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Here’s Why Democrats Must Not Abandon Identity Politics
The Daily Beast ^ | 20 Dec, 2016 | Craig Mills

Posted on 12/22/2016 8:45:15 PM PST by MtnClimber

It’s all the rage now: Dump on multiculturalism and identity. But identities are vitally important in motivating voters. And besides, white people have them, too.

Since Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election, the victors and the vanquished have disparaged identity politics—coded language for multiculturalism. Most notably, in a New York Times op-ed, Mark Lilla argued, in part, that Democrats are so enmeshed in linguistic minutiae they can’t develop effective messaging. Predictably, Democrats are apoplectically tripping over one another to distance themselves from the term, a core tenet of the party. (Hearing Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio use Obama’s word “shellacked” while discussing the Democrats’ need for better messaging is humorously ironic, as there is very little original messaging in reusing a word someone else introduced into the vernacular.) A Democratic retreat from identity, however, could prove just as costly as anything we experienced last month. It is time for Democrats to get a backbone, own its identity as a liberal tent, and stop retreating at the smallest hint of criticism.

Lilla’s broader premise for identity abandonment is an affront to liberals who are not white, male, and straight, because it asks them to subjugate their political goals to the larger group, a presumably heteronormative one focused on that group’s economic needs—very similar to how Donald Trump campaigned. We are also left to assume the notion that meritocracy, a false concept if ever there was one, would sort out leadership and policy concerns.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: blackvote; democrats; dnc; hillary2016; homosexualagenda; identitypolitics; multiculturalism; racism
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1 posted on 12/22/2016 8:45:16 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Identity politics, the liberal code word for their racism.


2 posted on 12/22/2016 8:46:34 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Wow, meritocracy is a “false premise”. Can we please defeat the left now, and chase them out of prominent positions? They are a disease.


3 posted on 12/22/2016 8:47:52 PM PST by Williams (Stop tolerating the intolerant.)
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To: MtnClimber

Diversity is a code word for hunting down and killing all the white males.


4 posted on 12/22/2016 8:52:29 PM PST by RedWulf (Trump:Front Lines. Obama: Back Nine. Hillary:Nap Time.)
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To: Williams

Yes, they hate meritocracy and that is why I exerpted to that sentence.

I was once in a very slow line at the post office where I knew almost all of the counter workers. I finally got to the counter where I knew the person who was a self admitted leftist. I said “it is so slow today”. He replied “THIS IS NOT A MERITOCRICY”.


5 posted on 12/22/2016 8:56:04 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber
But identities are vitally important in motivating voters. And besides, white people have them, too...yeah, but whites aren't supposed to be proud of their culture and identities - when they are, they're racists.....
6 posted on 12/22/2016 8:57:27 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: MtnClimber

because it’s all they got ??


7 posted on 12/22/2016 8:57:34 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: MtnClimber

Yes, please Democrats, keep up the identity politics. More, please.


8 posted on 12/22/2016 8:57:58 PM PST by Chaguito
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To: MtnClimber

So all of this business about men peeing in the ladies room is just politics? I figured as much.


9 posted on 12/22/2016 9:01:02 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (As long as tyranny exists, the Constitution and Bill of Right will never be "outdated" or "obsolete")
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To: Williams

I had an old boss who used to say “I may be slow but I’m not stupid”. But liberals are both. WHen they see what the meritocracy Trump is putting together can accomplish they will be curled up in the fetal position, wimpering.

They’re starting to embarrass even themselves.


10 posted on 12/22/2016 9:01:29 PM PST by bigbob (We have better coverage than Verizon - Can You Hear Us Now?)
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To: RedWulf
Diversity is a code word for hunting down and killing all the white males. Many of them want a race war. I don't. I want this diverse country to live in peace and to work on the principle of meritocracy. But, I have a car rifle in case they start a war or skirmish that I cannot escape. Do they even know who they are threatening?
11 posted on 12/22/2016 9:02:20 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber
...because it asks them to subjugate their political goals to the larger group...

But THAT is THE foundation of the dems- dominance of majority over the minority. That is why they despise State's Rights, the Electoral College and our Constition.

12 posted on 12/22/2016 9:03:17 PM PST by NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)
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To: MtnClimber
Identity politics, the liberal code word for their racism.


Yes, racial antagonism.
13 posted on 12/22/2016 9:05:24 PM PST by The_Media_never_lie ( Agenda driven news is fake news.)
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To: NativeSon

And it is why the left want unlimited immigration of permanent dependent classes of people who will be held in government paid near-poverty to be additional democRAT voters who will overwhelm all working voters.


14 posted on 12/22/2016 9:08:15 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

The reason the LEFT hates Christianity is that it goes against the divide, cuts into all their little groups, and they cannot have that.


15 posted on 12/22/2016 9:09:09 PM PST by Dogbert41 (/)
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To: Dogbert41

The reason that the left hates Christianity is that the left instinctively chooses evil.


16 posted on 12/22/2016 9:12:45 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Exactly. Why else would Unions support the influx of millions of illegal, under the table workers? They won’t pay dues & will reduce the pay and number of U.S. union laborers across our country.


17 posted on 12/22/2016 9:13:18 PM PST by NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)
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To: MtnClimber

Because Republicans want to win more elections! Please don’t abandon identity politics!


18 posted on 12/22/2016 9:16:44 PM PST by Pinkbell
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To: MtnClimber
Race and gender are outsized determinants that correlate closely with income, social outcomes…

Do race and gender also "correlate closely" with criminality, bastardy, unemployment, drug abuse, alcoholism, dependency?

Why is it desirable to associate distribution of wealth, income and social status with race but not criminality and other manifestations of social disintegration? Why is it illegitimate to associate "merit" with these matters? Why is the issue of race always the hammer and never the nail?


19 posted on 12/22/2016 9:23:39 PM PST by nathanbedford (attack, repeat, attack! Bull Halsey)
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To: MtnClimber

Anything to fool the masses, anything except the truth.


20 posted on 12/22/2016 9:24:10 PM PST by Fungi (Having my fungus and eating it too.)
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