“They are all so phony...Every time I hear any of the Democratic senators, including my own boss, talk about diversity, I cringe, because it’s all one big lie. That they’ve been allowed to enjoy this reputation as a party that values diversity, while doing next to nothing of substance to align their actions with their words, is expert-level deception.”While the Senate has never been good about following the rules they pass down to the rest of us, it should be noted the American people get the diversity they vote for: There are only two black senators, and one of them is Republican (Tim Scott, with Corey Booker as the only black Democrat).
Looking past that, because there is nothing anyone can do about how Americans vote. But the Democrats claim to be the party of diversity, and controlling close to half the Senate, the overall Senate numbers should at least be close to representative of the general population, right? Not according to a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies:
- People of color make up over 36 percent of the U.S. population, but only 7.1 percent of top Senate staffers.
- Latinos make up over 16 percent of the U.S. population, but only 2.1 percent of top Senate staffers.
- African-Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, but only 0.9 percent of top Senate staffers.
- Senate offices representing states with large Hispanic and African-American populations hire few senior staffers of color.
- While those who self-identified as Democrats nationwide were 22 percent African-American and 13 percent Latino, top Democratic U.S. Senate staff as a group is 0.7 percent African-American and 2.0 percent Latino.
How many times do I have to say this? Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same elitist coin. They may spout different talking points, but they both do the same things in power.
Obama may have been a black-skinned male, but he is/was an elitist first. When will you people wake up and realize that skin color is just a distraction from the real issues in this country, which is who has the power and who doesn't.
Wall Street has the power, WE THE PEOPLE don't.
Politicians have the power, WE THE PEOPLE don't.
Republicans and Democrats have the power, WE THE PEOPLE don't.
Why did this happen? Because not nearly enough of you will hold the government accountable. Only voting for Republicans and Democrats for the better part of 150 years has allowed both parties to firmly entrench themselves in the halls of power. Who is overseeing them? Not the voters, who refuse to "waste their vote" on third parties.
On the question of diversity, when have the black voters threatened to leave the Democratic Party? They gave Hillary Clinton 88% in the recent election (only slightly less than Obama's 93% in 2012), and this was with Donald Trump actively trying to win the black vote (he even appeared in several black churches). Most Republicans don't even bother, because blacks refuse to give them support.
But let's be honest about this: What do blacks need that whites don't need? We all need food, clothing, and shelter. We all need jobs. We all need a basic education. We all need health care at some point in our lives. It may be a question of degrees, but the basic needs remain the same. We can disagree on how we should get these things, but we should at least agree on what we are working towards, and then find some way to agree on how to get there.
Skin color has absolutely nothing to do with what government should or should not be doing. If you think skin color should be the basis for any government action, then you are a racist by definition, regardless of whether your preferred skin color is black or white. However, the fact that our elected government, as well as the people who work for our elected officials, does not look anything like our people should send a message that it doesn't represent us. It represents a powerful elite that are being given free rein over us.
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