2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumIs this election going to be about ethnic groups stabbing at one another?
I am just curious if that is the precise road we actually want to go down. I am just saying the pandora's box of ethnic resentment and hatred is kind of a dangerous can of worms and it seems some of the talking points about Hillary Clinton (A Wealthy White lady with an English Surname) who some of the posters here is making out to be someone who personally passed the Civil Rights act (even though she was a gold water girl while Bernie actually WAS involved in those events as a protester at least) but that is besides the point.
Isn't that a tad dangerous though? To make this election purely about race? I mean isn't that kind of Trump's game? Are we sure we want to up the ante on that one?
I am just saying if we are going to criticize Trump for it, doesn't that make us a tad hypocritical to be basically adding fuel to that fire?
w4rma
(31,700 posts)The combination of super-rich Democrats and poor Democrats would exacerbate internal party tensions, but the party would probably resort to forms of appeasement that are already in use. To their rich constituents, Democrats offer more trade, more immigration, and general globalism. To their non-rich constituents, they offer the promise of social justice, which critics might call identity politics. Thats one reason why Democrats have devoted so much attention to issues such as transgender rights, sexual assault on campus, racial disparities in criminal justice, and immigration reform. The causes may be worthyand they attract sincere advocatesbut politically theyre also useful. They dont bother rich people.
Its a costly arrangement. The more that Democrats write off the white working class, which has been experiencing a drastic decline in living standards, the harder it is for them to call themselves a party of the little guy. The more that the rich can frame various business practices as blows to privilege or oppressionpredatory lending as a way to expand minority home ownership, outsourcing as a way to uplift the worlds poor, etc.the more they get a pass from Democrats on practices that hurt poorer Americans. Worst of all, the more that interest groups within the Democratic Party quarrel among themselves, the more they rely upon loathing of a common enemy, Republicans, in order to stay united.
Things get darker still, for, if the G.O.P. becomes ever whiter, failing to peel away working-class voters of other races, then partisan conflict could look more and more like racial conflict. That is the nightmare. Our politics are bad enough when voters are mobilized mainly by culture-war issues, such as abortion, because compromise is often impossible. But when voters are mobilized by issues of identity, something most people cant change, then nothing works. Its just war.
Seen in this light, Bernie Sanders suddenly looks quite different from his counterpart, and quite shrewder a politician than many give him credit for. One effect of focusing on economic conflict, as Sanders has done, is that it helps reduce other types of conflict. With his calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and helping young people with tuition, Sanders is uniting people across lines of identity by directing them to a cause that has nothing directly to do with identity. Moreover, while economics cause serious and passionate fights, compromise is possible. Maybe Bernie supporters will have to settle for less tuition help than they wanted, or Wall Street will have to give up more than it expected. But people will be left standing. With economic negotiations, adversaries can arrive at something other than total victory or annihilation.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/04/why-democrats-are-becoming-the-party-of-the-1-percent?mbid=social_facebook
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)auntpurl
(4,311 posts)POC have overwhelmingly chosen Hillary. And luckily for us, all Democrats, and sane people everywhere, it seems likely that the same will hold true in the GE, because I can't imagine there are loads of AAs, Latinos, Asians, and Muslims who are just itching for a Trump presidency.
Women and minorities are the Democratic party's traditional base.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)The Democratic Primaries? Unfortunately, and unbelievably, one side made it about race from the very beginning. It's too late to prevent that. I have to admit that I didn't see it coming, but, in retrospect, I should have.
The GE? I'm sure race will be part of it; a much more legitimate part considering the Republican nominee.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Hillary was 15 during civil rights act.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,708 posts)I always found that those who eschew identity politics are invariably eschewing those groups doing the identifying and believe that everything would be fine if the groups doing the identifying were more like them.
JPnoodleman
(454 posts)There exists an inherent danger of antagonizing ethnic resentment.
Both in that the Democrats might be badly burned by make this a Black vs. White election, and the unity or lack of unity of what is a "PoC," will be deeply challenged by that.