I’ve been writing articles for the Monitor for 1½ years now and have never felt a need to write one of a political nature. Today that changed.
I do want to say that, while I feel my thoughts are shared by many of America’s pediatricians, I am putting down only my own personal thoughts in this column.
On Tuesday, I will be voting for Hillary Clinton.
Many may ask why, as there is so much controversy surrounding her life and campaign. My main reason is the future of our children and grandchildren.
In such a divisive campaign, it’s sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction and even harder to concentrate on the issues, but some things are clear.
Hillary Clinton cares about children, and wants to do what’s best for them and their future. As a doctor who has spent her life devoted to the care and health of children, that is extremely important to me.
When Hillary Clinton was in law school, she first showed her interest in the welfare of children by doing research on the health of migrant farm workers and their children.
She then graduated from law school and went into her first public sector job working for the Children’s Defense Fund. As part of that job she gathered information about disabled children in Massachusetts and helped pass legislation that led to quality education for students with disabilities.
In 1977, she co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, which was the first child advocacy group in the state. As first lady of Arkansas, she continued her work with families to promote health care and education.
In Washington, D.C., she garnered bipartisan support to create CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). This has been one of the major programs to insure children in the country and has cut the number of uninsured children by half. Today 8 million children are covered under CHIP. That may include the children of many of the Monitor’s readers.
She is also a champion for children around the world, and helping these children will lead to better relationships with the adults they become and our country in the future. She has made advancing the status of women and girls around the world part of U.S. foreign policy. She has helped girls in other countries reach their potential partly by supporting a policy that combats sexual violence against women and children in combat zones.
So this is what stands out as an important record to me in care and concern for our youngest citizens who can’t vote for themselves.
The most important thing we adults and young adults can do is to vote for a candidate who will protect our most precious resource – our children and youth.
No matter what candidate you support, it is also important to get out and exercise your right to vote. This is another important lesson we teach our children. That the right to freely vote in our democracy is one of the most important privileges of a free country. Hope to see you all at the polls.
(Dr. Patricia Edwards of Bow is a pediatrician and president of Concord Pediatrics in Concord.)