What do you consider the most important "diversifiers" for our representatives?
I responded to Mr. Grayson's thread but would be interested in the opinions of DU at large.
For reasons that are unclear to me, when people talk about diversity, especially in terms of political representation, it seems to almost exclusively mean 1) what skin color the person has and 2) what gender they identify with. Yet in my personal opinion, if we truly want diversity of thought, opinion, and experience in Congress and the White House, then where that person grew up, what kind of household they grew up in, their education status, their health status, etc. ought to be way more important. Why is no one ever talking about needing more single parents in Congress, or people with a positive HIV status, or veterans, or people that have been homeless?
I don't get why we're always so obsessed with the skin color or what's between the legs of our representatives, as if more people of color or more gender diversity is magically going to make Congress do what we want. Is a filthy rich African-American from New York that much different than a filthy rich Caucasian from New York?
I realize that your life can be shaped by your race and gender, but are we saying that's the PRIMARY determination of what your life is like? Aren't a person's experiences much more important to how they'll vote than what they look like?
