Dear Hillary

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Dear Hillary,

I suppose that you have already heard/seen Elizabeth Warren’s Netroots Nation talk. She has, as usual, a number of resonating, resonating with the Common Good and the General Welfare that is, ideas with which I am sure you too are well acquainted.

This comment from her Netroots talk,-- “We have a presidential election coming up. I think anyone running for that job – anyone who wants the power to make every key economic appointment and nomination across the federal government – should say loud and clear that they agree: we don’t run this country for Wall Street and mega corporations. We run it for people.

“Anyone who wants to be President should appoint only people who have already demonstrated they are independent, who have already demonstrated that they can hold giant banks accountable, who have already demonstrated that they embrace the kind of ambitious economic policies that we need to rebuild opportunity and a strong middle class in this country.”—is a great example.

I understand that your “advisors” are suggesting a more “respectable” you might say, a more measured, softer toned approach. Good advice when one is negotiating with a friendly country, or even one not so friendly. Maybe even good in past election cycles.  However, times have changed, significantly, is the word that I would say in  a measured tone, but I really mean radically.

You are not negotiating for this job, and people  are way more hip than they used to be. That “old time advice” is not good.

Please note the Donald Trump phenomena. It is very informative. He actually is saying what a not so surprisingly large number of voters want to hear. I am not suggesting that you do Donald Trump!

What I am suggesting is that you be very much more forth coming.

Get rid of a lot of the Code and start talking in the language that the people who you need to have vote for you understand. You do not need the votes of the sophisticated intellectuals. And, you do not need the votes of the press corps. You need the votes of the People.

The vast numbers of voters under 50 today have been raised in an information atmosphere that has radically changed their vision of reality and their ability to understand the difference between advertising memes and straight talk.

The times are not about the cautious tiny steps anymore. We really do not have time to play nice in the sand box. You have the poise, character, skill, and “street smarts” to handle this without sounding/looking like a Trump.

One other development of major significance in those voters under 50 that it would be very helpful for you to understand. The blizzard of information and parallel experience that the internet has generated has had a huge impact on the human heart. It is with the heart, this sensitivity, that they hear and see. It’s what the music has always been about Try it. I think you will even like it.

Lots of love

-tom