Bernie Sanders Supporters Should Not Support Hillary Clinton if He Loses the Democratic Nomination

Before I begin my connections, I will reiterate, that this debate is about whether Sanders supporters should support Hillary Clinton or Jill Stein in the General election, if Sanders is not the Democratic Nominee Contention 1: Issues Differences Significant differences exist between Sanders and Clinton and these differences should disqualify Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee. Subpoint A: Campaign Finance Bernie Sanders is a hard line opponent of Citizens United, having proposed and supported several resolutions to amend the constitution to abolish corporate personhood and overturn the ruling, and he has refused support from corporations. He has even refused SuperPAC money from unions. His integrity and his actions indicate his consistency and reliability on the issue. Hillary Clinton has said she would consider a 28th Amendment to overturn Citizens United, however she has said that the best things to do would include better transparency and limits on secret donations. Clinton has also received major donations from corporations including wall street banks and has accepted superPAC money, and thus has put her commitment to overturning Citizens United in doubt. https://berniesanders.com... https://www.hillaryclinton.com... http://www.theguardian.com... Subpoint B: Wall Street Reform While Clinton’s recent statements make her seem very pro-wall street reform, her record says otherwise. Clinton's top donors include Citibank and Goldman Sachs, and this is in large part thanks to her very friendly attitude towards these banks, some of which have referred to her as having “Goldman Handcuffs”. Clinton is opposed to restoring the Glass Steal Act. Sanders advocates a financial transactions tax on all wall street transactions, while Clinton only advocates this on high frequency trades and at a lower rate. Economist and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has also stated that Sanders’s plan for Wall Street is a much better plan than Clinton’s. http://thinkprogress.org... http://www.alternet.org... http://www.huffingtonpost.com... https://berniesanders.com... https://www.hillaryclinton.com... Subpoint C: Trade Sanders is an avowed opponent of free trade, having vigorously opposed every free trade agreement proposed in congress. Clinton has been very trade friendly up until recently, when she flip-flopped on the Trans Pacific Partnership. Clinton advocated for NAFTA as first lady and in 2008 she stated she would not support withdrawal from NAFTA. As a Senator, she voted for the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the US-Chile Free Trade Agreement, the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement and the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and as secretary of state she pushed for the US-Columbia Free Trade Agreement and helped negotiate the TPP, going as far as calling it the “Gold Standard” in trade deals, and pushed for it on numerous occasions. While she now claims to be against TPP, her previous actions make this claim seem dubious at best, and therefore unreliable. https://www.govtrack.us... https://www.govtrack.us... http://www.npr.org... http://www.cnn.com... http://www.politifact.com... http://www.theguardian.com... Subpoint D: Health care Clinton supports slight reforms to the Affordable Care Act, including better regulation of prices on pharmaceuticals. Bernie Sanders is an advocate of a single payer, Medicare for all health care system. He is of the opinion that health care is a human right and wants to expand medical coverage to all citizens. Clinton has been extremely critical of Sanders’s plans, and thus showing a clear difference on the issue. http://www.salon.com... http://www.usnews.com... http://theweek.com... https://berniesanders.com... https://www.hillaryclinton.com... Subpoint E: Minimum Wage Both candidates advocate raising the minimum wage, however Sanders support making the minimum wage a living wage of $15 an hour, while Hillary Clinton wants to increase it to $12 an hour, and has never endorsed a $15 an hour minimum wage. https://www.hillaryclinton.com... http://www.msnbc.com... https://berniesanders.com... I shall elaborate further on the differences between the candidates in the areas of Immigration, Climate Change, Criminal Justice, College Cost, Israel-Palestine and Social Security in the next round. Contention 2: Sanders has more in common with Stein than Clinton Sanders has more in common with Green Party presumptive nominee Jill Stein, than he does with Hilary Clinton. Stein, like Sanders supports overturning Citizens United, establishing Single Payer health care, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, breaking up the big banks, making college tuition free, banning privatized prisons, legalizing marijuana, restoring Glass Steagall, expanding social security, promoting workplace democracy, and are opposed to all Free Trade deals. There are however differences and Stein advocates more aggressively progressive policies including nationalizing the federal reserve, using quantitative easing to abolish student loan debt, and instituting a “Green New Deal” to convert the US to 100% renewable energy by 2030. Stein also disagrees with both candidates on foreign policy. While Sanders advocates a less aggressive foreign policy than Clinton does, Stein advocates a non violent foreign policy and an end to US imperialism and foreign interventions. http://www.jill2016.com... https://www.slantnews.com... http://thinkprogress.org... Contention 3: Lesser of Two Evils Solves Nothing A common argument against voting third party candidates is that because these candidates are unlikely to win, it is better to settle for a lesser evil. However in voting for a lesser evil, you are voting against your values and the policies you support. A vote is a voice and it is a way of expressing discontent with the status quo, or support for particular policies. If you vote for a lesser evil, you are voting for the status quo. The fact is that a lesser evil is still just that, evil. You should not have to choose between Hannibal Lector and Darth Vader, when Batman is still an option. The only way to bring about change is to first change the way the debate is framed. Right now, the debate is framed as being between Democrats and Republicans, a false dichotomy. In order to change the debate, we must break outside the two party system. https://www.classicalconversations.com... http://ivn.us...