It’s 2016, and the possibility of America voting for a president who is more diverse than the majority of past presidents is a real possibility. Clearly, the elections of 2008 and 2012 proved this to be true as America voted for our first African American president. As for the potential of a woman president, Americans have polled around 95 percent for a willingness of voting for a female president within the past decade.
Gender polls are not the only ones that have shown an expressed support for the potential of a president with a greater diversity. Various religious and race polls have also been performed and shown increasing free thinking in terms of voting for someone of minority status in either of those categories.
This reality, however, is leading some people to look more at a candidate’s labels more so than their actual policies. As wonderful as it would be to have diverse representation in the role of president for the next four years, this may not be the best thing for the groups that they identify with. Looking at policies should be more important to voters than looking at their labels and demographics.
For example, the republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz both have Hispanic lineages. Many might think that these candidates would have the best interests of Hispanic Americans within their views and policies. Both of these candidates express views that they plan to reform immigration in ways that could cause Hispanic immigrants to be deported from the United States. However, 59 percent of Hispanic immigrants and 46 percent of all Hispanics in America are concerned about the potential deportation of themselves, a family member, or a friend.
Therefore, if these individuals were to vote for the Hispanic candidates solely based on the fact that they are Hispanic, then it could result in unfavorable legislation for them being passed.
Clearly voting on someone just because of their background being similar to your own is not always the best thing. This being said though, the former United States Secretary of State and strong feminist figure Madeleine Albright made a comment recently about their being “a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!” while at a Hillary Clinton campaign in New Hampshire. This comment came as an attack against mainly young, democratic, female voters who support Clinton’s main opponent, Bernie Sanders. However, this comment fails to recognize that just because a candidate identifies with a specific group of people does not mean that they are necessarily the best advocate for the rights of that group. This is why people need to look at policies of a candidate rather than just their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. to make a truly educated vote.
Not only is Albright endorsing making uneducated votes for the next president, she is also shaming other women for not agreeing with her point of view. This tactic of creating separations within the ranks of voters is used far too often throughout politics. She is trying to get voters to think that just because Bernie Sanders is a white man, he will not understand their issues as women. However, his track record shows that he has consistently voted to protect women’s rights in regards to the issues of reproduction and child care, wage equality, general health, and general poverty. He has done this consistently throughout his career as a politician and has not swayed from these values.
Of course, some could argue that HIllary has done the same, but she also fails to recognize important issues of intersectionality, which affect women with minority statuses. She also has been a lot more of a flip-flop case when it comes to the views she expresses to the public, which should also be concerning to voters who are so convinced that she will be a champion for the issues that have meaning to them. So the argument that women should be voting for Hillary over her competition because she is a woman should not hold any real value for voters. The real thing that we must do as voters is educate ourselves on the candidates’ views on issues that are important to us and see who we really want to represent our country.
