I have been registered Independent (Unenrolled) for my entire adulthood. I have voted for Republican Governors, I have voted for Democrat Senators. I have voted for Independent local politicians, and this election I just might vote for a Libertarian Congressman. In fact, I tend to lean conservative when it comes to fiscal issues, and liberal when it comes to social issues, but I stand on either side of the line for many issues. Gay rights matter to me. Gun rights matter to me. I believe we have the Constitutional right to bear arms against a tyrannical government (which I hope we don't have come January), and believe that not just anyone should be able to buy a gun. Black Lives Matter to me. Military and domestic law and order matter to me. I am anti-abortion and pro-women's rights, including the right to choose what she does with her body. Human rights matter to me. Immigration matters to me. But none of this seems to matter in this election. All that matters is that we have two candidates that it seems most people either hate or love, with no in-between. But being a moderate, I need that in-between. And it is with the full belief that we need balance in our government, I am now going to tell you why it is IMPERATIVE that you vote for Hillary Clinton JUST BECAUSE she is a woman.
In order to help you to understand my argument, I am going to use another controversial topic as an illustration - Affirmative Action. The intent of Affirmative Action, in simplest terms, is to hold organizations accountable to make their workforce mirror the overall demographics of our society. So, if 10% of our society is black, then 10% of their workforce should be black, and so on. That also means that 50% of our executive positions, and our boards of directors, and our middle management, should be women. Of this I think we can all agree. And we need this law because without it, our organizations and corporations just would not do it. They wouldn't have to, so they wouldn't bother. That is the reality of the business world.
Now, many say that Affirmative Action doesn't work because it forces companies to hire unqualified or underqualified candidates JUST BECAUSE they are black, or Hispanic, or Asian, or female. That is not the case at all. Follow me here. If a company has an open position, and they received 200 resumes for it, they will then filter out the candidates to, say, the best 10. These are the 10 most qualified for the position of the 200 who applied. That means that they are all pretty much the same when it comes to qualifications. They have about the same education and/or experience. They are equivalent, or they wouldn't have made the cut from 200 down to 10.
Now, I am going to tell you that companies NEVER just choose the one candidate who is the "most qualified." In fact, it would be a bad idea to do so in most cases. Why? Well, you might not be paying enough for the most qualified. Or you might not want someone who will be bored by the position and move on quickly. You might not want someone who expects a promotion too quickly. Regardless the reason, you don't automatically choose the most qualified. (No, in fact, I am not saying that Clinton and Trump are equally qualified. In fact, Trump is not qualified at all for the position of the top politician of the United States. That doesn't seem to matter to his supporters, so it doesn't matter to my argument here. If we were just electing the most qualified candidate, there would be no election. But I digress...)
So, we don't just automatically choose the most qualified candidate for a job. Back to our hypothetical 10 candidates. Let's say that 8 of them are white, 1 is black, and 1 is Asian. Of these, 3 of the whites are female and the rest are male. Who do you choose? Well, I already told you they are about the same in qualifications. Affirmative Action says that given that equality, if you do not already have 10% black in your workforce, you should choose the black man. Or if you do not already have 50% women in your workforce (especially if it is an executive position or middle management that leads to an executive position), you should choose one of the women.
Now, many would say that is discriminatory against white men. It is not. When you have equally qualified candidates for the position, you are then choosing between them based on the best fit for your organization. Now, I'm not saying you base it on who "felt right" in the interview. Of course a white male will "feel right" more often than not if the interviewer himself is white. The point here is that you want (and need) diversity, not more of the same. So don't hire more of the same. Hire the equally qualified black man, or the equally qualified woman, JUST BECAUSE. That is the only way you will have 10% black, or 50% women. Additionally, you will be going a long way toward breaking barriers and creating a work environment where EVERYONE feels, and believes, and knows that they can do anything in your workplace. They can move up because they have seen others like them do the same. Or they can aspire to be the first, since it seems that other barriers have been broken. Not to mention how beneficial it is for your customers to see themselves reflected in your workforce. And yes, we do pay attention.
This is why I think you SHOULD vote for Hillary Clinton JUST BEAUSE she is a woman. It is well beyond the time a woman should be elected President. And don't tell me you would vote for a woman if it weren't Hillary Clinton. She is the most qualified candidate for President we have EVER had in this country. That leaves only the argument that you don't like her, as a person. Well, I don't know her as a person. Many have spoken out about her likable personality, and it still does not seem to make a difference. The difference as I see it is that we have a standard for the person who can do the job, and a standard for the person who can act Presidential. She has met these standards with flying colors. The only standard left is the one which we hold for all women. We expect Hillary to be better than Donald, better than every male President we have ever had in the past 240 years. We expect her to bring home the bacon AND fry it up in the pan. It's time we let go of the cooking, and leave that to the experts who went to cooking school. Hillary Clinton is an expert in law and politics. If you say you can't vote for her just because she is a woman, then examine her behavior as though she were a man. You wouldn't tell a man to smile, or judge him based on his clothing choices, or tell him he was too loud. Let's end the double standard by judging the candidates on their experience, or their humanity, or their empathy. Donald Trump has none of those qualifications. But if you want to say that those qualifications don't matter, then by all means, vote for Hillary Clinton JUST BECAUSE it is about time we do this. It is about time the West Wing had a woman's touch.
