Why Warren
I’ve been a supporter of Elizabeth Warren since long before she launched her 2020 presidential campaign, and my support for her will continue. Her persistence in defending the public interest is inspiring. Here’s one example of many.
During the 2020 presidential election, I’ve supported Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tulsi Gabbard, and Marianne Williamson. I thought each of them had something important to add to the national political discourse. I’ve been sorry to see each of them drop out or become less viable over time.
Why Women
I’ve supported and promoted women for leadership positions in business and politics for years. While I’d like to think men and women are equal in every regard, there are numerous indicators that suggest women make choices that result in better outcomes:
- Academics. By just about any measure, women perform better academically. Women represent about 70% of high school valedictorians. (source)
- Business. Women CEOs and CFOs outperform their male counterparts. (source) My personal experience working in organizations guided by women has confirmed this.
- Ethics. Women seem to commit fewer crimes than men and thus are about 10% of those incarcerated compared to men representing about 90% of those incarcerated. (source)
- Health. Women live longer than men, and while that may be largely the result of genetics, it seems women’s life choices and behavior could be contributing factors. Here’s a simple non-scientific study you can conduct on your own. Watch a group of women interacting. They smile, laugh, complement each other, and use physical contact to communicate and share affection or compassion. These are behaviors known to promote healthy living and longevity. By contrast, men will exhibit these behaviors less, or not at all. The World Health Organization summaries women’s longevity advantage this way: “This difference is partly due to an inherent biological advantage for the female, but it also reflects behavioural differences between men and women.” (source)
Do you want more examples? I can do this all day long.
In addition to generally producing positive outcomes, it’s important to have women equally represented in business and politics to ensure that there are no systemic institutionalized biases that would hold women back from being successful.
What Happened
In the 24-hours before Super Tuesday, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar abruptly halted their campaigns and immediately began campaigning with and for Joe Biden. Amy KIobuchar helped Biden win Minnesota. At the same time Beto O’Rourke held a big event with Biden in Texas which gave him an advantage there. As a result, Joe Biden, with little effort of his own, became the frontrunner. The moderate wing of the Democratic Party proved they could set aside their differences and egos to unite behind a single candidate.
What Could Have Happened
Biden didn’t win Super Tuesday. A coalition won Super Tuesday in his name. Is he the best candidate to beat Trump? Is he the best candidate to serve as President? We won’t really know because the Democratic Party broke the Democratic Process.
Instead of endorsing Biden, Amy Klobuchar could have endorsed Elizabeth Warren. In fact, all the female candidates and their allies could have agreed to endorse whoever the remaining female frontrunner was prior to Super Tuesday. In this case, Elizabeth Warren.
What’s a bit disappointing and sad is that Amy Klobuchar and Marianne Williamson are the only female candidates to end their campaigns in order to support someone else, and they both endorsed men. The other female candidates who dropped out, quietly exited the public spotlight.
Hillary Clinton has influence and a powerful network of supporters and allies. She could have used that influence to help the women candidates running for president in 2020. Instead, she attacked one of the women (Tulsi Gabbard) by calling her a Russian asset. An attack that seemed to harm Tulsi’s reputation and standing. Tulsi has launched a lawsuit against Hillary. Women attacking other women and launching retaliatory lawsuits is doing little to advance the cause of women. Today Hillary is on a talk show and news channel tour promoting her book and documentary which has been described as critical of Bernie Sanders. Instead of all these distractions and self-serving diversions, Hillary could have focused on supporting women and endorsing the leading candidate.
Had women and their allies united to support Elizabeth Warren in the same way moderates united to support Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren could be a frontrunner in the presidential race and could have gone on to become the Party’s nominee. That’s a strategy that women should consider in the future.