Planned Parenthood Action

Dear Friends,

Planned Parenthood Action has for the first time ever endorsed a candidate for President during the primaries (here).  The statement endorsing Hillary Clinton reads in part:

Our Nation’s Best Presidential Candidate for Reproductive Rights, Hands Down
There’s no question: Hillary Clinton holds the strongest record on reproductive rights of all presidential contenders in not just this election, but in American history. She doesn’t just support women’s health — she has been a proactive leader on expanding access to women’s health care. In fact, no other 2016 candidate has shown such strong, lifelong commitment to the issues Planned Parenthood Action Fund cares about.
We live in an era where access to birth control, abortion, and services at Planned Parenthood are under unprecedented attack. With so much at stake, we can’t afford to have a president who continues these attacks — or who won’t stand strong and fight against them, no matter what.

That statement is patently false, extremely misleading and unnecessarily divisive.  I will not question Hillary Clinton's commitment to women's rights, but I will certainly not concede that she "holds the strongest record on reproductive rights of all presidential contenders".  Bernie Sanders has been a long time and steadfast advocate not only for women's reproductive rights but also for all women's rights and for policies that will help all people and disproportionately women.  Planned Parenthood Action is intentionally overstating its case and inappropriately limiting its concern to reproductive rights.

Here is a comparison on just a few of the issues:

Clinton says that she will defend Planned Parenthood funding; Sanders says he will fight to increase Planned Parenthood funding.
Clinton is for a $12 minimum wage; Sanders is for a $15 minimum wage (25% more than Clinton).  Women would be disproportionately impacted by an increase in the minimum wage.
Clinton is for paid family leave but is vague on specifics; Sanders is for paid family leave and has published the specifics including a minimum of 12 weeks of paid leave.
Clinton is for debt free college education; Sanders is for free public college education.  There is nothing more pro-women than a great education.
Clinton is for incremental change to Obamacare; Sanders is for single payer health care.  Sanders' position would disproportionately help women.

I commend to you a couple of great articles.  One is a blog post on the Huffington Post (here) by Heather Gautney entitled "Why Bernie Sanders is Best on Women's Issues".  That post ends as follows:

In the end, it looks like the Senator from Vermont is outdoing the woman candidate on pro-woman policy. That shouldn't come as a surprise. A recent survey by the Ms. Foundation for Women found that "Women do not lead single-issue lives... birth control and abortion is impacted by income level, racial and cultural bias, gender discrimination and immigrant status."
Bernie has long-understood that women's struggles can't be compartmentalized into issue-silos. That's why he's long-eschewed counterfeit gestures of "gender diversity" -- in favor of genuine social equality.

A second post that I commend to you is by Adam Barnett on Left Foot Forward, entitled "Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton, is the real feminist candidate for US president" (here).

Not only was Planned Parenthood Action's statement endorsing Hillary Clinton false and misleading, it made matter worse when it  published a chart labeled "How Do Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Compare on Women's Health? (here).

Hillary Clinton	Bernie Sanders
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Clinton introduced eight pieces of legislation with the clear purpose of expanding and protecting women’s access to reproductive health care.	Sanders has consistently co-sponsored and voted for pro-women’s health legislation.
Clinton consistently co-sponsored and voted for pro-women’s health legislation.
GENDER PAY GAP
Clinton introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act in 2005, 2007, and 2009 to address the gender pay gap.	Sanders has co-sponsored and consistently voted for legislation aimed at addressing the gender pay gap.
Clinton consistently co-sponsored and voted for legislation aimed at addressing the gender pay gap.
BIRTH CONTROL
Clinton waged a multiyear effort​ — and even blocked the nomination of an FDA head with Sen. Patty Murray — to pass a breakthrough in birth control access: the law that made emergency contraception available over the counter.	Sanders has consistently co-sponsored and voted for legislation that expands access to birth control, family planning, and sex education.
Clinton helped launch the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which supports access to birth control, family planning, and sex education.
Clinton helped beat back a proposal to define birth control (including IUDs) as abortion, saving federal funds for certain medical providers.
Clinton has consistently co-sponsored and voted for legislation that expands access to birth control, family planning, and sex education.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Clinton boldly spoke out in support of Planned Parenthood — without prompting — at each of the first three Democratic debates, as well as dozens of times on the campaign trail.	Sanders did not mention Planned Parenthood during the first three Democratic debates, but has made supportive statements several times on the campaign trail.
INTERNATIONAL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACCESS
As senator, Clinton introduced the legislation to restore funding to the UN Population Fund. President Bush suspended funding for it, but as secretary of state Clinton helped lead the U.S. in overturning the Bush administration's policy.	Sanders voted for the legislation to restore funding to the UN Population Fund, which helps provide family planning, HIV, and maternal health care to millions of low-income people in developing countries around the world.
In an unprecedented move as secretary of state, Clinton launched the federal Office of Global Women's Issues, which aims to integrate women as central partners in decisions about foreign policy.
Clinton started myriad global programs that help women and girls survive extreme hardship in rural areas, as well as enter fields such as business and public service.

