My Not So Ridiculous Reason For Voting For Hillary Clinton

During the DNC, Sarah Silverman told the Bernie or Bust folks, "you're being ridiculous."   That is not how one wins people over, assuming they can be won over to begin with.

That remark, coupled  with remarks made by the sorest winners I've ever encountered, have caused me to think, "Oh the hell with it.  Let them vote for Hillary Clinton."  I was thinking that, for the first time in my adult life I would not vote for president.  Only down ticket.  I rationalized further that since I live in Illinois that it doesn't matter whether or not I vote for Hillary Clinton.

After hearing Khizr Khan's speech I started to rethink my attitude. But what really caused me to shift was this article sent to me by my eldest brother about the fate of Lithuanian Jews during World War II.  

I started to think about why my grandparents came here. They came here because they had witnessed pogroms.  They came here, as did all immigrants, in hopes of a better life for their children and their children's children.

My Grandma S, my mother's mother, never forgave herself for leaving her father behind because he ended up starving to death.  She really had no choice.  During World War I, she had to hide from hungry German soldiers who went from house to house looking for food.  And so she left on an arduous journey that would take her from her beloved Vilna to Amsterdam where she boarded a ship that took her to a port in Canada. From there she wended her way to East Texas where Tante, as she was known, had settled with her family.

My Grandpa S, my mother's father, joined his brothers in Chicago.  Their sister went down to Texas and that is where she met my Grandma S's older brother.  My grandpa went down for the wedding, and that is how he met my grandma.

For many years I thought that my great aunt, Anna, was my grandpa's only sister. Then, in 2001, after my uncle (my mother's brother) and my aunt returned from Lithuania and Belarus, I found out that my grandpa had had another  sister, my great aunt Rachel who had stayed behind.  After they visited my grandpa S's shtetl, which is now part of Belarus, they took a trip to Ponar, the mass murder and burial site mentioned in the Newsweek article.  They said Kaddish for my great aunt Rachel and her family. This is the grave site.

That is when it began to sink in as to why I should vote for Hillary Clinton.  And, because his own father came here to escape certain death, perhaps is part of the reason why Bernie Sanders has been urging us diehard supporters to do so.

From the Wikipedia page about Bernie Sanders:

Sanders became interested in politics at an early age: "A guy named Adolf Hitler won an election in 1932. He won an election, and 50 million people died as a result of that election in World War II, including 6 million Jews. So what I learned as a little kid is that politics is, in fact, very important."[25][26][27][nb 1]

Back in February when I traveled from my neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side to a Bernie Sanders rally at Chicago State University, a friend of mine, who is of Hispanic origin and no stranger to the streets, expressed concern for my safety.  When I took the Red Line on the way home, I started out in a predominantly black neighborhood.  I wasn't the least bit concerned about traveling on an el train very late at night because I was surrounded by Bernie supporters.  It was only when three young white men boarded at 35th Street (Bridgeport), that I had to keep from jumping out of my seat.  All I could think of was that they were of Lithuanian descent and, if they knew I was Jewish, they'd want to harm me.  It may seem silly, but when I am surrounded by men of Eastern European descent, I get scared.

I think about my great aunt, Rita, who, as a young dentist, was conscripted  by the German army during WWI  to take care of their soldiers. I think about how she and her husband hid out in the Parisian countryside during World War II. I think about the bureaucrat who told my great uncle not to sign up for rations, and probably saved their lives. All the Jews who signed up were rounded up.  I think about the letter my grandma received, written in several different languages, talking about how she and Sasha came out of hiding after the war.  I think about how all I have to remember her by is a grave in New Jersey, because, after surviving that horror, she died in a hotel fire in New York.

I think about how my father's mother left behind sisters back in the Ukraine.  I wonder how many of them either perished in the concentration camps or were murdered and buried in mass graves just like my great aunt Rachel.

I think about our Kid Q, who has studied about the Holocaust.  I have told her a bit about my family history.  She knows that we have lost people.  During the Republican convention, she asked my husband and me if we would have to move if Trump becomes president.  My husband said no, but I am not so sure.

