We, the Voting Village, for President Hillary Clinton

Today marks an auspicious occasion for American women, especially those of us born sometime in the 50s, 60s or 70s. Forget boomer or gen-xer labels, I'm talking about women who've experienced the struggle of inequality in the US, first hand and watched our grandmothers, mothers, sisters and aunts fight the good fight all their lives, simply to be seen and heard for what we are; strong women.

Today Hillary Clinton becomes the first US presidential nominee of the democratic party, which makes me proud to be her supporter, because ultimately it's she who supports us. Nearly 100 years after women were finally granted the right to vote, we have a nominee who's lived our struggles, understands and represents us.

Some people reading this will inevitably write me off as "voting with my vagina" (I'm looking at you Susan Sarandon) but frankly, my vagina cringed and tried to crawl back into my ovaries at the prospect of Carly Fiorina (also purported to be a woman). Nope, it's that Hillary is smart, successful, compassionate, empathetic and vastly qualified to lead one of the greatest nations on earth.

Growing up, I watched my mother struggle to keep our large family going, she wasn't a bra burner but she taught piano lessons and worked as a crossing guard so she could help bridge the gap between my dad's wages and the needs of our family all while still being home for us, as women were expected to be. When it was my own turn to make my way in the world, I slid behind the wheel of a taxi cab in Philly in 1979, eager to earn enough to pay for my college tuition. There weren't many women driving cabs then, and I had fares who refused to ride with me, because I was "a little girl" and Philly had some arguably tough neighborhoods. From there I went into the United States Air Force (USAF) where my grades and test scores qualified me for any career field I could choose - except of course, the great many which were reserved for men only. When I landed at my permanent duty station, there were only 3 women in my unit and while the military was sometimes further ahead than the civilian world in equality, there were constant hurdles, simply by virtue of my 'vagina'.

I'm not complaining. I've had it better than many women. I wasn't trying to raise a family on my own, with no support, no childcare and no health insurance. I wasn't struggling to get an education while working to support hungry mouths, I wasn't also fighting racism or religious intolerance. I was one of the lucky ones able to overcome the barriers in civil engineering and software while looking across the table at stodgy men in business suits, telling me that I had good ideas but the men would take it from here. I had to make many sacrifices, like marriage and family in favor of a career while my male counterparts were never even faced with those choices. They could have it all.

But then I remember voting for Bill Clinton and being so thoroughly in awe of his first lady Hillary. After years of fighting (in relative obscurity) for children with the Children's Defense Fund, watching her take on healthcare was like experiencing your first sonic boom. She was driven, fearless, tireless and resonated with all the women I knew. She believed it was possible. I watched her and learned that perhaps my own struggles paled in comparison to others. She taught me compassion, empathy and the lesson that we are all responsible for, and to one another. She weathered outrageous sexist attacks on everything from her appearance to her choice to stand by her marriage vows. The attacks extended to her daughter, young and innocent but not above attack by angry republican men who feared the power of Hillary's sheer intelligence. They couldn't attack her on the things that mattered so they got in the mud and threw shameless buckets of it, seeing what would stick (much like they still do).  She took it on the chin and overcame not by cowering nor by striking back. Her ultimate victory was her ability to draw on the power of her convictions and keep moving forward to draw more people into the vision she was creating.

Women play a unique role in bringing us together to be that village (of her famous quote "it takes a village") because we've all experienced adversity and we are the flexible strength this nation needs right now. We know that 'my way or the highway' only serves to make our paths to success more difficult. We know that it's never a question of 'us or them' and that finding a path of inclusion for everyone is a far greater aspiration. We know this whether it's in our families, our schools, our businesses, our charities or our world view because we live it daily. We are the agents of compromise who affect change.

I know that many of today's younger women can't relate to those struggles, and if not, then we've done our jobs. We want to make each generation of young women, more self-confident, more powerful in their own right without facing the barriers that our mothers and grandmothers faced simply to earn us those rights. But never, should we forget that our grandmothers marched as suffragettes, our mothers fought for rights outside of the home and that we (and Hillary) have fought to shatter the glass ceilings. We should be proud, but never forget the journeys that got us here and be ever mindful of the road ahead.

So today, with tears streaming down my face for this momentous achievement, I'm proud to stand behind Hillary Clinton as a woman who champions my causes, represents women better than I could ever hope to and stands up as a proud American ready to represent our diverse cultures and values to the world at large.

As Hillary says; "If that's the woman's card? DEAL ME IN!"

Please join me and be sure to visit Hillary's website for any further info - her policies and proposals are published for all to see.

Unicorns and a Bernie Sanders Presidency

When I watch ridiculous sci-fi movies with hubs, he always reminds me about "Suspension of Disbelief" being required in order to enjoy the movie. So today, dear readers, I will ask the same of you. We'll journey to the land of make believe where unicorns exist and fairies sprinkle pixie dust over magical dreams to make them come true.

OK, are you there with me? I'll give you a moment...

