Well, it’s been a week since the election, and for the most part the world has restored itself to the pre-campaign status quo: Obama in the White House, Democrats in the Senate, Republicans in the House. Most of the folks on my Facebook feed have moved on to posting new lolcats and George Takei shares, although a few despondent libertarian-types continue to lament the death of “Traditional America” and demand to know how I, as a upwardly-mobile white dude, could possibly justify siding with all those minorities and slackers and communists. You know, Democrats.
The answer is easy: I want the best future possible for the Ladybug and the Butterfly.
I want my daughters to be unashamed of their nontraditional family, one that’s trans-racial and started through adoption. One political party’s platform has embraced many forms and flavors of a loving family. The other party’s platform specifically seeks to snuff them out, from preventing legal recognition of non-traditional marriages to denying adoptive rights.
I want my girls to appreciate the intrinsic value of others. One party has embraced social diversity and built a coalition that reflects the American melting pot ideal; the other party laments this diversity and stigmatizes the different: the wrong color of skin, the wrong God to worship, the wrong gender to love.
I want my girls to be selfless and moral. One party embraces the idea of social contract; the other despises it. One party believes society works best when it works together; the other party believes society excels when driven by individual competition. The first of these notions can be rigorously defended game theoretically; the second can be shown with equal rigor to be wrong.
I want my girls to be in charge of their own destinies. One party has a long history of enforcing policies against discrimination against women, persons of color, and the disabled; the other party has an equally long history of opposing them.
I want my girls to have the best education possible. One party supports the rights of educators and the value of public education; the other demonizes both. One party embraces science and its prospects for making a better future; the other can’t even bring itself to accept evolution.
I want my girls to have the same opportunities as any man would. One political party’s presidential candidate signed a law to ensure that working women earned equal pay for equal work; the other political party’s candidate dismissed the idea in favor of flexible hours to ensure enough time for cooking dinner and doing laundry.
I want my girls to have the best future possible. One party has a financial plan with a documented history of success in growing an economy, fostering individual prosperity, and reducing national debt; the other party clings to an outdated plan that nearly bankrupted the country, has never been shown to grow and economy, and lead to the greatest wealth inequality in a nation’s history.
I want my girls to be in charge of their bodies. One party views them as intelligent humans who can make decisions about how and when they should start their families; the other party views them as little more than human incubators or tramps.
I want the world my girls will inherit to be clean and healthy. One party works to promote conservation, a clean environment, and green energy; the other party does not. One party addresses global climate change head-on; the other denies its very existence.
I want the world my girls will inherit to be peaceful and connected. One party’s candidate has worked to end end two wars and strengthen an international coalition of allies; the other party’s candidate repeatedly endorsed those policies during the third debate.
I want the best future possible for the Ladybug and the Butterfly, and only one party offered that.
