Tim Kaine is not a Democrat and basically now it doesn't matter who you vote for.

Hillary! was never going to pick Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders to be her VP nominee, because this race is primarily about Hillary! securing what she sees as rightfully hers; the Clintons have always been less interested in achieving positions of power to help people than in achieving positions of power because they feel they are owed them, and Hillary! is demonstrating that again.

But there was hope that a Hillary! presidency might demonstrate some incremental progress towards a more socially fair country, at least in the sense that Hillary! (like Senator Chuck Schumer) tends to jump on any popular issue and try to turn it to her benefit -- and lots of liberal issues are popular these days, as demonstrated by Warren and Bernie.

Any hope I might have had died, though, when Hillary! demonstrated to the big business interests what her presidency will be about: it will be about electing her not because America loves her, and not because she is good for America, but because she is the default choice running against a megalomaniacal nutcase supported by the isolationist wing of an already dangerously tilted party.

Tim Kaine's selection as Vice President demonstrates that Hillary! cares not a whit about the progressive wing of the Democratic party -- the group of intense voters (like me) that care about people and loved Bernie and wanted Warren to run for president.

Kaine received an F from Progressive Punch, which is self-explanatory. Kaine has espoused regulating big banks and little banks -- all banks, then -- less. Big banks currently have to demonstrate on a daily basis that they are not about to go under. Kaine thinks that's too onerous for banks and would lighten the load of proving they are not making such risky investments that we will again have to undermine the entirety of the social structure simply to bail them out. (Remember austerity? It came about after the US spent billions bailing out companies, as the GOP used the deficit to then cut things like food stamps. Risk-testing is a way to avoid doing that again.)  Kaine things little banks are too burdened by consumer protection laws, and wants to exempt them.

Funny story: I recently had a judge rule that a little bank violated consumer protection laws by threatening to seize my client's car when they had no legal right to do so. They sent a wrecker to the woman's house twice in public even though she was actually paying them as agreed. HA HA I can see where the regulation burdened that company!  We've only had to litigate for about 3 years to get to the point where the bank -- which has never acknowledged it did anything wrong -- has started to grudgingly think they might have to pay her back. (Although the very first thing the bank said it would do after the court ruled it violated the law was appeal. You know, because banks have money.)

See how funny that is?

Kaine has voted to reduce congressional oversight over trade deals. His solution to insufficient government revenues is not to raise taxes on high earners but simply to dodge the issue by letting earlier tax cuts expire: he is both fiscally unsound and a coward on that issue.

Kaine voted for a bill that would prohibit closing the terrible, unconstitutional Guantanamo Bay prison. He voted to keep the Patriot Act enforced in all significant measures. He approved use of force in Syria.

Kaine voted to cut food stamps to families.

Kaine thinks it is fine for gun owners to have 'high capacity' ammo clips so long as they are limited to just 10 bullets, so he's okay with killing no more than 10 people in a very short time. More than that would be outrageous!

If Trump is what Republicans have been creating all these years, Kaine and Hillary! are what Democrats have let themselves become as they have put personal interests in gaining power and wealth ahead of public interests in helping improve the lives of everyday Americans.  I keep hoping things will get better but it's increasingly apparent that our system is as broken as France and the colonies were in the 18th century. It will not be long before the only way to fix things is to have a revolution. In that sense, Hillary's pick is helping by bringing that day a bit closer.