Now that we're soaring on the back of a winged unicorn under a cloud of pixie dust, let's just imagine that Bernie Sanders actually wins the democratic nomination. I know, I know, continue when you're done laughing. Let's imagine that all those superdelegates that the Berns insulted by calling them "Democratic Whores" could actually be swayed by Bernie's 'popularity'. (yes, I know that Clinton has well more than 2.5 million MORE votes than the Berns but remember, we're on a unicorn here) Now imagine what would happen if the Berns had to run against the GOP candidate and let's just hypothetically say that's Donald Trump, since all the GOP candidates are equally frightening in different ways. Bernie has been crying and whining that the Hillary camp has been mean to him or has been 'cheating' him, or that elections are rigged against him. Of course this is just a smokescreen to cover his own  failures and personal smears on Hillary, but we'll take another pass under the pixie dust to pretend that he's really been demeaned and cheated. Bernie is fond of saying that current national polls put him farther out in front of Trump than Hillary and this is proof of the cheating and smears. Let's take a closer look.

The reality, even in our pixie dust, unicorn world, is that no one in the GOP has yet to take a shot at the Berns. In fact rightwing Karl Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads, has aired TV ads against Hillary in states where there were democratic primaries. So Bernie has actually gotten help from the very folks who will take aim at him come November in our imaginary Bernie-winning-nomination land. The tone of the campaigns this season has been incredibly acerbic, from Bernie's camp calling Hillary a 'democratic whore' and his supporters throwing dollar bills at her motorcade as you would a stripper; to Trump's racist comments and blatant name calling, I have to think that this would not end well for Bernie. In reality, the GOP can't wait to sink their teeth into Sanders' soft underbelly in a general election.

At issue will be Bernie's own lack of a track record and unsustainable promises. In all his years in Washington he's managed to sponsor 3 bills which passed; two of which were to rename post office buildings. Not exactly as earth shattering as his socialist rhetoric proclaims him to be. And that's just the easy stuff, his campaign promises to grant free college education and 'break up the banks' (just don't ask him how) are reliant upon a pixie dust coated projection of a record breaking sustained economic growth, unprecedented in the history of the US. It's hard for me to imagine, even whilst riding a winged unicorn, that breaking up banks and risking 700,000 US jobs, demonizing corporations who provide many of "the good jobs" his supporters are demanding, combined with draconian trade policies that will drive companies out of the US while dramatically increasing the cost of consumer goods in America, will lead to any expansion of economy. In fact even through rose colored lenses it has the potential to plunge the US into the worst recession in history.

Now this is not to say that some of Sanders' goals aren't good ones, it's his priorities and general paranoid cynicism that I rail against. You can't change a nation by tilting at windmills to convince its citizens that they have no hope, all the cards are stacked against them, so why bother trying on your own. It may help you get into office as a unicorn flying demagogue but what then? People who think they've been defeated before they even make an attempt are far less likely to work hard to overcome obstacles. It's far easier to plop on one's ass and blame everyone else for your own lack of success.

Do we need to even the playing field so that people have a greater chance of success - yes, I think we have a responsibility to do so but to me, that's helping those who really need it, not some college kid who racked up 50k in consumer debt on a credit card. I feel badly for them, but I'm not inclined to call them underprivileged. Do we need to solve education issues? Surely, but my priority would be for basic education in underserved communities where kids truly don't have a fighting chance. No one is handing kids in south side Chicago or west Atlanta, credit cards to have lattes with their pals. How about we make progress toward improving education there and eliminating guns so that kids can actually make it to school without being shot dead in the street? The people whining about free college are the people who've already had a great deal of advantage in their lives, they just can't seem to see past their own struggles to see the bigger picture. And of course, if you try to knock them off of their unicorns to see the world from more realistic vantage point, they write you off as being part of the establishment.

Perhaps I am part of the establishment, but isn't that what they are screaming for an opportunity to be? They are shouting that they paid for school and can't get the 'good jobs'. I'm sure there is truth in that, since the economy is still recovering after the devastation what was George Bush, but 'good jobs' aren't handed out on a silver platter either, never have been. I tried paying for a good education by driving a taxi and waiting tables in Philadelphia in the early 80s. It was no picnic, let me tell you. So I joined the USAF  one of 3 women in my whole unit,  and when I got out, I was able to earn a whopping 8 bucks an hour in a male dominated field. So I worked my ass off, twice as hard as any of my male peers until after 15 years; I had 'the good job' pulling down 6 figures. And you know what? I was able to make changes, hire women, run after work seminars for them to teach them the ropes in the hopes that their struggles would hit less glass ceilings and allow them faster progression.

Am I a hero? Nope. I'm a pragmatist. There are many more women in my field now and in much higher positions, including CEOs and senior government positions. This wouldn't have happened had all of us, faced with challenges, sat on our collective asses blaming the system and demanding that someone else change it. We worked hard, we continue to work to assure that change, at times slower than we like, is inevitable as death and taxes. So when these younger folks find out that change starts from within, not from screaming and shouting at someone else to change it they will undoubtedly succeed. Will the younger generation condemn them for their hard work? Quite possibly, so I suggest that they tend those unicorns well so that they can be passed to the next 'revolutionaries'.

Long live the unicorns.