{"id":677,"date":"2015-04-14T17:09:23","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T21:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=677"},"modified":"2015-04-14T17:09:23","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T21:09:23","slug":"firsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/14\/firsts\/","title":{"rendered":"Firsts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hillary<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hillary Clinton has started officially down the road to the Presidency of the United States. She would be the first woman to serve in this high office. My question is does she deserve to be President just because she would be the first woman?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The answer to me is a simple one; no. No one should be elected just because they would be a first<\/em>. The possibility of being the first person of a certain gender, race, religion. creed, etc is not the best reason to vote that person into office. In fact it is most likely the worst. What qualities, ideas, vision, etc that they have is much more important than them being the first of their kind to be elected to that particular office.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Being first is not a qualification for office and should be way down on your list of reasons for voting for that person. That is not to say you should never take their being the first person to possibly elected into that particular office, just not let it become the overriding reason to vote for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Somehow a very high number of voters over the years have let this or that person get into office because they would be the first of their race, religion, etc to get elected. It happened to Mayor Dickens of New York City<\/a>, he became the first Black Mayor in the city\u2019s history. Yet he was a mediocre Mayor and did not really have much of an overall impact. And then there is the ex-governor of New York State, David Patterson<\/a> who was both the second blind governor in the United States and the first Black man elected in New York State. He was mostly a non-entity as governor who ended up only serving 2 years that were left when the previous governor had to resign.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What I am trying to get across to anyone reading this blog is that electing a First <\/em>should not be even in your train of though when deciding. Before someone attacks me for being anti-Hillary or woman, I have no problem at all with a woman president. For that matter it does not matter what their race or religion is either.<\/span><\/p>\n

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All that matters to me is what their experience is, their stand on a variety of issues and do they reflect the values I want in a candidate. Being a First<\/em> does not really come into my decision making process and it should not in yours either.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But what does matter to me and I hope to you too, is that you vote for whoever you want to. It is your duty as a citizen of this country to do so and if you do not; don\u2019t complain about who does get in!<\/span><\/p>\n

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That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n

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