With national politics in such a horrific state, local affairs have become more interesting of late. I just voted in the King County primary election and I am pretty excited about the diverse group of people running for office. There are 61 names in our booklet and 43 of them are women (70%). There are homegrown people and immigrants with all kinds of backgrounds, including one city council candidate I voted for who is a gay Muslim, Arab-American doctor (in mental health) with a husband from Peru. Last year the city council was majority female and this year it seems likely we'll elect our second female mayor. The first was Bertha Knight Landes from 1926-28.
It is not that individual people of color or women are more qualified, but electing people from all parts of the population does lead to better government.
I have one last thought on race. As an adult I'm often struck by how white my childhood was and I'm happy to see changes on that front. When we go camping I see more people of other races enjoying the parks. The other day, I saw a family including three women in hijabs bringing a power boat through the locks. Boats are great and I'm happy to see all kinds of people enjoying them.
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