I am proud to cast my vote for our first female president, Hillary Rodham Clinton. I respect her, I admire her and I cannot wait for her to represent our country. Hillary has comprehensive and feasible goals. She intends to bolster our gun control policies, preventing those who are a danger to themselves and others from owning lethal weapons. She envisions welcoming 65,000 persecuted Syrian refugees who need our help. Hillary wants everyone to prosper from the American Dream. This includes creating a fair tax system, improving education for all children, ending campus sexual assault, making college affordable, confronting climate change, reforming our criminal justice system and immigration policies, increasing the minimum wage and enacting many more policies to advance our country.
Secretary Clinton is a champion for Americans from all walks of life. She worked tirelessly as a young lawyer at the Children’s Defense Fund advocating for low income and disabled children. President Carter appointed Clinton to the Legal Services Corporation board, an organization that defends low income families and fights for equality in the justice system. During Bill Clinton’s presidency, Hillary fought for affordable health care and proceeded to create the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program, which successfully insured 8 million low income children. She firmly believes that love is love and that families come in all shapes and sizes. She fights for paid family leave, never surrendering to gender norms.
In 2008, when she lost to her fellow democratic presidential candidate, she put our country first and stepped up as Secretary of State under the Obama Administration. In this role, Hillary visited 112 countries, fostered the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in 2012, enacted sanctions on Iran which led to the Iran deal, successfully killed Osama bin Laden and always maintained and advanced our relations overseas.
I am not going to tell you to vote for Hillary because our country will combust if her opponent wins; rather, I think you should vote for Hillary because she truly is qualified and prepared for the job, and will work tirelessly to improve the lives of all Americans.
Hillary is a born leader who never gives up. She apologizes for her mistakes and admits when she is wrong. No, Hillary is not perfect. But anyone who has been working for the American public for as many years as she has is bound to have made some mistakes along the way. A president who can acknowledge her own imperfections is human. Hillary stands up for what she believes, and when society changes, she too reflects on her previously-held stances and alters them accordingly. Hillary has a lifetime of experience solving problems and implementing policies. We want a president who will build bridges and fight for us. We want someone who has overcome many obstacles and faced a plethora of challenges with grace and dignity.
As a young girl, my parents told me I could do anything. Rather than simply saying it, my parents showed me that women are just as powerful and important as men. They are complete equals. Through example, my balanced family taught me to be a proud feminist. Hillary did just this for so many other little girls; she taught us how to be strong women by example.
Hillary is a trailblazer. She is a pioneer and role model for women everywhere. Hillary was the first ever student speaker at Wellesley in 1969, an accomplishment that earned her a spread in LIFE Magazine. She was one of twenty-seven women in her graduating class at Yale Law, the first female associate and then first female partner at Rose Law Firm in Arkansas. In 1995, Hillary proclaimed to a patriarchal world that “human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights” catapulting female equality into the governmental sphere (this same year she also won a Grammy!). In 2000, Hillary was the first female New York Senator, and in 2016 she will be the first female president.
I am not voting for Hillary because she is a woman, but because that quality makes her that much more qualified. I am voting for her because she has proven that she is ready for the awesome responsibility and power that comes with being a United States President. She has had to work ten times harder than any man to get to where she is today. I am voting for Hillary because she has the perseverance, stamina and grit to succeed in a man’s world while helping Americans every step of the way.
Hillary is brilliant, brave, resilient, caring and inspiring; it is about time she serve as our president.
Be on the right side of history.
Rebecca Saber is the director of Hillary for America at Cornell. Comments may be sent to [email protected]. Guest Room appears periodically this semester.