The chart is extremely misleading.  As you can see Planned Parenthood Action listed specific things that Hillary Clinton had done and simply said that Bernie Sanders had supported good things.  Let's look at the chart a little closer.  

Under the heading reproductive rights, the chart indicates that both have cosponsored and voted for legislation supported by Planned Parenthood but indicates that Hillary had introduced eight unspecified pieces of legislation.  The chart makes no attempt to include specific legislation introduced by Bernie Sanders that would expand and protect "woman's access to reproductive health care".  Apparently Planned Parenthood does not count bills introduced by Bernie Sanders including Senate bill 915 in 2011 which provided for health care for all including specifically family planning services, mammograms and Pap smears as well as additional preventative care and screening.

Under the title of Gender Pay Gap, the chart indicates that Hillary Clinton sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act in 2005, 2007 and 2009.  The chart neglects to indicate that Bernie Sanders co-sponsored those acts in 2007 and 2009.  Of course he could not have co-sponsored her bill in the Senate in 2005 because he was not in the Senate at that time.

The Birth Control section is also very misleading.  It refers to a hold placed on President Bush's nominee to head the FDA in 2005 when Bernie Sanders was not in the Senate.  It also refers to working for a law to make emergency contraception available over the counter.  The chart neglects to point out that Bernie Sanders, after he joined the Senate, supported a bill introduced by Hillary Clinton before he joined the Senate to provide emergency contraception.  He also was the co-sponsor of Senate bill 2904 in the 111th Congress to provide emergency contraception to all servicewomen.  Bernie Sanders has also consistently co-sponsored bills to eliminate current federal restrictions on a woman's right to abortion.

The title Planned Parenthood is just plain silly, as Bernie Sanders has been a strong and very vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood for years and is campaigning on increasing funding for Planned Parenthood while Hillary Clinton simply campaigns on defending it current funding.

International Reproductive Health Access section of the chart details some specific things that Hillary Clinton has done.  Bernie Sanders has always supported the United States and the United Nations international efforts.  In addition the chart appears to reference some of the good things done by the Clinton Foundation, it neglects to record that the Clinton Foundation takes significant funding from countries with terrible records with respect to women's rights.  Here is just one paragraph from The New York Times (here).

But the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation has accepted tens of millions of dollars in donations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria and Brunei — all of which the State Department has faulted over their records on sex discrimination and other human-rights issues.

I have been a longtime supporter of both Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood Action, but their endorsement of Hillary Clinton during the primary and their incredibly untruthful and unfair statements about Bernie Sanders have put me in a difficult position.  Clearly I will no longer provide financial support to Planned Parenthood Action, and I am not sure what to do about Planned Parenthood.

I am afraid that Planned Parenthood has become just another organization more concerned about protecting the establishment than they are about their mission.  I will discuss this issue in another blog post.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Bernie Sanders for President

Dear Friends,

Bernie Sanders is my choice for President of the United States.  His policies are exactly what this country and the world need now.  The media, many pundits and a number of my friends say he cannot be elected, he is too far left, he is a socialist and he is impractical.  I want to encourage everybody, including the media, to look beyond labels and examine his policies and positions.  Since I believe his policies are the ones that we need now, I intend to work for his election.

