What's at stake for Clinton supporters

Memo to Hillary Clinton primary election female supporters who now will vote for John McCain: Why did you vote for her to begin with? Was it for her personality, her experience or her sex?

If you are determined to vote for McCain, conclusively, it was not about politics.

Maybe you're giving notice to the malevolent male who has practiced misogyny throughout their lives and now want to invoke misanthropy to get even.

Will this retribution give you solace in your defeat? Will your intended vote give you the satisfaction that you didn't received when she lost to Barack Obama?

After your emotional moment passes by and after opaque, clustered clouds finally disappear to show blue sky once again, consider why we elect anyone to office, especially those that espouse our basic political philosophy.

If this message tends to confuse you, think about this: If you vote for McCain and he is elected, you may just as well plan to vote Republican for all your congressional representatives.

If, perhaps, the Democrats either hold or increase their majority in Congress, they still may not have enough votes to override a presidential veto so it can render the majority moot.

Likewise, they may not be able to invoke cloture on any filibuster the Republicans choose to enact, as they do now with their stonewalling tactics on anything and everything.

Preventing McCain and his congressional supporters from continuing the policies and practices of the Bush administration for at least another four years, probably eight, would be futile.

And remember that John McCain as commander-in-chief will have his finger on the button to declare warfare anytime, anywhere in the world he chooses, with no internal opposition.

So be careful what you intend to do.

Consider what will be sacrificed or lost if you cling to a defeated candidate in one of the most hotly contested primary races in American history. The literal survival of the Democratic Party may be at stake.

James D. Cook

Streamwood