We talked over the holiday about the presidential campaign. I always appreciate what my sons and daughters have to say. I am proud that they are thinking about what goes on in the world and coming to their own conclusions. I also like it when I am challenged by the next generation because it gives me hope that society is continuing to evolve. We talked in particular this weekend about the candidates in the Democratic Party, about Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Like the younger generation I am inspired by Senator Sanders. I have followed his career for some time because I sincerely believe the country needs to adopt more people nurturing policies like universal healthcare and affordable education. I look at other industrialized nations and see that they are able to take care of these needs for their people and I wish we could. I have always appreciated Sander's recognition of the growing divide between those who have everything and those who have nothing.
I realize that our nation has taken on the role of defense for more that just our own nation and that is not all bad, but it is costly. I also think that this nation "defends" the American way of life even when it is unhealthy or unsustainable, and I think you agree with this. I am hopeful that change is coming, that people are moving slowly in the direction of universal care ... most of the time... albeit very slowly. Mostly I am encouraged by how your generation is willing to live differently, try harder to be sustainable and open to inclusive community.
Like you I am very worried by the political conversation on the other side that has edged so far to the right; anti-immigrant, protectionist, and xenophobic.
I am writing this however in response to your statement regarding whether or not I would vote for Secretary Clinton just because she is a woman. The answer is no since I didn't vote for McCain and Palin just because Palin is a woman. I do have some sense. But when it comes to Clinton I feel differently.
As much as I like Senator Sanders something different happens when I look closely at Hillary Clinton.
She is not perfect. I wish she held some Sander's views more overtly. I don't really believe in dynasties. I didn't like it when we had two Bush presidents from the same family. (There are millions of people in this country and at the minimum there are dozens who have held public office including Governors and Senators who should have background to be President so why would I want the wife of a former president?) Nonetheless, when I look at Hillary Clinton I see a woman who has done all the right things to be president (with the exception of being married to a president -- although that seems to work pretty well in other countries!) If she was a man I think the commentary would be very different.
In my own life and work I have experienced how women who move to the top are supposed to accomplish things like all the men who have gone before them while remaining overtly female and how they are criticized if they do things differently. I have also lived through the women's movement when it became clear that only the women who became as aggressive as men were able to knock down the doors or raise the ceiling for the women who came after them -- even though the personal toll was very high since no one liked pushy women.
But, back to Hillary Clinton. She has experience of her own, she is smart, she has moved through the system and she is in a position to knock down the door and suddenly the rules change. It is not that people don't want a woman, they just don't want an insider. They want someone who will change things -- someone like Senator Sanders or (yikes) Donald Trump. But when I look at them I see two old white men. What's different about that?
When I look at Hillary Clinton I see someone like myself. A wife and mother, and also a highly educated woman who has broken through barriers because she has learned how to play the game as the men want to play --- and done so with as much integrity as she can just as many men have done.
But now when she is in position to move forward... this is not what the nation wants.
How different from what we have always had would it be to have a woman as president? I don't know but I would really like the chance to find out.
President Obama could not provide all the change that he wanted. He was stopped at every point by those who simply did not want a Black President... especially one who was on the side of the middle class and the poor. What has changed however, is that there is now a model in the highest office of the land for every young black person. A good model too, since President Obama has not been riddled with scandal, always showing the nation a loving first couple and first family. He is articulate, educated and extremely thoughtful. Young people are the future and they need this good model - we all do.
When at last we have a woman president there will be a model in the highest office of the land for every young woman regardless of color. That is something my generation has never had -- nor any generation before us. I agree that it would be nice if Hillary was the perfect candidate... but has there ever been one? Are only women supposed to be perfect? I mean, isn't Bernie Sanders a little old... too old to be president for the next 4-8 years?
Maybe having a woman president shouldn't be so important to me.
But it is.
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