When I think about all of the hate rhetoric directed at Muslims, I am reminded of that quote:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I read a remark on a Facebook page about how four years of Trump won't be so bad.  For folks like that, I invite them to read about Martin Niemöller to whom the above poem is attributed.  By his own admission to Leo Stein, he originally supported the Nazi party and welcomed Hitler:

I find myself wondering about that too. I wonder about it as much as I regret it. Still, it is true that Hitler betrayed me. I had an audience with him, as a representative of the Protestant Church, shortly before he became Chancellor, in 1932. Hitler promised me on his word of honor, to protect the Church, and not to issue any anti-Church laws. He also agreed not to allow pogroms against the Jews, assuring me as follows: "There will be restrictions against the Jews, but there will be no ghettos, no pogroms, in Germany."

I really believed, given the widespread anti-Semitism in Germany, at that time—that Jews should avoid aspiring to Government positions or seats in the Reichstag. There were many Jews, especially among the Zionists, who took a similar stand. Hitler's assurance satisfied me at the time. On the other hand, I hated the growing atheistic movement, which was fostered and promoted by the Social Democrats and the Communists. Their hostility toward the Church made me pin my hopes on Hitler for a while.

I am paying for that mistake now; and not me alone, but thousands of other persons like me.

My ancestors did not endure conditions in steerage just to see the United States of America become like Eastern Europe had been and continues to be.  Perhaps I am being overly cautious, but people who claim that what happened in Germany cannot possibly happen here are in denial about human nature.  When a presidential candidate talks about "Second Amendment people," it is time to think about ensuring that that person doesn't get elected.  For people who claim, from a progressively purist standpoint, that Hillary Clinton isn't good enough, let me remind you that "perfect is the enemy of the good."  Sometimes we need to settle for good enough.  Now is one of those times.

Your vote is your voice. Now more than ever.  If the Bernie or Bust folks view me as a sell out, so be it.  I am a romantic and idealist at heart, but I have a layer of pragmatism over that.  Survival trumps idealism.  I will vote for Hillary Clinton because my ancestors left an oppressive situation in Eastern Europe.  Those who chose to stay, like my great aunt, Rachel, have only a grave marker to remind people of their existence.  I want to leave more of a mark than that.  Not only do I owe it to my ancestors, but I owe it to my daughters to set certain feelings aside and do the right thing. And that is casting my vote for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

An Open Letter To Senator Bernie Sanders

Dear Senator Sanders,

I have always admired you for standing up for progressive values.  When you announced your candidacy, I was thrilled.  Finally, a landsman running for President.  Not only are you my fellow Litvak, but, like you, I am married to an Irish Catholic.  Shouldn't surprise you to know that I also talk with my hands.

Both you and your worthy opponent, Secretary Clinton, have talked about plans for higher education. Near as I can tell, there's not much that separates the two of you in regards to alleviating student loan debt and calling for free college.

What neither you nor Secretary Clinton have addressed in any detail is how to solve what is known as the school to prison pipeline.  Secretary Clinton recently made a remark, which I consider flippant and business as usual, about closing low performing schools. What I'd like to know from you is how can schools in poor, usually urban, neighborhoods ever turn around if they are automatically put on the chopping block?  Secretary Clinton's remark makes me wary, because both Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as President Obama are connected to the mayor of my beloved city of Chicago.  As you are undoubtedly aware, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has closed schools in poor neighborhoods.  He has also taken away aides and services for Special Ed kids, and given that both our daughters are Special Ed kids, I do take this personally.  Granted, this began before Rahm Emanuel became mayor, but he has  taken these budget cuts to extremes.

I want to remind you that these are Democrats who are talking about replacing public schools with charter schools.  These are Democrats who have rewarded donors by having charter schools named after them.  These are Democrats who, under the so called guise of education reform, who have closed public schools and replaced them with charter schools which can pick and choose who attends and who doesn't.  There are, unfortunately, many ill informed voters who go along with this.  Either they don't understand the ramifications of these policies or they are indifferent to them. It especially doesn't help that a lot of people have a built in prejudice against Special Ed kids.  They take a NIMBY (not in my backyard) approach to Special Ed kids attending schools in their neighborhoods.   

