Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running on a platform based on continuing the agenda of President Barack Obama and the considerable progress he has made. I voted for Obama. I support and defend his accomplishments and continue to believe they are a step in the right direction.
What I don’t believe in is a prescription from the establishment wing of theDemocratic Party that a platform striving to reach beyond incremental success, toward even more liberal end-goals, is simply “puppies and rainbows.” This type of rhetoric is disingenuous to the idealism of the Democratic Party I know.
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ platform might not have the support of technocrats, but it shares a vision that aims to reframe the Democratic ideology — pushing the liberal agenda further — and aligns with the aspirations I hold for my country’s future.
As writer Steve Randy Waldman so aptly puts, “A democracy is not a graduate seminar. … The role of the democratic process is to adjudicate interests and values. Wonks get a vote just like everyone else, but expertise ontechnocratic matters ought not translate to any deference on interests and values.”
The Democratic Party, going forward, appears increasingly focused on politicians and policy proposals that restrict the imagination to what is feasible in the current political system we inhabit. With a seemingly immoveable party of obstructionists on the opposite end, I understand Democrats’ interests in illustrating pragmatism. But this should not come at the expense of inspirational thinking.
Sanders’ platform is more representative of the values and interests I want to see in the Democratic Party. Clinton also represents many of those values, and I will vote for her over any candidate the GOP offers. But for the sake of the Democratic Party I want to see, I am currently supporting Sanders for president.
Jordan Wilhelmi
University alumnus
