As Katydid commented when I posted John Oliver’s video on farm workers, child labor isn’t exactly new in the United States. That said, there seems to be a coordinated effort to roll back child labor protections across multiple states, at the same time as we’re seeing corporate child labor violations across multiple states. We were very, very far from perfect before, but now the US seems to be moving rapidly in the wrong direction on this, as the crew at Left Reckoning discuss:
Going backwards and ever worse fast..
FFS.
Expected so much better.. Know there are so many good and smart people there. Americans What the Fk?
You’re better than this.
The Segregationists lost their fight, but they never went away. Biden was born before WW2, remember, and he’s not the only powerful old person who’s stuck in the past.
And the same is true for those whose parents wanted to overthrow Roosevelt in 1933, and whose families have been working ever since to bring back the Gilded Age.
The people pushing these horrible ideas–that women are not people, that children should do filthy and dangerous work–those people have always walked among us. What happened was in 2016 enough purity pearl-clutchers and misogynists allowed Trump to be elected even though he didn’t have the greatest number of votes. And Trump gave the deplorables the freedom to say the horrible things out loud, and to act on them.
Trump is a symptom of a larger problem, not the cause.
And Clinton played the biggest role in her own defeat, following the anti-democratic structure of the US electoral system.
Well, you and I disagree, unless you feel that being the best possible candidate at the right time was playing a role in her own defeat. Please explain what you mean by “following the anti-democratic structure of the US electoral system”? That part is not at all clear.
In any case, the misogynists, BernieBois, and MAGATS (groups that overlap much more than you’d think), cost the country in so many ways.
NPR had a great interview about child labor; it’s been part of America since America began. Part of the population really wants to exploit the powerless–Trump included. You know who worked tirelessly to advocate for children? Hillary Clinton.
Clinton got more votes, but she didn’t win. You think that has something to do with the electoral system, or are you going to blame “berniebois” for it, whatever those are?
And I disagree with your assessment of her quality as a candidate. In many ways, I think she was the worst possible choice, and made some serious unforced errors, like not bothering to campaign in Michigan.
Misogyny absolutely played a role, but I’ll say again – she won the popular vote, despite her pre-existing unpopularity (much of which came from decades of misogynistic right-wing conspiracy-mongering), and despite the bad political decisions she made during the campaign, including elevating Trump during the primary.
She would have been a better option than Trump, obviously, which is why I supported her in the general, just like every other Sanders supporter I know, and just like Sanders himself.
And maybe Clinton has advocated for children in the US, other than the ones she called “superpredators” in the 90s, but her foreign policy record indicates that that concern is pretty limited.
Agreed, she got the popular vote and was predicted at 90% to win before Comey pulled out the October Surprise. But she still could have won except for the thinnest margin of votes, and more on that below.
Per Business Insider (a 2-second Google): She also noted that in Michigan, she had about 140 more staffers on the ground than Obama in 2012, spent 166% more on TV ads, and made seven visits during the general election campaign.
From the National Archives (the first Google hit): She chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and served on the boards of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Legal Services, and the Children’s Defense Fund. As the nation’s First Lady, Hillary continued to balance public service with private life.
From The American Independent: Oct 22, 2016 — Clinton is the rare political leader who views children as rights-bearing citizens with a unique set of needs.
Here’s something from The Children’s Defense Fund (and what would they possibly know about children, huh?): Sep 13, 2016 — At the event, CDF will honor Children’s Defense Fund Alumna Hillary Rodham Clinton for her dedication and contributions to child advocacy …
I was around back when Bill Clinton ran in 1991 through the election in 1992. Hillary Clinton had been a lawyer with a substantive record–despite what you might think–and the right-wing lost their petty little minds that there was an educated, professional woman as first lady. The attacks never stopped, and I’m sad you’re echoing them.
As for the Berniebros; here’s a cookie for you for not voting in Trump, I guess…but go to any number of archived fora from that time, and they held hands with the rightwing lunatics and were just downright nasty and vicious about Hillary Clinton. And utterly petulant like toddlers with poop-filled diapers at the very idea that the non-Democrat didn’t get enough votes to run on the Democratic ticket.
Here’s what Bernie himself had to say, per NBC News: Bernie Sanders on Some Supporters Not Voting for Clinton: ‘No Kidding!’
Sen. Bernie Sanders chalked up the fact that some of his supporters during 2016’s Democratic primary eventually voted for Trump to “the nature of politics.”
And from The Atlantic: May 5, 2016 — Meet the Bernie Sanders supporters who say they won’t switch allegiances, no matter what happens in the general election.
And Politico: Apr 6, 2016 — One out of every four Bernie Sanders supporters said they will not support Hillary Clinton in the general election if she is the Democratic candidate
And NPR: Aug 24, 2017 — Yes, Bernie Sanders supporters who voted for President Trump could have cost Hillary Clinton the election
You get the picture, don’t you?
Sanders had support from people who don’t normally support Dems, and yeah, some of them didn’t support Clinton, because she didn’t have the same policies or rhetoric. Supporters don’t “belong” to any candidate. That’s not some condemnation of Sanders supporters, just a lack of understanding of who some of them were, or why they supported him.
And I ran into plenty of people this past primary cycle who openly said they’d vote for Trump over Sanders, if he won the primary. There are petulant people on all sides.
This does not seem to be a constructive conversation.
Sanders had support from non-Dems…because he was not a Dem. But it wasn’t as much as you’d think, and they were very, very clear they’d rather burn the world down around them by voting for Trump.
If we’re throwing in hearsay, I met exactly nobody who said they’d vote for Trump over Sanders…because Sanders was not even close to getting the nomination.
I agree; I’m disappointed. While you seem to know a lot about a lot of things, when it comes to Hillary Clinton, you repeat the same lies I debunked above with about a minute of googling to make sure I got my facts straight. I am sad when the evidence was presented, you didn’t acknowledge it, but instead doubled down.
As for St. Bernie Who Will Save the World by Legalizing Pot so His Followers Can Get Stoned All Day, Every Day, you seem to fall in with the same people who melted down like a nuclear reactor when their lord and master didn’t win the Democratic nomination (likely because he was not a Democrat and he didn’t have a robust record of getting things done).
K do you even read this blog? Is it that hard for you to understand that I might have preferred Sanders because of policies other than cannabis legalization? Did I ever even mention that when talking about them?
It seems like you came here for the sole purpose of rehashing 2016, and frankly it doesn’t seem healthy.
Oh, and the “past primary cycle” I referred to was 2020, not 2016, and yes, Sanders was absolutely the frontrunner in the primary at the time.
Edit: Responding in more detail to your earlier comment –
I was misled on Michigan, so I’ll stop using that going forward.
On children, I didn’t say she’s been bad on children’s issues in the US, beyond, which you did not refute, her support for mass incarceration, and her “suprepredators” comments. Doing well in one area doesn’t negate doing badly in another, and visa versa.
And none of what you posted about that relates to her foreign policy record, and the damage that that has done to children, in other countries. I don’t consider her advocacy for children in the US to be proof that she would have been better on that issue than, say, Sanders. That last bit is only relevant because, as covered, I do not agree that she was the best candidate for that race.
On whether or not Sanders supporters are to blame, I will point again to the harm that you conceded re: the electoral college, and Comey’s October surprise. Was that what you meant by “purity pearl-clutchers”? Because it really seems like you just came on here to arbitrarily shit on Sanders supporters.