Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Which came first...

For years, I've often amused myself by wondering whether we'd have a black president before a woman president, or the other way 'round.

I shouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched, but it looks that that debate is over. And I happened to be right. But it seems to me like that's just random chance, and the particular candidates we had at this time. Maybe I'm reading the degree of sexism in our culture wrong, but I wonder if Sen. Clinton hadn't been weighed down by the baggage of her husband, what might have been. Not to mention the mismanagement of her campaign itself.

Anyway, now I find myself wondering: gay or athiest? Will we elect an openly gay president before or after an openly athiest? My bet: gay. I think that in another generation sexuality will be viewed the same way we view race now - something you're born with. So it won't matter if you're gay or straight, we'll all just be people. But not believing in God, that's something that connotes character. Or at least some people think so. And will think so in 100 years.
Of course, both of these things are attributes about internal states, which you can lie about to others. But that's what makes the question interesting to me. While we may have had a gay president already, and probably have had an athiest, when would the public choose one willingly?

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