Graphic by Ellen Weinstein for Politico.
BY: Haley Glover, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
I’ve heard it time and time again. Said off to the side at the dinner table, whispered in class, or mentioned in the news. The defensive, “I’m a femininist but I didn’t vote for Hillary,” the angry, “She doesn’t get to be president just because she’s a woman,” or the gender-neutral “I vote for policy, not the politician.” And I agreed. I agreed because I didn’t stop to think about who a politician is. Specifically who a politician is in America. “The who” varies across regions and states as a consequence of America’s vast land and diversity. The “American politician” cannot be defined by a set of qualities or qualifications because the politician is the physical manifestation of the voters. In the opening lines of The Constitution, America was defined as a representative democracy. Section two states, “The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States.” [1] With the establishment of The House of Representatives, the politician became “the representative '' of the people. We the people, allow our voice to be projected through the individuals we elect. We give up certain political freedoms in exchange for representation with the expectation that our interests will be heard by the greater American political system.
Graphic via The Cut.
But who is listening? Over two hundred years after the drafting of the Constitution, and it’s added amendments, “the people” has come to encompass those outside the white male demographic. Yet, representation in politics has failed to answer to the whole of the American people. In order for politicians to represent their constituents they must understand and empathize with the lives of those they represent to accurately relay their interests in government. Some argue that who the politician is doesn’t matter, and that only their policy platform should be voted for. While I agree policy must be considered when voting, I do not believe it overshadows the identity of the politician. This is because identity matters. It matters because the identities of the American people have been politicized throughout history.
Marginalized individuals have been forced to advocate for their right to be represented in government and have not stopped fighting since. They cannot stop until their voices are echoed in government. Today, politics has not only defined the identity of women but has infringed on the woman’s body. This is evident in the Supreme Court's most recent decision to uphold the Trump administration’s ACA’s birth control mandate. With this decision, employers can choose to not provide birth control coverage in their employees’ health plans if they have a strong religious or moral opposition. [2] Such a decision prohibits women employees from accessing safe means of contraception and marks women’s bodies as a place of reproduction and shame. The identity of women as mothers pervades government and the normalized female rhetorical strategies of female politicians. This identity can be diversified with the increase of women in politics. These women act as the voice of women across America, and with enough representation, they can be loud enough to make a change for the politicized woman.
Graphic via Catalyst.
While I am currently speaking for women, this logic can be applied to all marginalized groups. As America continues to diversify, our government should be a representation of this change, not a tool that actively works against the marginalized. This election season I am voting for women because my identity as a woman has been written into law time and time again. And every time I see no woman behind the pen and hear only muffled female voices.
References
[1] U.S. Const. art. I, § 2.
[2]Adamczyk, Alicia. “The Supreme Court’s ruling on the ACA’s birth control mandate could cost women hundreds of dollars each year.” Article Title.” CNBC, June 8, 2020. Accessed July 15, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/08/what-to-know-about-the-supreme-courts-birth-control-mandate-decision
Haley Glover is an English and Political Science major at Middlebury College. Originally she is from a small town in Ohio and is particularly interested in the Midwest's political stage. She hopes to aid communities throughout middle America in a future law career.