As you may have heard, we made history on November 4^th, 2008, with the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States. Headlines erupted around the world announcing America’s first black president, magazines declared a triumph for African Americans, and comedians quickly parodied a projected downfall of white power. Along with millions of other Americans, I shared in the elation about Obama’s election. I was elated first and foremost that he is a Democrat—bringing a much needed balm to a Republican-scarred Washington—and a charismatic one besides. I was elated by his message of change, the way he was able to get so many millions of Americans fired up for their country again, and by his plans for our troubled nation. And while I absolutely appreciate the historic significance of this election, I can’t say that I am particularly excited because Barack Obama is black. I am excited because he is not white.

From what I’ve seen in the months since the election, the media, as well as the general populace, places special emphasis on President Elect Obama’s blackness, as opposed to his minority-ness. But I would have been equally excited about a Hispanic candidate, an Asian candidate, or a Native American candidate (that’ll be the day). This is not to say that I am indifferent to the unique history of African-Americans. While every minority has faced adversity in this great but often unforgiving nation, most agree that African-Americans had it the worst (probably because the Native Americans were wiped out to such an extent that people forget they are there). Because of the horrific nature of slavery, and the dramatic civil rights struggle previous generations of blacks went through, it is truly thrilling to see one of their number elected to the most powerful office in the world (even though he, um, isn’t a descendent of slavery or the civil rights movement…but that’s another topic for another blog). So while this history does move me, I am more focused on the input of diversity into the American government—any elected official who is not a white man gives me at least a little excitement, regardless of party affiliation. Because the problem with our government, if I may be so bold as to reduce the woes of a preposterously complex institution to a single fault, is that it is made up of too many white men.

Not that I have anything against white men. Several of my absolute all-time favorite human beings are white men. And while the penchant of some white men in previous centuries to steal land and kill and/or oppress the previous occupants can leave a sour taste in one’s mouth, it is of course neither the whiteness nor the maleness that is itself the problem (let’s not forget: whiteness and maleness gave us penicillin, the Sistine Chapel, and the moon landing). In fact, I think a government of almost exclusively white men would be just dandy—if our country was made up of almost exclusively white men. The United States of America is an astonishingly diverse nation, yet the government represents but a sliver of that diversity with its overwhelming percentage of white male elected officials.

And of course I’m not just talking race here. Half the population of our country is made up of women, yet we hold just 16 seats in the United States Senate. Can it come as a surprise then that issues of particular interest to women are often ignored and routinely suppressed? Similarly, while blacks make up 12% of the population, they have just one representative in the Senate, and representation of Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans is also disproportionate to their actual numbers. The result is a government which requires insurance companies to cover Viagra, but bends over backwards to restrict access to contraception. The result is a justice system which puts African-Americans behind bars in staggeringly incommensurate numbers, despite equitable participation in illegal activity by all ethnicities.

This is not to say that a diverse government will magically right these wrongs. After all, theoretically politicians pledge to represent all their constituents, so all colors and flavors of citizens should have a voice. It is abundantly clear, however, that this is not the reality of the United States government. Perhaps instead of working to have broader representation of women and minorities, we could just work on getting the current government to listen to them a little closer, but in the end I don’t think this would be as effective. Say what you want about empathy, about walking a mile in someone else’s Manolos or however the adage goes, I simply cannot believe that so uniform a government can truly be of the people, by the people, and for the people; not when those people are so diverse.

This logic is admittedly a slippery slope; I readily admit that class misrepresentation among elected officials is as bad or worse as that of gender or race. But the realities of achieving a high-level political career are such that the need for an advanced education is basically built in—or so I’d like to hope anyway. Theoretically in Horatio Alger America, anyone from any class can become a politician, but the nature of the education involved assumes that they will be of a higher class once they get there. I do think though that a wider representation of races and genders in government can only help the causes of other disproportionately represented demographics.

In the late 18^th century, a group of white male landowners had a dream. It was a stunningly magnificent dream, but it did provide rights first and foremost for other white male landowners, leaving everyone else behind. From that point of view, the very foundation of this country is based on sexism, racism, and classism. And yet, in the past 233 years, people of all genders, races, and classes have worked tirelessly to create a new version of that dream. Suffragists, abolitionists, civil rights and labor leaders have all demanded a voice in their government, and it is through their efforts that the American political landscape is becoming more inclusive each day. We have a long road ahead of us, but I for one am incredibly grateful that I am alive to see the great step forward taking place this Tuesday, with the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama. In the 21^st century, let us have a new dream: that someday the United States will have a government that is not only by the people and for the people, but truly of the people—all the people.