Vote for Love not Hate

It is no secret I am a lifelong Democrat, a liberal, a feminist, and support Hilary Clinton as the first woman President of the United States.  That isn't surprising.  What is surprising is how often I have to defend my views to other women.

I've been told, "I just don't trust her."  Well, I trust her more than Donald Drumpf, the trigger-happy Fascist who invited Russia to hack into our computer systems.  He said it was only a joke, like his attacks on Latinos, immigrants, women, and disabled people.  We don't need a president who can't control his own mouth controlling our nuclear weapons.

I've been told, "She doesn't represent all women."  Of course not, no more than Barack Obama represents all African-Americans, but I can still remember the pride in the voice of one of my seventh grade students when he was elected president.

"Obama looks just like me," he said.  "I could be President someday!"

"Yes, you can," I told him.

Just as John F. Kennedy's election gave Irish-American Catholics the hope for social acceptance in this country, Hilary Clinton's election will lead the way for other women to make their marks in politics and in the world.  Too many young women have forgotten the sacrifices our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers made for us to have the freedoms we take for granted today.

When my mother was 17, she was told she could not go to college or into the military service.  Her only options as a woman were to become some man's secretary or his wife.  So my mother made sure all of her children received the best education possible and encouraged her daughters to go to college.  Eventually she proudly earned her own bachelor's degree later in life.


I've had people suggest Hilary would only be a mouthpiece for her husband, as if married women cannot think for themselves.  No one would dream of saying this to Michelle Obama, who proved at the Democratic National Convention she is just as eloquent a speaker as her husband, and certainly has a mind of her own.

I will never forget the courageous women who made unimaginable sacrifices to make it possible for all women to vote and to have control over our own bodies and our destinies.  So I will proudly vote for the first woman President of the United States.

I will vote
for love not hate,
for hope not fear,
for unity not division,
for compassion not narcissism,
for an America which keeps it promises
rather than threatens people,
for the first woman President of the United States
and the women who will follow.