Do you Feel the Bern, or are you Ready for

Hillary?
By: Jane Yang

If you were to ask me this question, my answer would be I have no

clue. How does one compare and contrast two drastically different people?
On the one hand, Bernie Sanders is the outspoken liberal-bordering-on-
socialist candidate who reflects my ideals perfectly; and on the other hand,
Hillary Clinton is the powerful, passionate, and successful woman that I have
always wanted to see as a president. So what are the pros and cons of the
two candidates? How will he or she win the presidency? And, even more
importantly, what would be his or her downfall?
First, we start with Bernie Sanders. Currently a senator of Vermont,
Sanders is known as a Democratic socialist whose priorities include
addressing and solving the economic challenges in America (i.e. stagnant
wages, declining unionism, and college debt) (nytimes.com). He is also
popular for his fight against big money in politics, and is especially critical
of the Supreme Courts decision in the Citizens United case (recap: SCOTUS
decided it was okay for corporations to spend as much as they want to
convince people to vote for or against a candidate on the grounds that they
are an association of individuals and therefore protected by the First
Amendment (publicintegrity.org)). He is also a fighter for basically all forms
of rights, equality, and justice in the world: racial justice, womens rights,
LGBTQ equality, veterans rights, immigrants rights, etc.
(berniesanders.com).
With all of these beautifully progressive ideals, why wouldnt one vote
for Sanders? Well the answer is in the question itself: Sanders is just too
damn liberal for the rest of America. It always pains me to admit that there
are parts of America that are opposed to gay marriage, that allow the color
of ones skin to determine their capabilities, that believe that women are
inferior to men, etc., that are simply dying to destroy Sanders campaign. But
even within the Democratic Party, there are more moderate/centrist voters
who may find Sanders too radical for their taste. Thus, many Democrats
have their reservations when it comes to Sanders, for they worry that if he
were to win the Democratic primary, many of the centrist-bordering-on-
Republican Democrats may indeed cross that border for the general election.
Now onto Hillary Clinton. Formerly known as Secretary of State for
President Obamas first administration, a Senator of New York, and, of
course, a former First Lady, Hillary Clinton has the campaign weapon of
experience under her belt. Many of her priorities include fighting the
income inequality, boosting the middle class, and promoting womens rights
(nytimes.com). In fact, one of her most famous speeches was given at the
United Nations Fourth Conference on Women, in which she proudly declared
that human rights are womens rights and womens rights are human rights
once and for all (americanrhetoric.com). There is no question that Hillary is
a fierce and passionate candidate who refuses to let gender inequality get
the best of herand as a woman myself, I find that extremely empowering.
However, like most Democrats, I too have my doubts about Clinton. For
one, her recent email scandal has led many to question her ability to be
professional; after all, our future president cannot be mixing personal
matters with national (and even international) issues. Furthermore, Clintons
campaign so far has been primarily financed by corporate donations (or
basically everything Sanders is against). On top of that, Clinton is currently
struggling to win the support of white-working class men (who have
increasingly shifted towards the Republican party) and the support of young
people (nytimes.com). True, Clinton is motivating and inspirational, but those
qualities can only take one so far. If Clinton plans on winning the Democratic
nomination and then the presidency, then she also needs to prove that she is
consistent in her ideals, dedicated to her constituents, and not another
byproduct of corrupt politics.
Both Democratic candidates clearly have their strengths and
(unfortunately) weaknessesbut at the end of the day, only one of them can
be the Democratic nominee (assuming that Lincoln Chafee, Lawrence Lessig,
Martin OMalley, and Jim Webb all lose the primary). So who should the
Democratic party nominate as their next presidential candidate? Honestly, I
still do not have an answerand I do not know if I ever will. But I hope that
after reading this post, you, my reader, will feel prepared to make an
educated vote in the primary, like the dedicated Democrat you are.