Hating On Hillary and the Establishment

I actually saw this at a Democratic event last week.

I get it- nobody wants to be "in the bag" for the man. We all want to say we're "fighting the power" and whatever other nonsense we spew about our political independence. I get it- we all hate the establishment. This year, this anti-establishment feeling is manifesting itself on the left in the campaign of a man who has been in Congress for a quarter century, and public office for north of thirty years.

Hillary Clinton in 2008, and still today, has been viewed as the establishment. People my age (32) and younger seem to view her as "mom and dad's Democrats," and of course view that in a very negative light too. Never mind all the ground-breaking things about her, she's old school. She's corporate, she's a hawk, she's this, she's that- she's just not cutting edge enough, they tell you. Never mind that she's running for President, and would be the first woman to win that office, and already is the woman who has come closest. Never mind what a controversial First Lady she was, when she was working on policy matters, instead of "baking cookies." Never mind that the actual hawks and corporatists in the Republican Party absolutely hate her guts. Never mind any of that. Hillary Clinton is some sort of quasi-Republican to my generation, the embodiment of our parents generation. I mean, she's not calling for the over-throw of our political system, she didn't always support marriage equality, and she voted for the Iraq War (as did John Kerry, Joe Biden, and almost every other significant national security figure in the Democratic Party, but whatever). Clearly, she's the leader our corporate masters and the lizard people want- just ask most of my fellow millennials.

Let me just give you a little different perspective on the establishment and Hillary Clinton for a moment. I know the campaign is going a different direction with their talking points right now, but let me be honest with you, Hillary Clinton is 110% part of the establishment. Hillary defines establishment. You can't be the Secretary of State, a First Lady of the United States, or a U.S. Senator and not have some part in the establishment, unless of course you're not all that good at any of these jobs. You certainly can't be a successful President and not be "establishment." You see, despite all the dirty definitions of "establishment" that you'll read out there, the truth is that the establishment is where things happen. Being establishment means you've entered the system with a mind for getting something done, you want to solve problems. Admittedly, you may not always get to the most pure, most perfect solutions. Indeed, you may even find yourself talking to defense contractors, big PHARMA lobbyists, drug companies, and even a few Wall Street banks- you know, people that are major players in our economy. You might realize along the way that while you should have a somewhat antagonistic view of their objectives, their ultimate destruction and removal from the equation of American life isn't that good. Does this mean you should give them everything they want? Of course not, and they will tell you that Hillary Clinton has not. Does this mean you have to accept that you're not a true rebel anymore, and that you have to work with people you don't necessarily like? Yes. It feels a lot better to be a protestor at a rally, saying how you hate pharmaceutical companies, how you hate the military industrial complex, or how you hate big banks- but that doesn't get anything done. If you actually want to make progress, you unfortunately have to engage the people in the field you're trying to make progress in.

Unfortunately, you accept a level of criticism for being in the establishment. The "establishment" that is imagined out there is a dirty word. They are the people who say no to the hopes and aspirations of the activists, they are the people who bring back 60% of a loaf of bread on big legislation, rather than the whole loaf you want. They are Barack Obama taking the ACA deal he could pass into law, leaving the activists on the left angry that he didn't get them a "public option." They have to go to bed at night and remind themselves that they helped a lot of people by getting to a deal they could actually do, even if it disappointed people. It's a tough job, but thankfully someone has to do it.

I don't necessarily respect the "establishment" more than the "grassroots," both have a role in our political system. I get that they have a natural tension between them too. That's life. I just have an appreciation for the establishment folks and the art of reality that many don't seem to have. I think more of us should consider how things actually work.