2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders: A higher loyalty
I urge my fellow St. Louisans to vote for Bernie Sanders in this weeks primary. I do so in spite of being deeply indebted to Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In January 2001, President Clinton granted me an unconditional pardon from a criminal conviction in 1981 in the St. Louis federal district court. I know that Hillary Clinton was instrumental in her husbands decision. I am an attorney who disgraced not only myself but my profession. I am an alcoholic. My recovery and return to respectability were capped by the honor President Clinton bestowed on me with his pardon.
Because of this great personal debt and my deep belief in loyalty, it may seem both curious and disloyal that I urge my fellow citizens to get behind Bernie Sanders. I do so because of my deep belief that Sen. Sanders is leading a political revolution that has the only real chance of restoring democracy to America.
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Our political system has been corrupted and perverted by the influence of money, especially the donor class. There is an old saying that he who has the gold rules. That is precisely where we are today. Unless and until we remove the big money influence from our political system, we will continue in the direction of a two-class society the haves and the have-nots. If that happens, America will come apart at the seams. The riots of the 60s and 70s will look like minor disturbances if the imbalances within our society remain and gain even more momentum.
The sad fact is that the Clintons are on the wrong side of this issue. They have become part of the Wall Street crowd. It is that group which nearly bankrupted our nation in 2008 with their greed. Hillary Clinton simply will not reform our broken economic system; she is part of it.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/bernie-sanders-a-higher-loyalty/article_ca6fa501-eead-5ed9-a9ef-8d6ec640834f.html
21st Century Poet
(254 posts)People are not indebted to their politicians. Politicians are indebted to their people. They are elected to serve and make the right decisions in the name of the people who elected them (and those who didn't, because a president is everyone's president). If a pardon was granted, it wasn't a personal favour but it was deemed to be the right thing to do at that time in that situation.
When you vote, do so freely and do it for America not as a way to pay back what you owe. You owe nothing, after all.
UglyGreed
(7,661 posts)it seems many here believe if we are thrown under the bus by our leaders we should not do the same to them. They owe us we don't owe them...