We love women in politics until they ask for more power; the newest victim of this trend is Elizabeth Warren. Warren went from being a favorite for the nomination to campaigning in Bernie’s shadow. Now she's polling in 3rd place, but 33 percent of voters say that she’s their second choice. The divide between supporting Warren wholeheartedly, and skeptically claiming her as a second choice isn’t a result of a campaign shortcoming or strategic malpractice, but within the minds of the voter. America is still uncomfortable with women running for president.

At the beginning of this election cycle, Elizabeth Warren was the progressive favorite. She handled the Native American identity scandal with expertise, and then was swept under the rug as voters realized that her supposed good outweighed her evil. Warren continually championed “big structural change”, especially in the midwest, and emphasized the need to reform education. She famously has a plan for everything. Critics paradoxically labeled her as a new Hillary, and as a new Bernie — a woman in the same position as she was in and a man whose policy she made better. Regardless, she was still Elizabeth Warren.

After Bernie entered the race Warren still retained a large part of her voter base, but as time went on, her supporters began to leave. Bernie and Warren’s platforms do differ and each candidate has their own interpretations of certain issues, but they are still two sides on the same progressive coin. They support almost the same issues in the same manner, with little deviation. Fixating on the differences is just a feeble way to ignore the glaring fact that America hasn’t, and in the foreseeable future will never, want a woman to be president. Even in a party of acceptance and inclusion, microaggressions are still pervasive. Just look at the current Democratic field, the party started with a historic number of six women running for president and now there are only two left in the __while white men claim front runner status. Recently, Biden said that he wouldn’t be angry and aggressive like Warren if he were president while he completely overlooked the campaigning style of Bernie: yelling and wildly gesticulating.

Furthermore, Warren and Klobuchar face the never-ending question of electability even though they are just as qualified as the other candidates in the race. Whenever I think about situations like this, where I feel as though criticism is unduly placed upon a female politician, I pose this hypothetical: what if we were talking about a man? If two progressive male candidates ran against each other with almost identical platforms, how would America react? Obviously division would exist, however, I doubt that this level of scrutiny would be applied.

I’ve heard several people profess their ardent devotion to Elizabeth Warren, only to turn towards Bernie and say, “I don’t know, I just like him more”. Especially in Princeton, where we value progressive viewpoints and the politicians who champion them. We love to support women in politics, except when it really matters. If a progressive town can’t get behind a female candidate who is quite literally the same or better than the male candidate, how can the rest of America? The democratic party isn’t as progressive as we had hoped or assumed, especially if progressive ideals can’t pan out in a liberal bubble. PHS is filled with motivated and politically aware students, and we are beginning to understand our place in the political sphere. Young voters are the ones who have the biggest stake in this election; we’re the ones who have to live with this policy the longest. So it is our responsibility to diversify the Democratic party. Through our civic engagement, we should rethink the way in which we view certain candidates. It is our job to minimize the number of microaggressions that we apply to females running for office, as ultimately, we’re the main ones who will benefit from diversity in our government. It is in our best interest as the future of America to have a government that reflects us; a government filled with as many varying viewpoints as young voters themselves have.

Admittedly, I know that in this instance my hatred equates disappointment. It hurts to watch this happen again —a woman gets so close to the presidency when suddenly the tides turn at the last moment. It’s even more frustrating that this is a candidate that has no pernicious flaw. There are no emails, no trashy husband, no classic “Democratic elitism”. There is only a fierce-minded woman with an elaborate plan for every setback steered her way. I will always see Bernie as a progressive revolutionary because ultimately, that’s what he is. He is the reason why the party has its current outlook and why we’re talking about the issues that matter. But we should look at this as a model situation of how the student surpasses the master. Elizabeth Warren does everything that Bernie does, but better.