Everything has been brought up as to why Neera Tanden was not confirmed as a member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet.
Having watched many of the panels, discussions, guesses and more we were amazed to find the one reason we see as Senator Manchin’s dumping on Ms. Tanden not included or even hinted at in any of these hashing and rehashing of opinions.
This United States is a country in which we witnessed Hillary Clinton, the most qualified person to run for President of these United States – if not ever – in decades, lose to the most unqualified person who was purported to be a mafia don, if not in fact, then in the way he conducted himself and his business. He was also someone who had a sordid record in most areas including sexual abuse of women; lying outrageously to the people he supposedly represented; and on and on and on.
What was wrong with Hillary Clinton? She was a woman.
What is wrong with Neera Tanden? She is a woman whose family, both culturally and otherwise comes from East India. And not only that, but she breaks the cultural norms for women in that society and in this one with the way she assumes she is equal to everyone she meets and all of those she does not meet. Neera Tanden speaks her mind and does not suffer fools gladly. All things a woman should not be and should not do. She would not be a cabinet member who would be obsequious when necessary to save her skin and her job. That kind of independence for a woman, especially a minority woman is totally and completely unacceptable in these United States. In fact, that way of acting is unacceptable for men in these United States.
The white male ethic, which is the ruling and most prevalent ethic governing these United States, has its clearest proponent and example in Senator Mitch McConnell. Take a look at the way he reacted to ex-President Trump’s second impeachment. McConnell voted to say Trump was not guilty. After the vote he made public statements in the Senate Chamber to make sure everyone understood where he was coming from personally. From the way he approached the podium and his demeanor he clearly was putting out to all the way he actually felt and believed about Donald Trump.
Following that presentation, most people expected him to join the other side and vote, etc. in a way that was true to the statement he just put out. McConnell, however, went on to say to a reporter in answer to his question if he would support Donald Trump for president in the 2024 election if Trump was the GOP Party’s nominee. Senator McConnell’s answer was – of course, he would support the GOP nominee for president.
Everyone went up in arms at Senator McConnel for saying he would support Donald Trump after he laid out the reasons he thought Trump was really a piece of crud. They missed the point in Senator McConnell response to the reporter. He did not say he would support Trump, but that he would most definitely support the Republican nominee for President in 2024. This outlines the ethics on which this country has been developed and run for all of these years from its very beginning. “No, I don’t believe in slavery. It is against everything in which I believe and in Church on Sundays I have to leave my outside life at the door before I enter. Yes, I own slaves. My family and I would suffer greatly, especially economically if we did not have the free labor that slaves provide.” And on and on and on.
Over the decades, we have had to make sure only white males of a certain ethnic background moved into any position of authority, wealth, etc. to insure those ethics would be maintained, because most thought they were what made this country great. Only recently has that begun to break down with those who resign rather than violate the ethics by which they live and make decisions in this life.
When one looks at Neera Tanden, it is bad enough we have one woman who is half East Indian with some of those cultural characteristics and ethnic look, , but two would not be acceptable – and that one half-East Indian woman Vice President sometimes lets her tongue loose to speak her truth, but she does curb it more than half the time.
What would happen to this country if those two pooled their actions, thoughts, etc. and we have that kind of power going against the ethical standards of white males? It would be disastrous for people like me. I would shortly be broke, destroyed, out of power and “they” would be going wild taking over the country. Me and mine would lose all control and we would not be able to mold that one-half East Indian Vice President into the person she should be to be a replica of me and mine.
That would not be eliminating in itself, but Neera Tanden is a woman and the Vice President of these United States is a woman who is half-East Indian. To have the two serve in the same space is not something this society can allow. Until now we have had that under control. There has and is always a Senator Manchin type – the pre-programmed white male racist who is the one to carry out making sure the “hit” to the white male ego is not too hard and to do what he can where he can to mitigate this diversity movement which is becoming so strong.
Denial of what I am writing is so loud I can hear it before I finish writing this article.
Neera Tanden, in addition, is not married to a white male or any other male who would make sure she does not overstep the boundaries of the established racism and sexism to which this country adheres. We have had and still have minorities in power positions all throughout this country’s history, but they have always known their place and only a few have overstepped – and we have known how to silence them.
It will be 20 to 40 years before political writers and historians are able to look back and with credibility analyze what happened here and be able to credibly write about the existing bigotry that so pervades this nation that the most qualified people – who are not white and male – are rejected for reasons that just don’t ‘hunt’.
“May our words reach God’s heart and come back wrapped in the forgiveness we don’t deserve, but sorely need.”
