All is not calm. All is not bright. And Santa Claus is pretend. Time to face reality.
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| Christmas Gift for Democrats |
Democrats need to notice that they are acting like the party of exclusion.
Today we open a Christmas present: a mirror.
Democrats think they have Trump on the run. They think they have the luxury of fighting each other while they get their identity politics just right. I see examples of it constantly within my friends on the political left. Women de-legitimizing men: patriarchy and rape culture. Blacks de-legitimizing whites: white supremacy and prejudice. Gentiles de-legitimizing Jews: wealth and Wall Street. Jews de-legitimizing Palestinians: destiny. Progressives de-legitimizing liberals: corporate sellouts. Liberals de-legitimizing progressives: socialist. Young de-legitimizing the old: shopworn and old hat. Middle income against the billionaires: out of touch predators. Green Democrats against politicians who have received donations from fossil fuel producers: tarnished. Self-funded or internet-funded against politicians who have large donors: corrupt sellouts.
Black women feel especially entitled--after all, they turn out to vote. White women feel especially entitled--after all, it is now the "women's" party. People of color feel especially entitled--after all, they suffered greater discrimination than others. Progressives feel especially entitled--after all, Hillary stole the nomination from Bernie.
The net result is the opposite of the intended message of inclusion and welcome. Our lives matter. Yours, not so much.
So our kind, not your kind, had better be the face of the political left.
Too many Democrats are busy pointing out who is not good enough. And there is near universal consensus of condemnation and contempt for the very people that the left says are essential to re-include in a Democratic coalition, white men in that old FDR coalition, those working people who voted for Trump. Those white men are illegitimate because they are presumed to sit atop a mountain of privilege and historic predation on others. They aren't "woke" enough. They cannot possibly understand real suffering.
Perhaps they can be shamed and scolded into supporting the Democratic candidate. Perhaps if Democrats explain often enough how wrong they are, they will come to vote Democratic.
Readers of the NY Times last week saw the circle firing squad underway in the American left. It is a grim picture. Click below and read. Frequent Guest Post author Thad Guyer comments on it below.
I consider the article and his comments a kind of Christmas gift to readers. It is a mirror. It is a warning and picture of Christmas-future. Trump is on the run, but the Democratic posse is shooting at each other, not at him.
Guest Post by Thad Guyer
"Democrats Perfect the Art of Self Destruction"
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| Guyer |
If you want a nice encapsulation of why Trump appears headed to re-election (apart from the very high historical statistical probability that he will be), read the New York Times, "Women’s March Roiled by Accusations of Anti-Semitism" (Dec. 22, 2018, ).
Activists who led the post-inauguration "Women's March," who are now in civil war with each other, are quoted as saying:
"[W]e’ve all learned a lot about how ...white Jews, as white people, uphold white supremacy ... [W]e really couldn’t center Jewish women in this or we might turn off groups like Black Lives Matter.”
This is the Democratic infighting that follows strongmen GOP first-termers like Nixon and Reagan, with low popularity, who get reelected in landslides as Democrats bloody each other with leftist vs. centrist and identity rages. The cries that have already started in Iowa and New Hampshire that the party cannot hold together if it nominates a white male or
centrist-- are undoubtedly true! The two front runners-- way out front-- are Biden and Sanders, and white males O'Rourke, Donnelly and Casey are close behind. This does not even consider the emerging white male billionaire class led by Bloomberg and Steyer.
centrist-- are undoubtedly true! The two front runners-- way out front-- are Biden and Sanders, and white males O'Rourke, Donnelly and Casey are close behind. This does not even consider the emerging white male billionaire class led by Bloomberg and Steyer.
This looming identity bloodbath is why establishment whites Schumer and Pelosi-- the whites who wield 100% of Democratic Congressional power-- don't dare trade the Wall for DACA, indeed the Wall for anything at all. A million desperate DACA people of color are easily expendable in our party, but the Wall rhetoric and invective are not.
Trump may not have a second term. But it won't be because a dysfunctional Democratic party beat him in a general election.
4 comments:
"Identity Politics" is a non sequitur. Clever Regressives come up with these terms and others ("class warfare", "hollywood elites", "campus liberals" ) in an attempt to frame an argument and elevate irrelevant issues.
Progressive purity is a frequent theme raised in alarm, with some justification. After all, it definitely can be argued that Sanders supporters who voted Green or not at all cost Democrats the 2016 election. However, this occurred in an environment where overconfidence and complacency had followed the Obama presidency, and all indications pointed to an easy win for Clinton, so token protests by frustrated and impatient Progressives seemed harmless.
Aside from the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the conservative movement, of which Trump is the logical result, similar purity divisions exist in the Republican party where historically a Progressive leaning "center" has been prevalent and is now engaged in a battle to reassert itself. Good luck with that...
The article was a followup on a previous one that listed some anecdotes highlighting social media exchanges. It wasn't researched so deeply as to actually provide evidence that the kind of divisiveness it described was widespread or pervasive.
While marches are entertaining and inspiring I'd separate the motivations of march organizers from the larger issues. Emerging leaders are in a process where they learn to separate their own ambitions and agendas from the work of advancing movement values. This is why I advocate Sen. Sanders joining the Democratic party and fold his main issue, income inequality, into the larger platform. This is a moment where values are more important than personalities, and we should reject leaders, no matter how charismatic, who use divisive tactics for personal advantage in favor of those who are true coalition builders.
Let's not forget that individuals are racist, misogynist, bigoted, etc., not religions or particular ethnic populations. That oversimplification is exactly the kind of rhetoric anathema to the Progressive movement. I would suspect that a person who claims bigotry as a reason they were "pushed out" of an organization may well simply be a pain to work with.
As far as Democratic bickering is concerned, all I would add is that while it's better to be for than against something, this situation is an exception. I believe Progressives are united in one important area, rejecting the current Regressive cul-de-sac.
Dems will never learn: identity politics is a self feeding frenzy. Here’s a sane black voice on the power of unity vs. factionalism:
https://ghionjournal.com/imposed-identities-social-constructs/
I can see why a Palestinian thinks Jews are prejudiced. Sarsour is a Palestinian.
Blacks and Hispanics in New York when I worked in Welfare hated Jewish slumloards.
These women are NewYorkers where every group stands against another group, one neighborhood stands against another, each street controlled by special interests. This stuff is like a wrong eyeshadow fight. Not deep but jockeying for power position visually. Look at the names who control NPR - White Jews. Chuck S. could be called a White Jew like Nancy P. could be called a White Wop. Minorities who have finally been mainstreamed, but not loved by the other minorities or even by “White” mongrels.
I am French,English, Irish, German, Dutch, Scottish, Swedish , Norwegian mongrel whose relatives had slaves in America and shot a lot of indigenous dwellers.
Democrats are just as prejudiced as most of the population; they just work at not making it obvious and some like good humanists work at healing their inner sneers of superiority. But if an outside group is threatening a power grab, “redneck rise up!”
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