1 post tagged “qotd”

Is it likely that the U.S. will have a female president in the near future? In your lifetime? Why?

What a great Question of the Day to start my Vox with! Personally, my ultimate life's dream is to be president of the first independent settlement on Mars. But that's a whole different topic, and I'm digressing already.

I can't imagine the US won't  have a female president sometime in my lifetime. Beyond that, well, it really depends on your interpretation of "the near future." Realistically, and because I disagree with some of her policies, I'm not expecting Hillary Clinton to win the next presidential election. I don't believe the US is ready quite yet. That said, I could easily see her taking the Vice-Presidential seat for a term or two, paving the way for another woman to take the Presidency later on.

When questioned on his thoughts about the possibility of a UN Secretary General recently, Ted Turner responded with the following (hilarious and brilliant) idea:

Men should be barred from public office for 100 years in every part of the world. ... It would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently run world. The men have had millions of years where we've been running things. We've screwed it up hopelessly. Let's give it to the women.

While I agree with him entirely in thinking that male-dominated civilization has mucked things up to no end, at this point in time the kind of change he's talking about could only be enacted by an outright ban on men in politics -- even a concerted effort to stand up female candidates for political office at all levels is going to be met with ridicule and an immense amount of pressure. Call me a pessimist, but right now I see an influx of female politicians as accomplishing nothing but causing the power structures and flows to shift to avoid them. Of course, there would be individual success stories, but on the whole it would just be a flop.

A female President, on the other hand, would be a person in a position to enact dramatic changes and inspire both male and female politicians to be more accepting of a co-ed democracy (I realize I've gone from civilization in general to the US political system in particular; just go with it, it's a starting point). The President is not someone you can just divert political power away from with great success; as we're seeing with President Bush, who stubbornly keeps the country dancing on the strings of his whim. Granted, he had the strength of his party behind him in the House and Senate for his first term, but things are still rough with the Democrats having taken control there.

I'm actually not in favor of a political system with zero men. What I'm in favor of is a political system that puts the best people to the best use, no matter their gender, religion (or lack thereof), or color. An entirely female political system is, I'm sure, going to put any number of good male statesmen to waste. It might be necessary to drive home the idea of how things need to change, but it would be a waste nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm digressing again. Back to the topic, namely why there will be a female President soon. It's inevitable, if you ask me -- women are currently expanding their presence in practically every walk of life that has been previously male-dominated; that is, just about everything beyond the role of homemaker. It's only a matter of time until the glass ceiling crumbles and women work their way into every aspect of society as equal members.

And here I was so pessimistic earlier! See, at heart I'm actually an optimist and an idealist.

In other news, I sliced my hand preparing dinner last night. It's already closed up nicely, but I guess this means no Guitar Hero for me for a little while.