The Presidential Election - an immigrant woman’s perspective

Adobe Stock Image

There has been a listlessness in the air these last few weeks. My friends have retreated, not wanting to engage in any form of political news or discussions on how they feel and what comes next. My reaction has been different. In times like this, I seek to understand right away. Make sense of it all. In the last election I found two books very insightful. Strangers in Their Own Land, Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild and Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance. Podcasts by the likes of Ezra Klein have been my refuge this time over. Two books on my list now are, Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP by Patrick Ruffini and Bone of the Bone by Sarah Smarsh.

After a few weeks of immersion in what others have to say, here are my musings.

A woman president?

Trump’s victory both times has been over a woman presidential candidate. The only time he has lost, it has been to a white man. Could be a coincidence, but one does hear the question - Is America ready for a woman president? I find this question a perplexing one for a society where women have so many more social liberties compared to many other countries. I grew up with Indira Gandhi as India’s prime minister. Oxford educated, always clad in a sari, she governed with an iron hand. As I came into adulthood, I grew to disagree with some of her approaches, but having a woman prime minister leading one of the biggest democracies in the world did not seem unusual at all. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka’s prime minister and Golda Meir, Israel’s prime minister made the possibility of strong women leaders very real. Western democracies have more recent similar examples in Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel and Jacinda Arden. 

So, what is it that plagues our societal psyche that questions a woman’s ability to lead and be tough? Is it a lack of awareness of what has already been achieved? But we do have examples right here in our country. Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD has turned her company around and won the CEO Of the Year award in an extremely male dominated semiconductor industry. IBM and HP have had women CEOs. There is no shortage of strong inspiring women leaders. So, what is it? A critical question for sociologists to research and answer. 

The single issue voter

In my view, most people vote in their self interest. The affluent, including first generation immigrants want to pay lower taxes and protect their pocketbooks. Even if it means that we continue to careen towards even greater economic disparities than the present day. The less affluent, understandably are focused on fundamental kitchen table issues. There is no room to consider broader societal issues focused on the larger good. Foreign policy and how it could affect our economy in the long run doesn’t carry much weight for them. Immigrants enrich our cultural tapestry, but they also bring from their home countries cultural issues and political leanings that guide their thinking. A friend of mine once said that she would not vote for Hillary Clinton because Hillary had supported Pakistan. Pakistan and India have a very complex and contentious relationship. An immigrant of Mexican descent in the service industry said to me indignantly that she wished the Democrats would not give handouts because she worked very hard for a living. We see things from the lens of our experience. A successful political leader now must juggle a broad set of issues. Staying true to their ideals while sharing their vision of a country that has a place for all is a complex undertaking.

Education - the missing piece of the puzzle

I may have missed it, but I did not see a focus on education being profiled prominently by the Democrats. It did make it to the Republican platform, however more from the perspective of addressing federal government spending and overreach. I see the same lack of focus in my very Blue state. The Unites States is the envy of the world when it comes to higher education. It is the reason why immigrants like me have flocked to this country. The same however cannot be said about our K-12 education system. Data published by the National Center of Education Statistics indicates that 25 countries have a higher Math literacy score than the United States. Education like health care and housing should be considered a fundamental right. Regardless of the state or county one lives in, everyone should have access to a basic quality education. I was educated in a public school system in India. We had no programs for gifted students. In rare occasions, a very academically talented student got to skip a grade. We all had the same curriculum and studied all the sciences. Rarely did we have a student not making it to the next grade. I chalk it up to the expectations we were held to and the cultural reverence for education.

Rather than politicizing education, we must have our government focus on a strong education base for all and provide all schools the resources to do so. We need to learn from nations that are doing this well