White male minority rule pervades politics across the US, research shows

[babylonsister]

White male minority rule pervades politics across the US, research shows
White men are 30% of US population but 62% of officeholders
‘Incredibly limited perspective represented in halls of power’
Alexandra Villarreal
Wed 26 May 2021 06.00 EDT


From county officials and sheriffs to governors and senators, white male minority rule pervades politics in the United States, according to a new report published on Wednesday.

White men represent 30% of the population but 62% of officeholders, dominating both chambers of Congress, 42 state legislatures and statewide roles across the nation, the analysis shows.

By contrast, women and people of color constitute 51% and 40% of the US population respectively, but just 31% and 13% of officeholders, according to the research by the Reflective Democracy Campaign, shared exclusively with the Guardian.

“I think if we saw these numbers in another country, we would say there is something very wrong with that political system,” said Brenda Choresi Carter, the campaign’s director.

“We would say, ‘how could that possibly be a democratic system with that kind of demographic mismatch?’”

Two factors perpetuate white male control over virtually every lever of US government: the huge advantage enjoyed by incumbents, and the Republican party’s continued focus on mostly white male candidates.

more...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/26/white-male-minority-rule-us-politics-research

[Hortensis]

1. Yup. Just for perspective, this map will have to do because I can't find

one that shows the most prevalent racial group in each county. That one is simple to read because white for more white citizens "there" than others is spread overwhelmingly around the nation. But here are a bunch of colors that add up to white instead and point out one simple, usually overlooked additional reason the largest racial group has such strong influence: dispersion across the continent.

Besides getting an early stranglehold on the best land and power, of course, whites dominate so many local governments because

1) there are more white citizens, over 70%, perhaps closer to 3/4, counting white Hispanics. And,
2) the dominant white demographic is spread over most areas of the United States. Just the way Republican voters are more spread out around the nation and thus, even though a minority overall, able to dominate more local elections than Democrats, who tend to concentrate in large numbers in densely populated areas, so are white citizens.

As for male, of course. Way, way over 200,000 years of pre-Industrial Revolution male-dominated culture isn't going to change overnight. Just three overlapping long lifetimes ago, most people were still living agricultural age lives. Add another lifespan or two back and you're pre- the age of reason, of humanism, and of science.

And as these days make way too clear, those new ideas, only a few hundred years old, have still to take firm hold with many who really don't like change. Which is a huge reason their heads are on fire now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=691

[Midnight Writer]

3. Wonder what "American" ancestry is? They list it separately from "American Indian".

I take it these categories are based on self-reporting.

[Hortensis]

4. :) Me too. Yes, to that latter. I believe always for all categories.

Hispanic's a large group that's always especially loose, including when people are invited to say whether white or nonwhite (every race and mixture is of course possible). Some take pride in just identifying Hispanic, refusing racial breakdown, which is nice, but subtracts their numbers from other counts.

[RAB910]

2. This has been the GOP's goal for decades and with help from the right-wing propaganda machine

They have been quite successful

[uponit7771]

5. ... and policing

[CrispyQ]

6. They were only ever in favor of representative government

as long as they were at the top of the hierarchy and calling the shots. And they had a good run at it, too, since they made the rules that kept them at the top of the hierarchy. Now that uppity women, people of color, and gays are demanding equality, and worse, equity(!) in the system, the white Christian patriarchy is pissed off! Their position is being threatened. They believe that they are the real Americans, not the rest of us. And the ones they're really pissed at are liberal whites, for betraying the race and supporting equality for everyone.

Small, pathetic people, easily frightened, easily threatened, but still dangerous.