By Molly C. Parzen

This has been quite the star-studded week within the bi-college community—politically speaking, that is. We started off on Sunday with Janet Reno, the former Attorney General under President Clinton and the first woman to hold that office, who spoke at Haverford about her experiences of getting into office. On Tuesday evening, I was lucky enough to join Madeleine Kunin, the former Governor of Vermont, Ambassador to Switzerland, and Deputy Secretary of Education under President Clinton, for dinner and a wonderful lecture on women and politics.

Then on Wednesday, former Secretary of State under (you guessed it) President Clinton, Madeleine Albright spoke to the campus about the current (dismal) state of foreign affairs and why she believes Hillary Clinton to be the best candidate for the Democratic nomination. Finally, rounding out the week, we had Karen Kornbluh, a top policy advisor to Barack Obama and a Bryn Mawr alumna, address the student body about her political journey and why she believes that Obama is the best nominee.

This snapshot of one week on Bryn Mawr’s campus perfectly captures one of the many reasons why I believe that this election cycle, specifically the Democratic race, is drastically changing the face of politics and our participation as American citizens in the political process. I believe that the race between Obama and Clinton has done more to increase ordinary citizens’ interest in politics than any other in recent memory. People who ordinarily would not be interested in politics and would not participate are debating politics, looking at the issues, and hopefully voting. While there are cons to the prolonged contest between the two senators, such as almost certain and irrevocable divisions within the party that will make it harder to unite behind one candidate in November, I feel that the pros of increased participation in the political process much outweigh them.

The United States, arguably the most successful democracy in the world, has major issues with political participation. In 2006 for the midterm elections, 43.6 percent of the voting aged population used their constitutional right to cast a ballot. In 2004 for the most recent presidential election, 55.3 percent voted.

The international community does much better with political and voter participation than America does: Italy ranks first with a whopping 92.5 percent voter turnout and is followed closely and unexpectedly by countries such as Cambodia with 90.5 percent, Somalia with 87.1 percent, and Rwanda with 82 percent. Many of the nations that rank higher than America in terms of voter turnout, interest in elections, and involvement in the political process are nations that have emerged from periods of great strife and political turmoil. The citizens of these nations truly seem to appreciate the gift of the right participate in the democratic process.

We as American citizens could stand to learn a thing or two from them, and I think that this election is helping by showing us what it really means to be involved in politics. With Obama and Clinton literally neck and neck, American voters are truly getting to see that their votes can make a real and palatable difference.

All of the speakers we had on campus this week touched on the issue of women in politics. I think that this is another area in which Hillary Clinton’s campaign especially is going to have a huge impact. Clinton is truly the first female candidate for the presidency who is actually a viable one. This is a huge step forward for women. Seeing a strong, brilliant, and capable woman running for the highest office in our land and dealing with all sorts of sexist criticism and unwarranted attacks while still winning primaries and gathering delegates makes for an empowering image for women across America. Hopefully Clinton’s run for the White House, whether successful or not, will encourage more women to run for office and get involved in politics. As the wonderful Governor Kunin says in her equally wonderful book, “Pearls, Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead,” “It is time for a call to action, for new political leadership to emerge from the women of America… we have been bystanders to history for too long… we can no longer wait for incremental change; it has been too slow… To arrive at equal representation, we must mobilize both our anger and our optimism: anger at what is wrong in America and optimism that it can be changed for the better.” I wholeheartedly believe that Hillary Clinton’s campaign embodies—and will help future generations of women to embody—Governor Kunin’s sentiments.

Parzen, a sophomore political science major, can be reached at mparzen@brynmawr.edu.

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