Letter to the Editor: Clinton and Appreciating History

To the editor:

The views recounted in Molly Roberts’s recent pieces on Hillary Clinton and millennials are deeply disappointing. This is not purely a gender issue; rather it reflects a failure by young women and men to appreciate history, the difficulty in achieving progress, and the tentativeness of success.

Abortion was illegal in most states until Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 shortly before I graduated. Gender discrimination in hiring and compensation was commonplace. The few women who succeeded in climbing male-dominated ladders did so at huge personal sacrifice. They overcame great hostility and gave up much in the process. If today these gray-haired citizens have amassed some money after all they have done, they should not be criticized for it. They earned every dime many times over.

Progress is not linear. No immutable law protects the gains women and men have won over the past decades. Every Republican presidential candidate wants to reverse advances progressives have achieved over the past 50 years. Our country is one or two Supreme Court appointments away from a return to the 1950s. Many members of the House and Senate are already there.

Progress is incremental. Incrementalism is not as much fun as revolution. Revolutions don't tend to happen in countries like ours because people are careful, thoughtful, and concerned about unexpected consequences. Income inequality is a very serious problem, as is the dominance of money in politics. But these problems will not go away simply by political fiat or by politicians demonizing specific groups, be they immigrants, Muslims or Wall Streeters. We could try to deport all illegal immigrants, ban all Muslims, and break up the banks (at a loss of thousands of good jobs for college-educated Millennials). But simplistic "solutions" like those won't succeed.

My grandmother was a suffragette. She practiced law in New York City before she could vote. Those who worked hard to make the successes of the past 100 years a reality deserve our respect. I put Hillary Clinton in that group. She doesn't want to get rid of government like the Republicans or double its size as Senator Bernie Sanders has suggested. She wants to work with what we have to make it better and preserve the gains that have been achieved. As far as I'm concerned, it's got nothing at all to do with gender.

Kenneth E. Meister ’73 is a lawyer in New York.