Wow – just wow

Ok – so after the disrespect shown on Monday I was nervous about the roll call. I was afraid that the nomination of Hillary Clinton would be marred by that. I was never so happy to have my worries proved wrong.

The roll call was a thing of beauty. It was such a contrast to last week and the joke that was the Republican National Convention. In this roll call we saw an incredible affirmation from every state for our candidate, the first female ever in that role. It brought me to tears and I don’t cry often. To see a 102 year old woman celebrating the possibility (hopefully reality)  of our first female president, reminding us that women did not get the vote until 1920. This woman was born before woman were allowed to vote and now she cast her vote in the first step of electing out first female president.

To quote Joe Biden – that is a big f**ing deal

The night was so beautiful starting with the darling of the Capitol , yes I’m a huge Hunger Games fan, entering to “We are the Champions” in an authorized use of the song mocking Donald Trump’s entrance before his wife spoke last Monday night. The speakers were moving and positive and they spoke to the character of Hillary Clinton. There were moving testimonials that say the  one thing that the Republicans and the press and yes, many Americans, don’t want to believe Hillary Clinton is an honest woman of stellar integrity who has been working for the people all of her life.

I don’t know how we got to a place where public service is mocked and seen as a negative thing. I also don’t understand how people being in public service can  be seen so differently. Bernie has been in the public life for decades as well. He wasn’t as successful. He’s not female. I’m not sure why one is good the other is bad. Hillary has been very successful and like many successful people she has made money. It’s what we are supposed to strive for and yet she is pilloried for that as well. People who speak publicly often are paid well. For men with Hillary’s experience that paycheck can be up to a million dollars for that time. Hillary earned less – no one will ever mention that.

We learned about Hillary. We heard from the mother’s of the movement. Some of the women who have lost sons and daughters for nothing more than being black in America. We heard from police who have felt and appreciate Hillary’s support. In the Democratic world you can support Black Lives Matter and the police and recognize that both are possible. We need changes. This is not the Republicans who cheer that no one will be held accountable for a perfectly healthy man being placed into a police “wagon” and having a broken neck at the end of the ride.

Bill Clinton was wonderful telling us how he met Hillary. He told us how committed she is to doing the right thing. There were, of course, many objections post speech. It was the first – first gentleman speech – done by a former President so it was different from anything anyone has heard before. He called her a girl when he thought back to meeting her and that was wrong somehow. He talked about himself and how he remembered her and that was wrong. It was a beautiful speech. It was a first just like everything we are doing now.

We made history – or herstory – and there is a sense of the patriarchy going a bit crazy. They will cover anything and everything negative and there is no celebration of the history that was made. We cracked a glass ceiling or a marble one – and we are going to bring it down. Hillary Clinton is tough enough to take everything they throw at her. Experienced enough to do the job on day one. She is honest and trustworthy no matter what the media says.

We aren’t supposed to celebrate because she is a woman. We aren’t supposed to celebrate our victory. It’s not just because she’s a woman. It is because she IS a woman who has done it all. She has taken everything that the patriarchy, the true establishment, can throw at her and keeps on going.

It goes on today.

Just as an FYI – when you are Secretary of State and negotiating for the President you support his policies. Like the TPP, like Keystone. I haven’t studied the TPP in depth but I know that we have to have trade. I also know that more jobs have been lost to automation and a changing world than to trade agreements. I’d also note that Mexico is doing much better today and that is good for us. Trickle down economics and union busting are more influential in the stagnation of wages. So is sequestration. When we cut the government, which pays well, there is less salary competition and that keeps wages low. The policies of a Republican government are being felt by the country.

We have to recognize that there are not two co-equal sides that have differing opinions. The Republicans have been denying facts in more and more outrageous ways and now they are bending over backwards to validate their candidate. Last week we had a few days of them trying to explain plagiarism rather than just acknowledging it. It was a few words. It was My Little Pony and then finally it turned around and it was plagiarism. Its insanity.

That that insanity is compared in any way to Hillary Clinton is incredible. What it validates is that there are two standards. Two standards for women. Two standards for people of color. Two standards within this country. If you are a white man who kills you are disturbed. If you are a person of color you are a terrorist. When are the white men in this country, the men of this world going to realize that we are not trying to bring them down. Rather we are trying to raise all people to be one.

Hillary Clinton is the leader for this time, for this country, for this world.