100 Old White Men
They look oh-so-respectable.
Did you know that it is practically impossible to dethrone an incumbent Senator in the United States? That’s because the Senate is so good, so honest, and so hard-working, that nobody ever wants to change any of its members.
Well, yes, maybe. The truth is that once you have become a Senator, you can call yourself Senator Bigbottom and go around making speeches and public appearances and everybody pretty well assumes that anybody known as Senator anything is entitled to the position by virtue of the cool sounding title. Senator.
"Congressman", on the other hand, sounds a bit ridiculous, even when applied to a woman. Anybody can be a Congressman. And President? Every two-bit Elvis Presley fan club has a president. What’s the big deal about the President. But Senator? Not many people ever get to be called Senator.
Now, take a wild guess as to how many black Senators there are? Come on. Go ahead. Give it your best shot. Don’t forget that about 18% of the U.S. population is black. So how many Senators, out of one hundred, are black? Ten? Five? Two? The answer is 0. That’s right. ZERO. And how many Senators are female? More than half the U.S. population is female, so how many representatives of this gender get to call themselves "Senator"? Fifty? Hoo haw! Twenty? You’re joking. Ten? Maybe. Maybe two.
That’s all. That’s all you need to know about the Senate.
Copyright © 1999 Bill Van Dyk All rights reserved.