St. Paul’s All Women City Council
Have you heard the news out of St. Paul, Minnesota?
For the first time in the capital city’s history, the people of St. Paul have elected an all-female City Council.
In fact, St. Paul is believed to be among the largest cities in the country to have an all-female city council.
But the firsts do not stop there.
All seven council members are under 40, and six are women of color, making it the city’s youngest and most racially diverse council in history.
Perhaps any city’s history.
The new council includes former teachers, nonprofit executives, community organizers, a civil engineer, and congressional aides.
I don’t know anything about any of these women. Still, despite my ignorance about their backgrounds or their positions on issues, I would happily invite them to lead my city tomorrow.
It may sound crazy to arbitrarily accept a group of leaders for my community based simply on their gender, racial diversity, and the preferences of another city more than 1,300 miles away, but I don’t think so. Considerable data shows that companies run by female leaders are more profitable in the long run.
I suspect the same will be true in politics, too.
In fact, I’ve often said that if I could eject every single member of Congress from their seat and replace them with a randomly selected American woman, things would likely run a hell of a lot better in DC.
Just 28 percent of the seats in Congress are currently occupied by women. Make it 100 percent, and I’m convinced our country would be in a better place. For every idiotic Marjorie Taylor Green and Elise Sephanick who might land in a seat, there would be a dozen or more rational, intelligent women ready to do the right thing for the present and future of our country.
Yes, there are many outstanding men in Congress today, but a large percentage of the intractable monsters fouling up the works in the House and Senate are men.
Almost all of the problems we have today result from decisions made by men.
There are 535 members of Congress.
It wasn’t until 1981 that the total number of women in Congress exceeded 20.
It wasn’t until 2013 that the total number reached 100.
Today, that number stands at 153 out of 535 current members.
Congress currently enjoys an approval rating of 15%, which is one of the lowest in the history of our country. This current session of Congress has been the least productive session in decades. The Democrats and Republicans have reached bipartisan agreement on long-term spending and an immigration bill, yet neither has passed because of factions in the Republican Party who would prefer that nothing be done to harm President Biden and improve their chances of winning the White House in November.
Two issues most important to Americans, for which majorities in both parties have reached a bipartisan agreement, may be tabled because of the desire for power and the fear of its loss.
Perhaps a Congress comprised entirely of random American women would do the same, but given the track record of this male-dominated institution, I’d be willing to give it a try.
Eject every member of Congress – even the many I adore – and replace them with a group of women like the ones currently running the city of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Maybe those women would prove to be as craven, self serving, cowardly, and deceitful as the members of Congress today, but given Congress’s approval rating and inability to get anything done, do we really y think they could do worse?
