Wednesday, November 08, 2006

First Muslim Elected to Congress

In a race that has been more or less flying under the radar, Minnesota elected the first Muslim member of congress yesterday with the election day victory of Keith Ellison in the Minneapolis-metro 5th Congressional District.

This can only be a good thing, to have a practicing Muslim taking a seat in the House of Representatives. Even though I am as non-religious (many would go further, saying I am anti-religious) as they come, I see the increased diversity in our congressional representatives as positive. Whatever we as a nation can do to dispel the stereotypes, both abroad and at home, that people carry, the better off we will be.

Our House of Representatives should be exactly that: A body that is truly representative of the American people. Sorry folks, but we are not -- and have never been -- all white, all male, all heterosexual and all christian. It's about time our representatives were truly representative.

By the way, I guess we don't really have to add that Ellison is a Democrat, do we?

1 Comment:

Misty said...

I agree that our representatives must be more diverse. Glad to see Keith Ellison won and will look forward to hearing from him.

Read more of your blog and really like it; added it to my favorites and will continue to stop by.

Welcome Home. I have a warm spot in my heart for you Vietnam veterans; several in my family and among my friends. A half-brother died over there in '67.