OPINION: Vote for my daughter

Dear fellow American voters,

I’m asking that you vote for my daughter in this upcoming presidential election. I know how biased this sounds, coming from a father, but I am confident a vote for her is the best any of us can make, regardless of political affiliation.

She is selfless, honest, and hardworking. She’s intelligent, articulate, kind and empathetic. She plays fair and is fair. She’s a team player, and a natural leader, beloved by her peers and even the strangers she encounters. She doesn’t make excuses or blame others when things go wrong. She’s stood up for people who were being bullied and called out those not abiding by the rules.

She pays her taxes, has never gone bankrupt. She settles her debts. There are no allegations of fraud. She’s never been indicted, tried or found guilty of breaking any laws.

This brief record of my daughter’s life should encapsulate what we as a nation should expect, at a minimum, of our future leaders. Sadly, this is not the case. Of the two leading candidates in this upcoming election, there appears to be only one matching any of my daughter’s characteristics or her character itself. The other would be hard-pressed to claim or prove a single of these attributes.

Notice I mentioned nothing about the candidate being female, or young. Though those two traits are certainly important. The key point is that this election is bigger than party or partisanship. This vote matters in ways we cannot yet begin to comprehend. However, we should all be able to equate at some level our future leader’s potential for goodness over vitriol, anger, incessant name calling, and outright lies.

And while this girl I write about is only eight years old and therefore, due to her age, constitutionally ineligible to be president of the United States, her future is very much on the ballot. Her name itself is on the line in this election. Not the line where it says the candidate’s name or party affiliation, but the veritable line of all we stand for, as her name, Saoirse in Irish means “freedom” and “liberty.” With some simple logic, reason, and a vote cast for the one candidate that is closest to my daughter’s name and character, our country can live up to our potential, maintain our democracy and standing in the world’s eyes, and leave the young women of this country with hope for a future that includes and values them.

With hope,

Don Rearden

Don Rearden, author of the novel “The Raven’s Gift,” lives and writes in Anchorage, but often pretends he’s still back somewhere on the tundra outside of Bethel.

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