It's unfortunate that is advocating for our Kid O, who is severely disabled and cannot speak, I have to fight attitudes about whether or not she is ultimately going to be a productive member of society.  Why waste resources on her and other Special Ed students?  This lack of resources is further compounded by kids who happen to have been born of color and living in impoverished neighborhoods. Whatever we have experienced in terms of indifference, their parents experience perhaps tenfold or even higher.  It is difficult for me to gauge.  I do know that some parents of gifted children have expressed resentment at me even asking for civil rights on behalf of my daughters, let alone resources. 

My feeling is that children deserve resources regardless of how wealthy their parents are.  They deserve opportunities beyond the purely menial or vocational.  All children, as well as their parents, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.  And, regardless of circumstances, not be treated as charity cases or objects of pity. 

Advocating for our daughters, whom I refer to as Kid O and Kid Q, is my passion, but I intend to advocate on behalf of many working class families, educated or not, of color or not, Special Ed kids or General Ed kids.  And to that end, Senator Sanders, I want you to do something for me.

I want you to help me prove George Carlin wrong. George Carlin tells us to not try to change education because, "they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking." Carlin concludes: "It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."

I want you to help me not only prove that it is possible for us to achieve  what I call education equality, that is, resources for all students regardless of race or economic means within a given community, but also to convince educators on all levels from pre-K through higher education why they should vote for you, despite the fact that the main union, the American Federation of Teachers has endorsed Hillary Clinton. 

My request to you is to come up with and speak about a comprehensive education plan that is more than the buzzwords and of greater substance than so called education reform. My request for you is to expand your message of economic equality to include social justice and civil rights for all students regardless of circumstances.  My request for you is to expand your message of economic justice to include opportunities for children like mine, who are at risk for not receiving educational and occupational opportunities simply because they are deemed not as worthwhile. 

While I appreciate that you are in favor of funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), this simply does not go far enough. Not does simply establishing vocational education programs.  My beloved Kid O has been deprived of resources by an indifferent bureaucracy, and so have others like her.  She deserves something beyond no, no, no, no, no.  And there are too many kids who have been denied a chance to shine. There are too many kids who are hampered by poverty. And it is time to change that.  For all of them. Not just the children of an entitled few.  

Perhaps someone on your staff noticed me tweeting at both you and Secretary Clinton using the hashtag #weirded.  That chat is moderated by Doug Robertson, aka The Weird Teacher.  It is an open ended and very creative chat about education.  That chat inspired me to write to you.  

I would hope that either you or someone on your staff would read his blog, He's the Weird Teacher   http://hestheweirdteacher.blogspot.com, as well as the blogs of other educators I admire.  Several blogs are particularly important.  Naturally you should read Diane Ravitch's blog,  Ira Socol, who is a passionate writer about education, especially Special Education, and blogs at Speed Change  I would also urge you to read the Klonsky brothers, Fred and Mike and EduShyster

I would urge you and your staff to follow many educators on Twitter too numerous to mention. Through them you would learn about their passion for community as well as for education.

I have been through so much, Senator Sanders.  Three times I have been through the Department of Children and Family Services ringer.  I had to cash out my IRAs and pension to save our house.  I have been through cancer treatment.  I want to be able to vote for a candidate who will see to it that children all get what they need and deserve.  I want you to truly champion on behalf of all of these children.  I want you to provide a message to other voters, especially the educators I converse with on Twitter.  Before it's too late. 

Some wait for Superman, Senator Sanders.  Me, I wait for Hannibal Smith.  I am hoping that you will fill that role.  Like Hannibal Smith, I love it when a good plan comes together.  More to the point, I love it when someone like you expresses progressive values such as fairness and equality on behalf of many of us who feel like we don't have a voice.  Parents need you. Educators need you.  And, most of all, our children need you to advocate for them.  

Thank you.

Debra S. Gleason (Irish by marriage, Jew by birth, atheist by circumstances, and passionate warrior for all underdogs.)