The purpose of the government is to protect and provide for its people. A government that is not representative of its people will not adequately serve its people. A government with officials that are representative of its people will create more inclusive policies and offers a more diverse set of role models for its citizens. This diversity should span from differing genders, sexualities, races, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, religions, etc. With more diverse politicians comes more diverse solutions and a government that better reflects the wants of the people.
A few blog posts back, I looked at the history of women in U.S. politics. In that post, you can see how recent the start of women's involvement in American politics has been. I have also mentioned in a past post that women make up a little over half of the U.S. population but only makeup 25% of the U.S. Congress. As you can see, our government is not proportionally representative for women, not to mention all of the other demographics mentioned above.
We still have a long way to go to reach a government that is accurately representative of the American people. The benefits of having a diverse and proportionately representative political environment should not be ignored. Many people suffer when the people in charge of creating and implementing policies don't have an understanding of how their actions might impact every demographic.
For More Information:
https://inclusiveamerica.org/why-diversity-is-important/
Shelby, first off great post! I think it is important that our governing systems adequately represent America’s population. This goes for race, age and gender. With that being said, this may be a double edged sword. It is also important to vote people in on their platforms, and go deeper than surface level. As a woman, I would love to see more women in political power for representation. Yet, I do not vote for women just because they are women. As Americans we need to look past a ‘tokenism’ stand point when voting and vote on platforms that align with us WHILE maintaining correct representation. I believe this begins way before citizens step into the voters booth.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelby,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about the importance of diversity in politics. I love the statement you made about a government cannot represent its people if it is not representative of the people it serves. I think you made a great point in that we need more diversity in our government. I agree that we need people from different walks of life to make up our government. The examples you included are great, such as people that are different genders, races, ages, religions, etc. The more diverse, the better the government can protect and provide, like you said. I did not know that only 25% of the U.S. Congress is women. I think that it needs to be near 50%, so that it reflects the U.S. population. You stated that over half of the U.S. population is women, which means the government, specifically the U.S. Congress is not necessarily accurately representing its population. Great post!
Shelby, I really agree with everything that you said in your post. I think that a government that is not representative of their people will never be able to fully protect and provide for them. I remember reading your blog post about the history of women in politics and it has started to make somewhat better strides in that area. I agree that with a more diverse politicians it could lead to more diverse solutions and that could be a changing point for our world. Having a new look on things could be very beneficial, and I think that making our government more diverse could be a step in the right direction for that. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your blog posts. Everything you said is spot on. Our "representatives" don't actually represent us. How are we supposed to expect Congress to solve our problems when they cannot relate to them? Our whole system needs an overhaul. Rich white men should not make up the majority of our country's leadership. They cannot understand the problems that their constituents face. Another frustrating thing is that they often alienate minority members of Congress such as AOC or Ilhan Omar. It's irritating. Good post!
ReplyDelete-Hunter S
First off, great post! I agree with a lot of what you had to say in your post. It feels like our "representatives" are becoming less and less representative of the people who voted them into office. The representatives are pushing and pleasing an agenda without much regard of their constituents. I think your point about diversity is a good one and one of the solutions to this issue. Great Post!
ReplyDelete