans in poverty, then all of that will belong to you.

Choose wisely. The fate of your nation depends on it.