Posted on 10/18/2018 6:54:18 AM PDT by C19fan
Identity politics is a double-edged sword. That’s the lesson to be learned from one of this year’s District of Columbia Council elections. The race pits incumbent D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) against third-generation Washingtonian (and Democrat) Dionne Reeder. Both are women and both are liberal. Yet one is white and Jewish, while the other is black. And that, unfortunately, is making all the difference in this increasingly bitter race. The peculiar acrimony of this campaign should be a reminder to voters of all political persuasions that identity politics is a worrisome trend, an ineffective way of promoting the common good.
Though Silverman is running as an independent, she is by most measures a liberal and proponent of policies that conform to the Democratic Party platform. As The Washington Post has noted: “Silverman has largely run a conventional campaign, touting her record of aggressive government oversight and legislation that has boosted benefits for the working poor.” Her biography on the D.C. Council website notes her promotion of inclusivity and her political support from labor unions, environmental advocacy groups, and women’s rights organizations, among others. Her campaign has refused all corporate contributions. She previously won an award for social justice activism named after prominent Jewish theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Perhaps because she and Silverman have so much in common, Reeder and her supporters have focused their campaign less on issues of substance and more on identity politics. According to the Post, they’ve argued that the council “needs the voice of an African-American woman,” and have claimed that Silverman has a history of behaving rudely towards blacks and Latinos.
(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanconservative.com ...
The entire country has descended into a fight over identity politics. White Christian Normalsexual males are at the bottom of the heap, and all the $hit falls on their heads.
At the top are Female Hispanic transsexual m*slim dark-skinned self-identified women with a peanut allergy and a gluten intolerance.
In the Old West (at least in the dime novels and movies), every gunfighter had to worry that someone faster might suddenly come in to town.
Today, there is always the possibility that someone “more oppressed” might show up. Someone is always “more oppressed” than you are.
it misplaces and mis-prioritizes identity.
What does that even mean?
Identity politics is misguided because prioritizing race or ethnicity above all else artificially bloats it with meaning, until it ceases to be a true and measured pride in one’s given identity.
Yet we have groups such as the Black & Hispanic Caucuses? Politicians who do exactly that and we are supposed to pretend that 'race' is just a skin color? We have a tangled mess of racial crap that we will not be able extract ourselves from without a whole realignment of our politics. In short we have a tar baby(can I say that?) on our hands
Great analogy.
...and have claimed that Silvermanthe diamond merchant and interloper has a history of behaving rudely towards blacks and Latinos.
The black woman is a catspaw of the mayor, which would ordinarily be a knock against her. But in this case, she is probably the saner of the two. (Among DC Democrats, “sane” is a term of art.) Gentrification is on steroids. One big question dividing the democrats is how business-friendly the city should be. Silverman is basically a loot-the-producers leftie. She has never seen a tax or a fee or a mandate she wouldn’t support. For all her faults, the mayor at least understands that DC needs to be competitive with the inner ring counties with regard to taxes and regulation.
(Implied) because you know how THOSE people are.
"Behaving rudely" consists of failing to kiss their @$$e$.
It is interesting to see what happens when you give nerdy, social misfits like the techno-elite power and wealth. They are still socially awkward misfits, but now they have the position to screw up other people’s lives. It was better when they were all living in their parents basements and going to Gen-Con.
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