opinion

I want to be proud to be an American once again, under President Warren

It's election season. For one brief moment, the whole country, 327.2 million strong, looks to Iowa. Who will we choose to lead us? Especially this pivotal year, our responsibility to America and the world is awesome. So, I ask you: “Who are we caucusing for, Iowa?”

Progressive Barack Obama won by speaking to those who didn’t feel heard, inspiring first-time voters craving big changes. In 2016, moderate Clinton took on Trump, who was espousing great change. Once again, people chose change.

Examining polls and policies, I narrowed my choice to Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Sanders' isolationist trade views pushed me away, but I didn’t want to choose solely by process of elimination, so I dug deeper.

Warren used to be a non-political, staunch conservative Republican focusing on conservative economic policy. When studying, then teaching law, she followed the common beliefs of the day, espousing the free market and limiting regulations.

Going beyond academia, in 1982, she visited bankruptcy courts across the country to prove people claiming bankruptcy were mainly fraudsters. In the courtroom, face to face with people, and hearing their stories, the truth hit hard. These were regular people like her own family. They simply fell on hard times. “My thinking rotates on its axis,” Warren described to Politico. From this moment on, Warren chose to fight for the people.

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She was still a non-political registered Republican until 1996 when Mike Synar, whom she beat in high school debate class, hired her for a federal commission reforming bankruptcy law. She switched to the Democrats, but hadn’t given up on her Republicans. Fighting desperately to win bipartisan support for her consumer-centric economic proposal against an opposing business-friendly proposal, she finally lost in 2005 when President George W. Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. In Warren’s book, A Fighting Chance, she illustrates, “It’s a David versus Goliath story, but this time David gets his slingshot shoved down his throat — sideways.”

This major loss caused a second reckoning. She finally abandoned her Republican roots.

Now she was the Warren we know. After the market crash, she fought for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Obama signed into law in 2010. She would have headed the CFPB, but Republicans blocked her once more. Having fought for the people time and time again, with no elected office to win, she eventually changed tracks. Challenging Republican Scott Brown for his Senate seat in 2012, she won and continues to serve in the Senate today.

Elizabeth Warren is human. She’s held wrong beliefs. But through studying and listening, she learned differently and changed her mind. How rare is this? Especially in politics? She went even further, standing up and fighting for the voiceless. She isn’t just human; she is intelligent and humane. How often are we, especially when holding power, truly humane? Trump is doing his utmost to trample our humanity. Warren has the mind and heart to bring our humanity back.

Daisy Marlene Martin is a writer who is currently working on a children’s book exploring the history of American political parties. Living in Urbandale, she helps her mom care for her autistic brother. Contact her at Daisymm216@gmail.com.