Daily Times

Hillary Clinton is now the official candidate of the Democratic Party for president of the United States (US). This is a historic first. Previously, women were selected as candidates for vice president in both major parties. But Clinton is the first woman to win in a primary election and become a presidential candidate. The stage is now set. Clinton will run against Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. So far this election cycle has been full of surprises, and even though most pollsters and political prognosticators strongly believe that Clinton will win in November but that is becoming much less certain as time goes by.

Personally, I support Clinton, and I also supported her eight years ago when she was running in the primary campaign against Senator Barack Obama. Putting aside my personal dislike of most of what Trump stands for, and my agreement with much of what Clinton represents, I want to present why as an American Muslim I support the Democratic candidate. Trump has made anti-Muslim rhetoric a part of his election persona, but even before Trump the Republican Party was much less comfortable with immigrants and ethnic as well as religious minorities. The last few Republican presidential candidates might have actually been decent people that believed in religious and ethnic diversity, but the party they led was steadily drifting away from such ideas.

The first reason I support Democratic Party most of the time is the reason I have mentioned above. There are other reasons also. As a political and social liberal, the Democratic Party reflects many of my beliefs concerning politics and society. Perhaps the single most important difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats believe that government has an important and positive role to play in the welfare of the people. Here of course the basic premise is that government is a democratically elected entity, and as such represents the will of a majority of its people.

Besides belief in a “benevolent” government, the Democratic party over the last few decades have begun to represent the right of minorities of all sorts, including social, religious and ethnic minorities. Today, most ethnic and religious minorities support Democratic candidates. For instance, a majority of African Americans, Latinos, and interestingly, a majority of Jewish Americans reliably vote for the Democrats. Obviously, most of the well-established minorities in the US find the Democrats to be much more sympathetic to them, and as Muslim Americans have become more politically active they have also started to support the Democrats. Today, the Democratic Party is a coalition of most minorities along with political and social liberals.

Also, considering one of the major issues concerning survival of the human species — the matter of global warming — the Republicans have essentially taken the anti-scientific view that there is no such thing as global warming. The Republicans have accumulated many deniers of scientific matters like evolution and global warming among their senators and congressmen. As a result, most people that believe in things like evolution, and climate change for the worse as a result of human activity, find themselves supporting the Democrats. Curiously, the Republicans are no longer just the conservative party in terms of politics and economics but they have also become conservative or perhaps more appropriately anti-progress even in many fields of scientific study.

Clinton is a typical Democrat. She is not quite as far to the left as Senator Bernie Sanders, and many of his supporters, and perhaps not as much of a centrist as her husband, former president, Bill Clinton. There are many reasons why most Democrats and people that believe in some of the principles of politics and social change that I have mentioned above should support Hillary Clinton. But Clinton is quite unpopular for a major party candidate. Her unpopularity stems from two basic reasons. First is that she has been in the public eye for almost a quarter of a century, and during this time she has been the centre of controversy, and has been “investigated” by Republicans for many alleged “crimes.” This has given a chance to her opponents to publicise her presumed moral and legal lapses. Second reason is that during the last few years she has become quite wealthy by giving speeches to select audiences made up mostly of Wall Street types. This has made it seem that she is beholden to the Wall Street. Senator Sanders, her opponent on the Democratic side, exploited the latter charge quite effectively.

In defense of Clinton, first she is probably one of the most intensely investigated person in the history of the US. In spite of intense investigations by a Republican-led Congress, nothing of consequence has ever been proven against her. More recently, she was accused and investigated by the FBI for using a private server for e-mails when she was secretary of defence. Even this investigation did not lead to any charges of criminal behaviour. And, the fact that she is paid a lot of money by Wall Street types to give them talks is as American as apple pie. Many US politicians that are out of government use this method to make money. Even a few former Pakistani politicians have given such talks to make some extra pocket money. Clinton has been accused of much but found guilty of little of importance. And for somebody used to reading about Pakistani politicians, compared to them Clinton is probably a paragon of financial and professional probity.

Finally, there is the matter of Donald J Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee for president. Trump can best be described as the lowest common denominator of Republican Party politics. The fact that the two living Republican presidents refused to support him says it all. It is not my intention to dwell on what is bad about Trump. As somebody once said, the obvious need not be stated.

The author is a former editor of the Journal of Association of Pakistani descent Physicians of North America (APPNA)