Harold Monteau: Democrats are giving the party to Wall Street

Tuesday, February 23, 2016  

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders campaigns in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 22, 2016. Photo from Bernie 2016

Harold Monteau, a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, explains why supports Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton:

I’m receiving a lot of criticism from some of my peers, especially Native women, for “bashing” Hillary. Facts are not bashing. Any candidate should be willing to answer to facts about their professional conduct and actions. Yes, I do support Bernie Saunders and I do hope he gets the nomination, but if he does not, I will vote for Hillary. She is definitely not my first choice and I certainly won’t be bullied into not sharing my opinion. I’m doing what every good Democrat should do, and that is to not follow the DNC blindly. And I certainly won’t vote for Hillary just because she is a woman. Yes, it would be a nice achievement and advancement for this country to be led by a woman, but I don’t think this is the time. This is the time to take our country and its government back from the billionaires and their Wall Street minions.

It is a fact that the Clintons have earned over $150 million in personal income from speaking fees and much of it from Wall Street and corporations. Perhaps some of it was paid to their foundation, but it certainly has put the Clintons in an elite income bracket.

It is a fact that Hillary, between the time she left the State Department and now, has been paid roughly $30 million in speaking fees from the Wall Street bankers and corporations and industry organizations. That is personal income. Not donations to her Super Pac. No one in their right mind is going to believe that “she can’t be bought” and that she can follow through to any great degree to fix Wall Street. She cannot bite the hand that feeds her and then expect their support for re-election. That is reality. Let’s be realistic on that account.

Get the Story:
Harold Monteau: The Party's Over: Good Democrats Don't Follow the DNC (Indian Country Today 2/23)

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