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Identity Politics and the Downfall of the Modern Left
Townhall.com ^ | July 12, 2019 | Paul Curry

Posted on 07/12/2019 3:21:45 AM PDT by Kaslin

As anyone paying attention to American politics for the past 50 years can attest, the left has abided by one basic principle from which they never waver. Such is, when you can’t make a rational argument for or against something, make a racist or sexist one. Identity politics and perceived victimhood are the preferred weapons of the modern Democrat party and they wield them in defense of their positions more viciously than a mama grizzly protecting her cubs. 

It’s hard to forget Joe Biden’s famous 2012 shot at the Republican Romney/Ryan ticket to a mostly black audience, “They're Going To Put Y'all Back In Chains!” Since the Obama ticket was in a virtual toss-up with Romney at the time, it was time for Biden invoke slavery rather than stand on his ticket’s economic policy. This past 4th of July celebration, a celebration of our national unity, saw Colin Kaepernick, the one-time NFL quarterback continue his assault on all things American that cost him his once truly mediocre career. After the public reaction to his hatred of this country (along with his QB rating and overdeveloped sense of self-worth) cost him his ability to publicly kneel for the anthem, Kaepernick determined the planned Nike “Betsy Ross Flag” shoe was just too racist to stand, or kneel, for. Yes, Betsy Ross, abolitionist, Quaker, and alleged designer of the flag, apparently, was a racist. Kaepernick couldn’t persuade with his kneeling argument, so he launched a racist attack on sneaker.

The current debate over the constitutionally mandated decennial U.S. Census has led to Democrats in Congress charging that the simple inclusion of the question, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” is fundamentally and inherently racist. That question has been asked in one form or another since 1820 save for 2010 under President Obama. Further, the very same question is asked annually by the American Community Survey, under, yes, the Census Bureau. Even the United Nations, in their Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, encourages asking the question. The “citizenship question” is necessary for the allocation of resources, fair allotment of Congressional seats, and to understand our immigration situation. 

Yet, since Congressional Democrats can’t refute these fundamental truths, they are compelled by both necessity and tradition to denounce the very question as racist. Nancy Pelosi recently, and absent any support, declared the question was part of President Trump’s effort to “make America white again.” Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, never one to sit out a fake race war, chimed in with, “It's about reducing the number of people of color being counted in the census. That's exactly what it's about.” No substantive arguments, again. No rational argument, so just a racist one.

Amusingly enough, prominent Democrats have now turned their racist firing squad into a circular one. An assault typically reserved for Republicans and independents who might dare to disagree, has now become the attack of choice in the ongoing Democrat civil war. Last month’s Democratic Debates saw California Senator and identity politics warrior Kamala Harris attack frontrunner Joe Biden for his past associations with segregationists. She also attacked him for, believe it or not, having remarkably similar positions to herself on school busing. Substantive arguments be damned, let the racist missiles fly.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s very public, and rather entertaining, feud with Nancy Pelosi has seen the same deranged disintegration into racist attacks. AOC’s Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti, in a since deleted tweet, denounced blue-dog moderate Democrats as, basically, segregationists, saying, “They certainly seem hell-bent to do black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s”. The Speaker reportedly fired back behind closed doors. That, coupled with Pelosi’s public dismissals of the extreme left of her party such as “that’s like five people” and, “They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”, has really got AOC’s racial fire raging.

Responding to Pelosi, AOC quickly declared, “But the persistent singling out ... it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful ... the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color”. Wait, what did anything Pelosi said of any of her even more left flank have to do with race or gender? Nothing, but it was the very first instinctive response from someone raised on identity politics.

The Democrat establishment relies on identity politics attacks for three simple reasons. They are accustomed to it, they believe that it works, and they have very little else with which to advance their agenda. It will also ultimately prove to be their downfall for three simple reasons. The American people are tired of it, it doesn’t work, and it is now destroying the left from the inside. This is a train wreck that one cannot look away from.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: idenditypolitics; leftism

1 posted on 07/12/2019 3:21:45 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

The Black Democrats are starting to wake up to the fact It wasn’t white people Rats wanted to replace with Brown people.


2 posted on 07/12/2019 3:36:24 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Kaslin
Question for AOC to ponder when she is alone in the dark:

What fate befell Robespierre?


3 posted on 07/12/2019 4:17:32 AM PDT by nathanbedford (attack, repeat, attack! Bull Halsey)
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To: Kaslin

Good commentary! Well worth posting stuff from Paul Curry again and again. Thanks, Kaslin.


4 posted on 07/12/2019 5:09:55 AM PDT by poconopundit (Will Kamel Harass pay reparations? Her ancestors were black Slave Owners in Jamaica.)
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To: Kaslin

There is division and unification.

If one would look at Jesus, He came to divide. He also came to unite. how is that possible? The point of division and unification are the same point, Who was Jesus?

Trump has followed this model. The division and unification point is patriotism/heritage.

The rats have been good at division, but they can’t get the unification because they have too many division points.


5 posted on 07/12/2019 5:11:35 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

For many years those who are able to reason have observed that reason has no place in the democrat party, now it is becoming obvious to all but the insane that the democrat party has gone insane and I would say that includes the old time legal meaning of insanity which is the inability to distinguish right from wrong and to conduct oneself accordingly. They have played the fool for effect until they are no longer capable of abandoning the role of fool, they actually don’t know how to even pretend to live in the real world at this point. Imagining themselves to be wise they have become fools. Where did I get that from?


6 posted on 07/12/2019 5:43:07 AM PDT by RipSawyer (I need some green first and then we'll talk a new deal!)
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To: Kaslin
Identity Politics = Divide and Conquer.

7 posted on 07/12/2019 6:05:48 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: nathanbedford

Well said, Nathan. Thanks for the link you sent me on another thread.


8 posted on 07/12/2019 6:26:33 AM PDT by poconopundit (Will Kamel Harass pay reparations? Her ancestors were black Slave Owners in Jamaica.)
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To: Kaslin

Their downfall will be THIS.

They have for years been telling both Blacks and Hispanics that “you are our #1 most favored minority group, and you will be first in line when the goodies are handed out”.

Obviously they can’t BOTH be first. They are figuring this out. And the two groups don’t much like each other to begin with.

Live by balkanization, die by balkanization.


9 posted on 07/12/2019 7:00:11 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: nathanbedford

I doubt AOC could identify the century in which the French Revolution took place, let alone the roles of its leaders.


10 posted on 07/12/2019 7:09:25 AM PDT by Interesting Times (WinterSoldier.com. SwiftVets.com. ToSetTheRecordStraight.com.)
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To: Interesting Times; nathanbedford

I too was going to ask if AOC would even know who Robespierre was.


11 posted on 07/12/2019 10:15:44 AM PDT by Don W (When blacks riot, neighbourhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn.)
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To: Interesting Times
I doubt AOC could identify the century in which the French Revolution took place...

I doubt she could identify the country.

12 posted on 07/12/2019 10:21:45 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

Yeah... that’s what I should have said.


13 posted on 07/12/2019 10:29:49 AM PDT by Interesting Times (WinterSoldier.com. SwiftVets.com. ToSetTheRecordStraight.com.)
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