I'm somewhere in the middle on this. During the recent city elections, I was resentful when some implied that as a woman I was _required_ to vote for the female candidate. On the other hand, I don't agree that we can lump every consideration of a candidate's race or gender as "identity politics" and throw it out the window. Although more needs to be done, women have achieved a great deal in electoral politics. Racial minorities have not done as well. If this trend continues, I think it will be bad for all of us and bad for democracy.
Our political parties (including old entrenched parties and the new upstarts) could play a big role here in grooming and supporting new candidates from *all* sections of the community. Alan Shilepsky wrote: > I will say that Judeo-Christians have a head start because practicing > ones see each person as created in God's image, and therefore deserving > of dignity and respect. I haven't seen any evidence that practicing Christians and Jews treat persons with any more respect than atheists or Buddhists. And this is a strange comment to make if you really are trying to work against "my group is better than your group" attitudes. Rosalind Nelson Bancroft neighborhood _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