Bernie Sanders is not new to his positions.  He has been espousing them for years.  They are not focus group tested policies.  They are what he truly believes.  In the weeks to come, I will focus more on the policies in detail.  For now, these are just summaries of some of his positions and policies that I think are great.

Democracy

Our democracy is being destroyed by big money and voter suppression.  Bernie Sanders has been clear that we need to stand up to the billionaire class who are spending billions of dollars to impose their will on the country.  That is not democracy.  We need to reverse the Citizens United case and provide for government funding of campaigns.  Bernie Sanders is a strong advocate for both of these positions.    We also need to stop the Republican efforts at voter suppression.  Bernie Sanders wants to reinstate the provisions of the Voting Rights Act that require pre-approval of voting rights changes in states with histories of racial discrimination.

Economic Justice

Bernie Sanders, along with Elizabeth Warren, is at the forefront of the movement for economic justice - imposing higher taxes on the rich, having a $15 an hour minimum wage, increasing workers' wages, rebuilding the infrastructure of this country providing thousands of middle class jobs, providing better educational opportunities, focusing on increasing the incomes and opportunities for the poor and middle class, and the list goes on and on.

Bernie Sanders is an outspoken critic of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other similar "trade" agreements that are negotiated in secret by the government with the help of big business but with no input from economic justice advocates or environmentalists.

Racial Justice

Bernie Sanders has issued a detailed plan to work to eliminate institutional racism in this country, including police and criminal justice reforms.  In addition, all of his economic justice initiatives will help alleviate the lack of economic racial justice in the country.

Privacy

Bernie Sanders is a strong advocate for protecting the privacy of the American people from government spying.

Women's Rights

Bernie Sanders is a strong advocate for women's rights and has been for years.  As mayor of Burlington, VT he passed some of the first legislation to advocate for women's economic rights and he has always been a strong supporter of women's health care rights.

Foreign Policy

Bernie Sanders voted against President Bush's Iraq war and has been consistently in favor of diplomacy over military action.  He is in favor of the Iraq nuclear agreement.  When Bernie Sanders says that war should be the last resort, he means it.

Environment

Bernie Sanders is and has always been an environmental activist.  He is opposed to fracking and the Keystone XL Pipeline and other environmentally dangerous fossil fuel development.  He is a long time supporter of alternative energy options.

Regulating Capitalism

Bernie Sanders understands that capitalism must be regulated.  If left alone the market will destroy capitalism and create an oligarchy as we have seen in recent years.  He is in favor of breaking up the banks that are too big to fail and curbing the abuses of Wall Street and making sure that all businesses have to account for all the costs of their activities including pollution, paying wages so low the government must subsidize the workers, etc.

Immigration

Bernie Sanders has been criticized by some progressives for his immigration position.  While his immigration position is more complicated and nuanced than other Democrats, I think it is very consistent with his guiding principles.  He supports immediately bringing all undocumented people out of the shadows and giving them a real path to citizenship.  He is, however, not in favor of many of the open border and guest worker programs.  His overriding concern is to protect American workers.  If anybody thinks that Republicans and big business want guest worker programs and more legal immigration because they are concerned about providing opportunities to immigrants, they are crazy.  They want those programs for an ongoing supply of cheap labor.  That is the reason that Bernie Sanders has objected to those programs.  Ultimately, he voted for the 2013 immigration reform bill but only after he was able to secure an amendment that provided significant funds for jobs for American workers.  Immigration is important to our success as a country, but we should not bring people here to be cheap labor.  We should bring people here because they want to come and be full participants in our country which will make us a better country.

Education

Bernie Sanders is a strong advocate for education.  Consistent with his core beliefs, we will not be able to achieve economic justice, to reduce the wealth and income gaps between the rich and the poor, to eliminate institutional racism, to compete in the global economy or to achieve economic prosperity for all without a great educational system.  That system has to be truly available to all at no cost.  Bernie Sanders is the leading proponent of making college free and affordable.

Healthcare

Bernie Sanders has been pushing for a universal single payer health system for years.  We are the only developed country in the world that views healthcare as a privilege not a right.  While for those that can pay, we have a great healthcare system.  The system overall costs significantly more than in other developed countries and has significantly poorer results.

I look forward to more detailed discussions of the issues in this election and whether or not Bernie Sanders has the best policies and positions.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal