To the editors:
I take no issue with the details of Matt Tullius’ piece (In this presidential election, better the devil you know …, 9/29/16), namely that few minds will change in the next 30 days, that Hillary Clinton is a known while Donald Trump an unknown, and that, for more reasons than can be succinctly listed, Trump is unfit to hold the office. Where my opinion diverges from Tullius’ is on the very premise of his argument, that our choice is one between two devils.
The discrepancy between qualifications, flaws and sins that exists this year is like none we’ve seen between major-party candidates, perhaps ever. While it is of course necessary to compare them, instead of separating Trump entirely and calling him out for the fraud that he is, Tullius has created a false equivalency, though he sides with Clinton in the end, by labeling them both as devils. While Clinton loses points for her inability to smile on command, Trump drops the same or fewer when he jumps on board with the KKK. Such an error in comparison is revealing of the true state of gender inequity in this country, at this moment in time. This presidential campaign has exposed our unreadiness to accept and champion a woman as a leader.
Clinton is not a devil we know. She is a highly experienced and proven workhorse who admits her mistakes, changes her opinions as the world progresses and, in the end, doesn’t give a damn whether you think she is the devil because she has dedicated her life to service and politics and will keep on keeping on just as she always has whether you like her or not. Perhaps the first step in combating this false equivalency is to call our fear by its name, sexism, then get back to work for gender equity.
Next step? A woman in the White House.
Kate Strum
Oklahoma City
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