Should we vote according to race and gender?
By Ben J. Connell

If the spirits of the nation's Founding Fathers were still around, they would have to be weeping over the deterioration of the present political situation into impending chaos.

With the enormity of the societal advances and cultural changes which have taken place in the nation during more than three centuries, it is inconceivable that a time could ever come when consideration, by anyone, as a primary qualification to be a candidate for president, or any other public office, would be the color or gender of the candidate. Yet, in the current political campaign there are those who, apparently, have decided to disregard or pay little attention to any other qualification.

Lamentably, there are presently those who have convinced themselves that they deserve the right to inflict punishment and/or exact revenge upon any societal group or individual who has personally, or whose ancestors, whether because of color or gender, might have perpetrated an injustice upon themselves or their distant or current ancestors.

Just as wretchedly despairing are those whose only sense of self- value or self- worth is inextricably dependent upon their claiming superiority to a different group or to whomever they deem to be inferior. Those who accept and practice a belief in, adherence to, or advocacy of a theory that all people like themselves possess characteristics, abilities, and qualities which distinguish persons specific to their kind to be deserving of special rights, entitlements, recognition, acceptance and/or favors, can only find themselves fettered with the onerous task of escaping the incontrovertible assertion that their accepted practices identify them as racist or sexist.

May the God of Creation hasten the day when the content of one's character will supercede both color and gender as the measure of a person.