Diversity (published 12/5 as [edited] by E-R)

To begin with, diversity is not a positive force. The word itself comes from the root which means "unlike." Therefore, when government encourages diversity, it emphasizes the differences between its citizens, and only drives them farther apart. Equality is a better concept to bring people together. That, along with love and understanding, should be the goal.

[That being said, last year, the citizens of California, without my affirmative vote, created a commission to replace legislators in the process of drawing political districts. To date, eight members have been chosen randomly from 36 applicants who were culled from a pool of 30,000. To illustrate the folly of observing the policy of requiring consideration be given to "racial, ethnic, gender and geographic diversity," the choice of the first eight members has already rendered complete "diversity" impossible.

I believe the only attributes needed are common sense and the spirit of fairness, but the NAACP has already spoken up, and other less justified and more militant fringe groups are sure to follow. As the first eight members, by law, now choose the final six, let us examine some of the actual and perceived violations of diversity:] (Bracketed portion replaced by two sentences to meet 250 word limit.)

1. There are already four Asian Americans on the panel. That exceeds their percentage of the general population.

2. It appears most of the first eight are college graduates, which exceeds the 30% of degreed Californians.

3. Because five are women, it would seem that at least four of the remaining choices must be men.

4. So far, there are no retail clerks, farm workers, or members of the entertainment industry, three of the largest groups of California workers. There should probably be at least one more teacher, as well.

5. There is only one Hispanic, and even discounting the illegals, that falls far short of the actual percentage of the population.

6. Finally, at least three of the most vocal interest groups -- gays and lesbians, atheists, and the SEIU -- are yet to be heard from.

Apparently, a much larger commission would have been better for diversity, but probably too unwieldy to get anything done.