Submitting proofs for my first
published article in communication this week was surreal. A project I
had worked on for so long had finally been recognized by the academic
community. I was even more thrilled to find out that the article
(about the 2008 presidential campaign) is going to be published in
early November, just in time for the 2012 election. The timing could
not be more perfect, then, to address today's blog post about the
2012 election season and momentous “firsts” in American politics.
Though it is cliched, I believe this
discussion of the 2012 campaign could not be contextualized without
first mentioning the importance of the 2008 election in achieving a
historic first: the first African American president of the United
States. Just as voting transitioned from white males to black males
(all males) to females, the presidency appears to be transitioning in
the same fashion. Hilary Clinton, though quite successful and truly a
formidable contender for the 2008 democratic nominee, was unable to
break the patriarchal hierarchy that is American politics.
Additionally, the 2012 election may bring a new first: the first
Mormon president. Though I have discussed the importance of this in a
previous post, I would like to mention here briefly how the
labeling of Mormonism as a “secretive cult” only further
reinforces how standardized the candidates for presidents have truly
become. When someone like Romney, wealthy, white, and male can be
facing an abandonment of Republican voters because his religion
(though he believes in a Christian God and Jesus Christ) is
considered too far from mainstream Christianity to be considered a
good, moral man. I use this as an example of how far American has yet
to go in order to be truly accepting of all types as viable political
candidates.
Many countries around the world,
developed, developing, undeveloped have elected minority and female
leaders, though US politics has continually remained white and male. Our 112th Senate is only 17% female and the House with a similar ratio (17.5%) of females and in total, 86.5% of Congress is Caucasian. Why is the land of the free
and the home of the brave ruled by a representative democracy that
could be called anything but representative?
In her new book, Sister Citizen,
Marissa V. Harris-Perry outlines the importance of Obama's presidency but also how
still underrepresented black Americans (and specifically black women)
are in the political system and in the voting process. A stirring
read, it outlines the dichotomy of representation that I have alluded
to above. Only through increased voter participation and an
adjustment of current voting regulations (as I discussed in last
week's post), do I feel that politics will truly mirror and
represent the people. Our country was founded on this lack of
representation and the evils of persecution and exclusion, so where
is our revolutionary spirit?
This all reminds me of a tour I took of
the capitol, where there is a statue of four female figures with one bust yet uncarved. This statue
remains unfinished for the first female president. Its existence as
an unfinished process is a beautiful tragedy, for it simultaneously
highlights how far inclusion has come, but how we still have a
journey ahead of us. We can no more say that we have reached full
inclusion for all genders than we have for all races, sexualities, or
even religions. The political system has many firsts yet to come and
although Obama's election was a momentous day and the first step in
that process, I look forward to future elections where the primary
debates can be an array of people, instead of carbon copy rich, white
males.
The competition between the first
Mormon president or the first two-term black president is approaching
with the next tidal wave of politics. But the first female president,
the first Hispanic president, the first Muslim president, and the
first LGBTQ president is on the horizon, far off but visible, perhaps
in our lifetimes we can achieve as many “firsts” as possible.
