Vote Her In

Your Guide to Electing Our First Woman President

Rebecca Sive

• Publisher: Agate Midway
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781572848238
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Corruption & Misconduct
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A seasoned political analyst and strategist argues why the U.S. must elect a woman president now and lays out a plan of action to make it happen. Yes. She. Can. Vote Her In addresses the unrealized dream of millions of American women: electing our first woman president. It makes the case for the urgency of women attaining equal executive power at all levels, including the presidency, and offers a comprehensive strategy for every woman to be a part of this campaign—the most important of our lifetimes. Women are wildly underrepresented at every level of the U.S. government: federal, state, and local. Research has shown that women in executive government positions are far more likely than men to commit to policies that benefit women, girls, and other marginalized groups. So, after centuries of underrepresentation, it's clear: our best bet for creating a system that is more fair, balanced, and just for everyone is electing our first Madam President—as soon as we can. Vote Her In is organized around the inspirational messages seen on protest signs carried at the record-breaking 2017 Chicago Women's March. Part One outlines the case for why we need to mobilize now, and Part Two provides a clear strategy for how to do it. Each chapter in Part Two includes an action plan that women can complete to help each other (or themselves) attain political power and work toward electing our first woman president. Author Rebecca Sive draws on her decades of political experience to create this crucial book, which empowers every American man, woman, and child who cares about our nation's democratic future to harness their collective power in the run-up to 2020 and, at last, form a more perfect union. Praise for Rebecca Sive's Vote Her In "Rebecca astutely explores a critical question: If we believe in justice for every American, will we work to elect women to public offices across the country, including the presidency? We must!" —Lisa Madigan, former attorney general, Illinois "Sive takes her years of dedication to advancing women's political careers and causes and turns them into a call to action?along with some of the practical tools needed for real and rapid progress." —Katherine Baicker, dean, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy "Far too few women, especially women of color, have the opportunity to become political leaders. Let's #VoteHerIn, as Sive's inspirational guide so powerfully argues." —Kimberly M. Foxx, state's attorney, Cook County, Illinois

PART ONE

This book is a declaration of independence for our new American revolution, the one to elect the first American woman president now. Fervently, unapologetically, and clear-eyed, we begin with the case statement in Part One. This case statement, declaring we’re still here and we’re not going anywhere, explains why electing our first woman president is the best strategy for women to achieve full equality in the United States and argues that there is no time like the present to get it done.

If you are reading this manifesto, you are likely already committed to this movement, but here, you will find the argument for it, as well as the facts and the patriarchy-smashing proof points supporting not just another “Year of the Woman” but a new American revolution. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of the argument. You will find a lot of inspirational women’s stories here, along with facts and figures that support the case for Madam President. Use these to convince your sisters and brothers to join you in this revolution.

I am confident that by the time you have marshaled this case and are ready to campaign to elect our first woman president, you will also appreciate the profound truths that buttress this call to action to vote her in. To start, American government executives are responsible for our well-being in ways that legislators just aren’t. They:

• have administrative, management, and appointive powers that legislators do not;

• create and sign “executive orders,” policy directives that have the force of law;

• have policy-making opportunities that legislators do not; and

• embody a polity and its purposes. Affirming the importance of this role, once we elect Madam President, women can “symbolize the nation,” as State’s Attorney Kim Foxx put it.

POTUS possesses these responsibilities in unique measure. This truth substantiates why my colleagues consistently stressed in my interviews with them the following points regarding the importance of electing our first woman president:

• It would demonstrate that women can wield executive power as expertly as men can.

• It would prove that women can do anything. Then, every woman would be able to tell any other woman or girl that she can be anything and not be lying. As Attorney General Lisa Madigan said, “Until there is a woman president, you won’t realize you really can do everything.”

• It would establish that women and their concerns and culture are important in every context. “Women’s voices will permeate the discussion in meaningful ways,” according to State’s Attorney Foxx.

• It would clarify that every woman will be better off than she was before because women public officials consistently shape and advance policies beneficial to women. As State’s Attorney Foxx phrased it, most women work “to make sure [that] all boats are rising, that all policies work for everyone,” and that every policy proposal is examined “through the eyes of being a woman.”

I know that for those of us who are passionate about electing our first woman president, Hillary Clinton’s loss still feels like a death in the family. We knew then—and still know now—that the rejection of her was a rejection of us and our beliefs. The 2017 Women’s March reflected our frustration and sadness. But the mourning period has ended, and our sadness has turned to anger and action. American women have recognized that the mercurial man who was elected instead, who has no apparent respect for women or commitment to helping the people who elected him, must be stopped.

Happily, there is hope to be found in the 2016 presidential election numbers. Clinton won the popular vote. A majority of women voters chose Clinton because they found her highly qualified and also understood the benefits of such a regime change, the revolution that electing a woman president of the United States would engender. Clare Foran wrote in the Atlantic that Clinton “succeeded in winning women who might have voted for the Republican candidate in any other election”—this election being the first time there was a woman nominee from one of the two major parties; I rest my case.

These women helped Clinton win the popular vote. Ostensibly, this voting majority preferred Clinton to Trump because of her policy agenda, which included clear and measured proposals for improving the lives of women and girls. These voters recognized the symbolic value of a woman sitting at the president’s desk in the Oval Office—apart from any specific agenda item, her presence there unceasingly makes the point that women matter as much as men. These voters also understood that other women would get the same idea once they saw the first Madam President: Let’s elect another woman now that we see the good work she has done. Maybe I can be that candidate.

