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We have got to get money out of politics
Kamala Harris withdrawing from the Presidential race highlights one of the major problems with our political system.
As I read the news about Kamala Harris withdrawing from the presidential race, I was sad. Not because I was terribly invested in her as a candidate, but because her reason for withdrawing were so much bigger than that — she didn’t have enough money to hang with the other candidates.
I grew up with my parents telling me that I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up — even president. The idea didn’t seem all that far-fetched to me, after all, I was a product of a marriage mere years after the Loving v. Virginia decision allowed my parents to choose a life together. We hadn’t yet had a person of color or a woman in the Oval Office, but that didn’t seem to be a wholly untouchable goal. While I never aspired to public office (I wanted to be an astronaut), I believed in the tenets of democracy and that it really was available equitably for all.
As I approached my thirties, I celebrated the election of the first Black president and I befriended the mayor of my hometown, who was the youngest ever elected to the office. She was also the first female to hold the title and a mere three months younger than me.
