Think smart and emotionally, not just emotionally.
(note: I respond to the things I’ve written here in the very next post)
It interests me to hear on news broadcasts what drives people to select a presidential candidate. It seems like this time around, more than ever, a great many people are making this democratic primary an emotional choice. For the first time in history, an African American has a legitimate shot at the White House. For the second time in history, a woman has a legitimate shot. Both of these people are remarkable individuals, and indeed remarkable candidates. Nevertheless, I believe that should a majority of democrats nominate a candidate based on their emotional feelings regarding a candidate’s gender or the color of their skin, we will have further proof that our democracy is broken. I have heard both of the following from people in interviews on the radio and the TV: “It is about time that this country have a [insert black or female] president.” What about qualifications? Ideals? Goals? Political mettle? Obviously these candidates are all qualified. Indeed the democratic party has three very well qualified candidates (four really, but nobody takes Kucinich seriously long enough to realize it because he’s so short and unphotogenic.) But is being the ‘token first’ really the best tie-breaker we can come up with?What about choosing one of the two (1, 2) candidate who has suggested a path towards achieving a single-payer healthcare system? What about choosing one of the two (1, 2) candidates who support the complete extension of equal rights to the LGBT community, who remind us that separate is never equal, and that we need to differentiate once and for all between the civil matrimony that our governments recognize, whether between a man and man, or a man and a woman, or a woman and a woman, and leave churches to decide what they sanction as ‘holy’. What about choosing a candidate who has committed fully to campaign finance reform and public financing, not just if the republicans are willing to as well?
Emotions will always and frankly should always influence our judgement. But allowing emotion to cloud our ability to make informed decisions is a mistake, though one that I admit is hard to avoid. Even Fareed Zakaria, a writer I particularly respect, couldn’t avoid it, when he published an absolutely terrible article in Newsweek a few weeks back suggesting that Obama’s foreign roots somehow magically endow him with an exemption from ethnocentrism and make him stronger than Hillary on foreign affairs. Well then Fareed, Obama’s is tall and black, too - does that make him a better basketball player?
Be proud of Obama; look up to him for who he is, and respect his accomplishments despite this country’s vestigial currents of inequality and racism. Be proud of Hillary; look up to her for who she is, and respect her accomplishments despite this country’s vestigial currents of inequality and sexism. But in these next few months as you’re preparing for your own primaries, I urge you all to really think about this choice, and evaluate your motivations for selecting a candidate.
And now to plug who I think is the best option… watch this:
