It is a simple fact that (in all levels of government) most elected officials are White, male, and educated. Why is this? Slightly more than half the population is female, we live in a very diverse nation, and a large percentage of the population is not college educated. Why don't these segments of the population have more representation?
The first part of the answer has to be racism, misogyny, and ethnic bigotry. These elements of our society are still far too prevalent, and work to exclude officials that are female, or from a minority race, ethnicity, or religious persuasion.
There is also some educational bias. It seems that many people assume that having a college education makes a person smarter. That's just not true. It makes a person more educated, not any smarter -- and some of the smartest people I know do not have a college education (while some of the dumbest were able to get through college). We need to stop confusing education with intelligence -- and realize that there is nothing so complicated about government (even though the politicians would like you to think otherwise) that would preclude someone without a college degree from serving admirably.
And I believe a part of the answer is party preference. While the Democrats have a significant percentage of their elected officials who are women or minorities (and even some in a religious minority), the Republicans do not. The huge majority of their elected officials (and candidates for office) are White men (and I believe that is because that's what their base wants).
But the folks over at the Pew Research Center believe they have found another reason -- that most elected officials are educated White men because most people who run for office (candidates at all levels) are educated White men. Note the chart above.
Pew surveyed people in the population, and asked them if they had ever run for political office at any level. The chart shows the results -- with Whites, men, and educated people having a candidate percentage exceeding their percentage of the general population. All other groups had a smaller candidate percentage than their percentage of the general population.
It would seem to make sense that the groups that run for office the most would have the biggest percentage of people elected to office. This would suggest that we need to get more women, racial and ethnic minorities, and less educated (but smart) people to run for office. That wouldn't solve the whole problem, since we still would need to fight the racism, misogyny, and other types of bigotry inherent in our society -- but it might be a good start.
What do you think?
NOTE -- The question was asked of 3,341 randomly chosen national adults between January 23rd and February 9th, and has a margin of error of about 2 points.
Hey, the 'others' in the population, that you want to step up to the plate and run for office, know that politics is a slimy, corrupt, and thoroughly disgusting job. Why would the rest of us want to expose ourselves to that kind of moral depravity? The money isn't worth it unless the candidate gets his palm greased by the Kochs or other wealthy donors and look where Bob McDonald is right now as a result. Get the moneyed interests out of politics and put running for office on a level playing field and about the issues, and you might get the 'others' to join in.
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