Here’s why it’s time to support Hillary 

Dear Nora and Michael, I took my Bernie sign down today. The yard looks a little bare. He would have made a great president. But fair is fair. He just doesn’t have the votes. Do I think superdelegates are a bad idea? Absolutely. Do I wish the Republicans had them this year? Yes. They say rules are made to be broken. Perhaps, thanks to Bernie Sanders, superdelegates will not be a part of future Democratic presidential elections.

In thinking about Hillary Clinton, I am not going to play the woman card. If I were voting for someone because she is a woman, I would have voted for Sarah Palin. You can betcha’ sweet Alaska I did not. I am voting for Hillary because she is a strong, well-qualified candidate. To you, my daughter, I want to say that she repeatedly mentions the bond she had with her mother – one we know makes both people stronger. (OK, so I am playing the Mom card.) She graduated from Wellesley – the first ever student speaker at graduation. She went on to Yale Law School. She was First Lady of Arkansas and the United States (the only time in her life she wasn’t employed). Other First Ladies tried to beautify highways or convince young people to “Just Say No” to drugs. Hillary fought for universal health care. She was a popular, two-term United States Senator from New York and then Secretary of State under President Obama. Throughout her adulthood she has worked to help women and minorities. She is a mother and grandmother.

Bernie Sanders would have been my pick for president. I am a progressive liberal. His platform is my platform. Free college? It would be great to have back the $60,000 I paid for your undergraduate years. And you, Nora, should not have had to graduate with a staggering debt from medical school. Universal health care? We should be ashamed that we are the only major country in the world not to offer it to our citizens. A $15 minimum wage? I’m willing to pay a few more cents for a Big Mac to insure food workers don’t live in poverty or need to hold three jobs. America waging useless wars that cost us billions of dollars? No way.

Michael, you have sent me many negative stories about Hillary. Your allegiance to Bernie is heartfelt for all the right reasons. But much of the vitriol against Clinton is hype and some of it is just wrong. She has been attacked because of her gender, because of her husband and because of some of her decisions. Our leaders have flaws and weaknesses just as we do. I believe they should be held to higher standards but no one goes through life without making mistakes. Don’t let your enthusiasm for a great candidate color your view of a good one.

We must consider the alternative. Donald Trump is an egotistical racist, sexist, selfish baby. I know neither of you will vote for him. But a vote for the Libertarian candidate or a write-in vote for Sanders is a vote for Trump. In 2000 Al Gore lost the race because of the Florida debacle and the independent run of Ralph Nader. Think about what happened in the ensuing eight years.

Bernie Sanders has changed politics.

Young people haven’t been this excited about a presidential election since Eugene McCarthy in 1968. How the Democrats handled the Chicago convention that year caused an apathy in younger voters that lasted until this year. If I can convince you of only one thing, it is not to be so discouraged that you lose faith in the process. We need bright, honest, enthusiastic people like you. Keep the faith. Keep your passion.

Love, Mom

Corrine Frisch is a freelance writer, who spent her career as PR Director of Lincoln Library, Springfield’s Public Library. She is a lifelong Democrat. Nora Frisch is a pathologist at SUNY Buffalo Hospitals. Her husband, Michael Davidson, is a freelance artist working with ceramics and graphic design.