My mother hates Hillary Clinton. I mean, she really hates Hillary Clinton. I was always puzzled by this. They are both lawyers who entered the profession when there were few women in it. They both were "Goldwater Girls" in the 1968 election (I have my mother's original Barry Goldwater poster hanging in my office). They're the same age. For a few years, they even shared a hairdresser. I'm not kidding. I never understood why she hated her so much, until now. Leave it to Andrew Sullivan to express what my mother, a pioneer in her own right, who was one of at most five women in her law school class has been saying for years:
What marks a true feminist is a woman who gains democratic office through strictly meritocratic means. Think of Margaret Thatcher: a woman who came from lowly beginnings to master a chemistry degree and a legal career in the 1940s and 1950s, who won a seat in parliament single-handedly and eventually became a three-term prime minister for the Conservative party. Yes: the Conservative party. You think she didn't have to deal with prejudice and chauvinism? More than Hillary Clinton will ever know. But she never engaged for a second in the gender politics and nepotistic shenanigans that Clinton has. Thatcher had a rich husband but he was not a stepping stone to politics. She had two children, but never used them for public attention or photo-ops. She did it all - indisputably - on her own merits.
Hillary Clinton could have done the same. She is an extremely intelligent woman, with a strong work ethic, an attention to detail, a passion for helping children, and a fascination with politics. She remains one of the leading lights in her generation. If she'd wanted to, she could have forged a political career on her own, and done splendidly. She chose not to.I should have been listening to my mother. Please vote tomorrow.
I'd vote tomorrow, except I can't cause our primary isn't till May. A time at which it is likely the whole thing will have been neatly tied up and the vote won't matter, largely disenfranchising this state's democrats.
But hey, there's nothing wrong with our voting system, right?
At least your vote actually counts, eventually, unlike the poor schmucks in FL or MI.
I've said it before but not publicly:
Thatcher had the right idea - She ran on a "truer" feminist platform; "If you don't vote for me because you think my position is wrong or my experience isn't great enough, fine. Just don't count me out because I have ovaries."
Now that might not be a verbatim quote but I think the jist has been captured.
Wouldn't voting for Hillary just because she's a woman be just as retarded as NOT voting for her because she is one? Either way, you're casting you vote based on chromasomes instead of merit.
Margaret would be rolling in her grave...if she were in it yet, that is.