Not In My Lifetime

[sleigh]

Until recently, I really didn't think that there was a chance in hell that I would see a black man as president of our country. I'm looking forward to seeing that historic moment today.

And hopefully, if I live long enough, I might see a few other firsts:

-- A woman elected president (as long as it's not Sarah Palin, please...). That, I think, is conceivable. Hillary Clinton's run for the nomination, and (I must admit) the choice of Palin as McCain's running mate have hopefully been enough to break down the barriers that Geraldine Ferraro first assaulted back in '84.

-- An openly gay person elected president. I suspect that one may have to wait a long, long time...

-- An openly non-Christian elected president. My preference would be for an openly agnostic or atheist, which I think is the one with the least chance. I suspect that a Jewish president is most conceivable. A Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. is nearly on a par with an agnostic or atheist.

What barrier(s) would you like to see broken in the future? What do you think the chances are?

Comments

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

No insult meant to Ms. Ferraro, who is a very admirable woman, but what about Victoria Woodhull the suffragist who ran for president in 1872? Are we discounting her because she didn't run on one of the big parties but on the "Equal Rights" party?

I'd like to see a "third" party candidate win, and a breakdown of the dichotomy of Dem/Rep conservative/liberal that helps make our politics the circus it is. Might as well wish for gravity to alter in its functioning throughout the universe.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

You make a good point -- I'd completely forgotten that Woodhull ran.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a viable third (or even fourth) party at some point. That's one to add to the list:

-- a person who is not a Democrat or Republican elected president. Probably not in my lifetime, I suspect.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

We could easily see a third party rise in our lifetime. It kind of depends on whether the Republican party remains hijacked by the religious right in four years.

I mean, it's not as if the Tories or Whigs are big political players anymore, right?

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I'd agree that we could see another party arise -- we've already seen that with the Green Party and with Nader and Perot. It's not inconceivable to me that the far right-wing conservative/religious portion of the Republicans could split off in the future.

But a really viable third party, one that has a genuine chance of their candidate being elected, rather than being a party that pulls down one Democrat or Republican candidate's chances and causes the other to be elected.... I dunno...