With the tenseness of the political climate at an all-time high, it can be easy to forget there are politicians determined to help the American people. Women are doing tremendous things for the country, and have been for some time. While we don’t always recognize them, we can learn a lot from their contributions.
Elizabeth Warren is the U.S. Senator for Massachusetts, and a true trailblazer in advocating for the defense of the middle class. Born and raised in Oklahoma, Warren was the youngest of four children and the only daughter. Money was tight at home, but she excelled academically, eventually graduating high school with a full debating scholarship to George Washington University in Washington D.C. She married at 19-years-old, and had two children before the age of 30—all while thriving as a first-generation college graduate. Warren began working as a teacher, received her law degree from Rutgers University in 1976, and then worked at various universities around the nation before finally settling at Harvard in 1995.
A Harvard law professor and, at one time, a registered Republican, Warren decided to focus her research on the effects of economic forces on the American middle class. Her work was based on a law Congress passed in 1978 that made it easier for companies and individuals to declare bankruptcy. She wanted to investigate why so many Americans were ending up in bankruptcy court, and expose them as cheaters who were using bankruptcy to take advantage of other Americans. In the process, she discovered that a vast majority of those Americans were not corrupt, but from regular, hardworking, and middle-class families. Her perspective was changed.
Warren has always been a passionate defender of America’s middle-class, and a voice for regular citizens around the country. In a speech about the impact of Wall Street on the middle-class, she stated: “We cannot run our country without a strong middle-class… If we hollow out the middle-class, then the country we know is gone.” Despite her eloquence and convincing rhetoric, she was attacked for her criticism of Wall Street. Her opponents called her everything from “incompetent” and “ignorant” to “power hungry” and a “media whore”.
Nevertheless, she persisted. As one of America’s leading bankruptcy experts and consumer advocates, Warren advised the Obama administration to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): a government agency that helps protect consumers from abusive lending practices by corporations. Started as a result of the 2008 financial collapse, Warren helped push it through Congress, but despite her initiative, she was not picked as the head of the CFPB.
Today, she remains a natural foe to corruption on Wall Street and a leading figure in the Democratic Party. Warren is active in representing and fighting for American people who feel as though their voices are not being heard. Her political strength and toughness gives women everywhere an inspiration for maintaining grace, strength, and power in the face of direct adversity.