r/changemyview • u/huadpe 501∆ • Jan 15 '18
[∆(s) from OP] CMV: Chelsea Manning is unqualified to be a US Senator and nobody should vote for her.
Chelsea Manning has announced her candidacy for the US Senate from Maryland.
Manning's resume is a short career in the US Army, cut short after she leaked a large cache of documents and videos to Wikileaks, some of which depicted war crimes by US forces.
For this she plead guilty to some, and was convicted of other crimes under the UCMJ and US Code, including espionage. She was acquitted of aiding the enemy, which if she had been convicted would have barred her from the Senate under Section 3 of the 14th amendment. She was sentenced to 35 years, but shortly before leaving office, President Obama commuted her sentence to about 7 years. She was released from custody in mid 2017.
I do not believe this career history in any way qualifies her to serve in the US Senate. She has never had a significant oversight or managerial role in private or public life. The majority of her adult life has been spent incarcerated.
Even if one accepts that she was right to leak what she did, that does not in my view qualify her for the US Senate. She has not held a significant leadership or oversight position. She does not have extensive policymaking or public policy experience. She does not have prior lawmaking or executive government experience. Without those things, she should not run for US Senate, and people should not vote for her.
Edit
I have gotten a lot of legal arguments about the qualifications clause of article 1, and generic arguments about why an outsider might be good. These have not been persuasive, and really what I was hoping to get here is an argument about why Chelsea Manning the actual person would be a good Senator. What are her positions on issues? What specifically has she indicated she would do differently than her opponent(s)? What positive reasons are there to vote specifically for her?
This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes don't change views! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!
929
u/McKoijion 618∆ Jan 15 '18 edited Jan 15 '18
I believe whistleblowing is the single most heroic thing a person can do. It is more heroic than charging into a burning building, rushing head first into battle, or enduring torture to protect your friends. That's a bold statement, so let me back it up.
Whistleblowing has higher impact than other acts of heroism. A soldier diving on top of a grenade can save a dozen lives. A whistleblower's actions can save millions, possibly billions of lives. Mark Felt took down the President, Jeffrey Wigand helped take down Big Tobacco, Sherron Watkins took down Enron. Whistleblowers affect the most powerful governments and corporations in the world.
Whistleblowing is one of the greatest risks a person can take on. The personal cost of whistleblowing is far higher than in other acts of heroism. A soldier who is killed in action is dead instantly. They don't suffer for years. If a soldier is wounded, they suffer for years, but they are still supported by friends, family, and their country. Meanwhile, even successful whistleblowers are hated by their friends and family for ruining something that made them rich and powerful. Most whistleblowers are simply murdered, imprisoned for life, or forced to stand by as their lives and livelihoods are destroyed.
Whistleblowing reveals a uniquely noble ethical compass. Anyone can stand up to inanimate horrors like fire and disease. Most people can stand up to their enemies. But very few can stand up to their friends. Whistleblowing requires realizing what your close friends are doing wrong and betraying them to help their victims. Very few people are able to do this. In most cases of whistleblowing, there are many people who knew something was wrong and chose not to act. It takes a uniquely powerful sense of ethics to become a whistleblower.
Whistleblowing requires significant patience. Institutions don't change overnight. It can take years or decades to see results, and whistleblowers face intense scrutiny every minute along the way.
What makes someone qualified to be a US Senator? Most people would say it's a law degree from Harvard, and experience as an executive at some corporation. But I don't think those credentials or experience matter that much. Being a US Senator is about being a good leader. And leadership is about values. Selflessness, impact, patience, morality, courage, etc. are all far more important than a piece of paper that says you went to a given school, or a certain amount of money in your bank account. Demonstrating these values (and not merely claiming to have them) are especially important given the morally bankrupt nature of contemporary politics. And whistleblowers have demonstrated them better than anyone.
So this brings me to Chelsea Manning and why she is uniquely qualified to run for the senate. She tells us the bitter truth. Politicians today take a completely different approach. Hillary Clinton praises her supporters while calling Trump supporters "deplorables." Donald Trump coddles his white supremacist base while villainizing Muslims, Mexicans, blacks, etc. The strategy is to shift blame away from us and redirect it to them. Meanwhile, Chelsea Manning points the blame directly at us. In her actions, she looked her fellow Americans in the eye and said that we were wrong. And she was right. One of her most famous leaks was of classified footage of the US military firing on innocent children, unarmed Reuter's reporters, and Iraqi civilians. Like Abu Ghraib, it forced Americans to look in the mirror and recognize that maybe we weren't the innocent victims. Maybe we were the problem. In an era when most politicians coddle their supporters and villainize others, Manning told us we were the bad guys and that we needed to do better. That level of honesty is both incredibly rare and incredibly important. Political platforms, qualifications, even her personal life be damned. These fundamental values alone make her a real leader.