Tuesday was election day for part of the country. My county had no seats up for election locally, for state, nor for national office, so no election bruhaha around here. We have 362 days until the 2024 general election.

I do tend to “wax philisophical” about elections. Certainly there are serious and pragmatic reasons to be concrete about voting choices, but I tend wonder about what could be as if I were still in my college political theory class.

What if: Congress looked more like our actual national population makeup?

• There are currently 128 women in the House of Representatives (@29%) and 25 Senators (26%) per the Pew Research Center. Women are 51% of the current population (datareportal.com).
• According to the latest statistics from usafacts.org, a record 62 members of Congress are Black. The House of Representatives is actually representative of the country’s percentage of African-Americans, roughly 12%! The Senate, only 3%.
• According to the latest CRS report from congress.gov, Hispanic/Latino Americans the representation is 9.6% in Congress (45 House reps, 6 Senators). The current Hispanic population of the US is 19%.
• Asian Americans make up 7% (per Pew Research Center) of the population. The diversity of this group is by far the most complicated in my opinion. Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander is a mouthful and I would be curious to know how these folks feel about being lumped together for demographic purposes? There are 19 representatives in the house and 2 in the senate.
• Native Americans make up 2.6% of the population and have 1% representation in Congress (5 members).

While these statistics don’t inspire me to throw a party, I believe we are making progress towards a more perfect union. All total, 25% of the Congressional membership does not identify as White. These numbers are higher than any other time in history. With 41% of the American population identifying as non-White, the numbers are not balanced, but the gap is closing. Currently, 59% of the American population that is White-non Hispanic has 75% of the representation in Congress. So, yes, we still have quite a bit of progress to make.

There are a multitude of population groups and complicated ethnic identities in the United States. The number of Native American and Native Alaskan tribes alone boggle the mind. And why do we pool all of Asia together? Do you realize how many countries are actually part of Asia? There are also regional distinctions in America—rural, urban, suburban, New England, the South, the Rustbelt, the Flyover States, the West Coast, to name some but not all. And then we have political party affiliations. These affiliations are related, but separate from our contiuum of liberal and conservative and everthing in between and on the wings. I could go on, but you see my point.

While there are many noble and good reasons why people have identity preferences and often vote in blocs, I feel like we sometimes forget the two most important things about US citizenship. One, we are all Americans. Pick your descriptor plus hyphen; we are all American. Two, we need to elect the person who we feel in our hearts will best represent US (U.S. = us, see how I did that?).

For many of us, our political efficacy has taken a beating in recent years. For others of us, we believe we never had any political efficacy in the first place. We cannot continue to allow this to happen. Everyone’s voice matters. Period. Sometimes our choice doesn’t win. Sometimes we lose–and we lose big! But how many times do we keep trying? As many times as it takes to be heard.

We cannot lose hope in the uniquely American belief that democracy wins. We have to exercise our citizenship and pay attention. We must listen (not yell, or scream, or interrupt or denigrate) and then choose and then compromise.

So now the what if question becomes: Do I want to vote for someone who will make the best decisions for the country? Or, Do I want to vote for someone who will make the best decision for me?

These questions are not the same. I don’t have the answers dear America. I promise I don’t. I have 362 days to figure it out for myself. However, I am secure in the knowledge that if I don’t make the choice I thought I did, I have a chance to begin the reversal 750 days later at the midterm.

So come on over America. We can sit around the proverbial fire and listen and share and think and agree to do something, anything, as long as it is comes from mutual respect. We don’t have to hold hands and fall in love. We can disagree and walk away and take a few laps–as long as we come back. The uncommonly beautiful thing about America is we have a chance to continually adjust the pendulum. Let’s go America. It’s 362 days and counting. Let’s engage for real.

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P.S. I did not address the candidate choices for public office, or campaign finance reform, or term limits. These are separate and yet equally important issues to write about in the next chapter. Wink, wink.

Love y’all Marla