Yet, Clinton, who was as qualified to be POTUS as any man who has ever run for or held the office, was defeated by a man who was unqualified and just not suited to it. Thunderstruck by the 2016 presidential election’s outcome, tens of millions of us were left to ponder our case for the regime change that hadn’t happened. After witnessing the election of a man with no governmental experience or aptitude who feels no obligation to follow the rules or, apparently, to adhere to common notions of presidential behavior, it’s time for us to try again.

But what to make of the fact that a majority of white women voters didn’t vote for Clinton? Does this fact undermine my argument that every woman will benefit from electing our first woman president or that every woman should work to elect her? The answer is no. Not all African Americans share the same political views or take the same political actions, yet all benefit from civil rights laws that prohibit race discrimination. Likewise, all women, regardless of their politics, will benefit from the actions of a woman president, who will, if precedent holds true for women in elected office, pay more attention to women’s and girls’ needs and address them more forcefully.

Additionally, in the process of campaigning to elect our first woman president—just like in our campaign to elect our first African American president—people who weren’t believers before may become believers now. Polls now show Trump’s support slipping among white women in states he won in 2016. “Trump has slipped into a much more precarious position with these women: Gallup put his 2017 approval with them at 45 percent in Pennsylvania, 42 percent in Michigan, and 39 percent or less in Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin,” according to an article in the Atlantic. “Compared to his 2016 vote, his 2017 approval among blue-collar white women in the Rustbelt represented some of his largest declines anywhere—18 percentage points in Ohio and 19 in Wisconsin and Minnesota.”

This reality has been reflected in American women’s political mobilization since Trump’s election. Starting with the 2017 Women’s March, this mobilization grew throughout the year as women decided to run for office in historic numbers and to take matters into their own hands, including marching again in 2018. More and more women have come to learn that political change is uniquely powerful and beneficial in every woman’s life. Now they know the best way to counter the forces of misogyny, as expressed in the person and actions of Trump, is through political action.

When I attended the 2017 Chicago Women’s March, I experienced a movement that was 250,000 people strong, in which almost every person carried a sign expressing a fervent desire for a different world—a world where women have equal opportunities and are treated equally in every setting. Marchers wanted regime change. They still do.

All you need to do to be a part of this regime change is believe that women deserve the same rights and opportunities as men and support this declaration of independence, of women, by women, and for women, to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. And while you’re committing to elect our first woman president, consider this: If a woman can be the nation’s chief executive, who can argue plausibly that other women aren’t qualified to hold other governmental executive offices or, for that matter, any institution’s executive office? (After all, none of those is as important as the presidency.) Let’s get started on making the case.

THE FACTS

Lest you doubt the importance of electing the first woman POTUS, consider these damning facts, drawn from data gathered by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University:

• In 2018, none of the mayors of the ten largest cities were women (except interim Phoenix, Arizona, mayor, Thelda Williams). Only 21.8 percent of the mayors of cities with populations over 30,000, which is 1,365 cities, were women. Of the one hundred largest cities, only 20 percent of the mayors are women.

• In 2018, only six US governors were women; only thirty-nine women have ever served as governor (all but three since 1975).

• It wasn’t until 1993 that the total share of women in statewide elected office exceeded 20 percent, reaching a high of 28.5 percent in 2000.

• In 2018, only 23.1 percent of statewide executive offices were held by women, including just seven of fifty state attorneys general. Yet, that office is often a stepping-stone to higher executive office—so much so that in 2017, Democrats launched the 1881 Initiative “to ensure that in five years, at least half of the party’s attorneys general will be women,” the New York Times reported. As the Times pointed out, “The office of attorney general has often served as a stepping-stone to election as senator or governor, thanks to the executive power it wields and attention it draws from both donors and the news media.”

• No woman was elected to the US Senate until 1948 without first having been appointed to fill her husband’s seat. (See chapter 18 for this great election story.)

• In early 2018, only 20 percent of the US Congress (House and Senate) were women. Most of these women were in the Democratic minority, meaning there were few women in the Republican majority to promote to committee chair positions. But women are often excluded when Democrats hold the majority as well. Consider this episode in the debate over the Affordable Care Act and the failure to include an amendment on women’s health: “In short, every person who held power to decide what stayed in and what was cut from the most significant legislation in a generation [i.e., those who were committee chairs] was a man.”

• Few women rise to executive leadership roles in state legislatures, such as house or senate majority or minority leader. For instance, in my home state of Illinois, there has been only one woman majority leader of the state House of Representatives in its entire history, and she was appointed in 1997.

• No woman served on the US Supreme Court until Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s confirmation in 1981. Between O’Connor’s retirement in 2006 and Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation in 2009, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the only woman serving on the court—we’re talking just ten years ago!

• Executive offices are appointed, yet no American woman served in a presidential cabinet until 1933, and the second didn’t follow for another twenty years.

• And, of course, no major political party nominated a woman candidate for president until 2016.

CHAPTER 1

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT

The marcher bearing the WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT poster went to a lot of trouble to make her sign. She really did not want us to miss her point. A set of American flags crowned the sign’s quotation from the Declaration of Independence, which calls to mind the famous phrase that follows: “that all men are created equal.” She was positing that, in the sense of the Declaration, every American is created equally; that every American has “unalienable Rights”; that every American woman should be equal to every American man in every matter of government and policy. But, as everyone knows—including the Women’s March att...