Throwing the civil and human rights of our fellow citizens under the bus is NOT progressive.

+10 to Kamala Harris for sticking up for core liberal values.

and bigots to try to denigrate the reality that the Democratic Party represents a wonderfully diverse America. And hide that they do not.

The white working class/white men, as if white men are the only members of the working class, are the ones being championed by those who disparage identity politics.

That is what you meant, right?

I thought that identity politics is exactly what helped Trump win. Racist, white supremacists gravitated to him because he represents what they're for.

In fact, in a two party system, how can you avoid the label, when everyone is going to vote for the person that best represents what they stand for?

Isn't "identity politics" a useless term?

...on identity politics: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-02-01/stacey-abrams-response-to-francis-fukuyama-identity-politics-article

And you are right, it is exactly what they practice in the extreme. Their hypocrisy is, once again, on full display, without any shame.

Sid

civil rights/justice? I certainly haven’t seen that here.

It's just being a person.

And people shouldn't be called white because that's racist.

whose "greatness" is due to its white people really is a very strong identity to some. They're Americans.

Let's face it, fear among the 76% of white Americans of that identify becoming less defined and less powerful, along with resistance to accepting that America's identity is everyone's, is a huge factor in the reaction to advances in equality and new understanding of the demographic progression. The realization that some day "American" won't mean white is a huge blow to the identify of those who aren't happy and comfortable with diversity.

Before we left California a couple decades ago, we had a lot of Hispanic acquaintances. Looking back with more understanding, I know who were conservative and who liberal and who identified white and nonwhite among them. Back then I just thought it curious how some of them were antagonistic to undocumented immigrants and specifically (and extremely unreasonably) blamed mostly indigenous immigrants for Republican rejection of themselves.

Btw, to my mind identifying people as white and "poc" or black is of course racist when used by "tribally" hostile people with racist intent. What else could it be?

Reminds me that yellow, red and brown are now considered inexcusably racist, even though considered respectable in Dr. King's time. Something to keep in mind as we use currently accepted race-related terminology. These posts live forever, theoretically anyway, and we're going to come under attack eventually by those newly righteous generations who consider those benignly and/or hatefully used terms all unacceptable. Wonder what will replace them.

Along with some differences over how to best get from point A to point B (such as how to get from the current health care system to a universal health care system). But the notion that there's this huge divide over issues like health care and climate change is bullshit. What Bernie Sanders and others don't seem to understand is that they're cutting off their collective nose to spite their collective face. There is power in numbers, and if you want to bring about progressive policy, we first need to increase the number of Democrats in power. Logic 101, folks. And being dismissive of identity politics (while at the same time wanting to focus on the "white working class" as if white isn't an identity) is self-defeating and just plain ignorant.

Colorblind racism is a real thing. Sanders, Tim Ryan and others (including their supporters) don't seem to realize or care that they often sound just like a Republican arguing against affirmative action when they talk about race, while promoting the bullshit narrative that other Dems only want to elect women and POC for the sake of electing women and POC (you see that line of attack used here at DU on a daily basis). Not a single Democrat is making that argument, yet you wouldn't know it from many of the comments that argue Dems are doing just that. It's insulting and ignorant.

After the 2016 election, Sanders (at a post-election town hall in Wisconsin) helped push the notion that most Trump supporters aren't racist and that they're just driven by economic anxiety. And that Democrats talk too much about identity politics and not enough about economics. Never mind that both of those narratives have been proven false.

1) https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/12/15/16781222/trump-racism-economic-anxiety-study

2) https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13972394/most-common-words-hillary-clinton-speech

And let's not forget his excusing those who aren't "comfortable" voting for a Black man.

In one breath, it's bashing identity politics. In the next breath, it's "let's talk about the white working class" ('cause, you know, white isn't an identity).

Enough already.

And has been for some time. I understand why his supporters sweep it under the rug: confirmation bias is a powerful drug, and we all fall prey to it. Sanders has no answer for it, other than what you point out.

Our coalition is built on harnessing the unique traits of different identity groups. Our numbers grow when we recognize diversity.

Universal, comprehensive health coverage is important. Economic prosperity is important. But those things can not exist in a vacuum that ignores the humanity of the individual.

The writing was on the wall after Super Tuesday in 2016. He had no path, and this gets to the core of why that was.

Let's make no mistake, though, studies have made clear that the interests/concerns of women and persons of color are, generally speaking, best represented by women and persons of color in public office. And it's so incredibly crucial that we eliminate systemic racism and systemic sexism (including systemic heterosexism). For one thing, justice must be served. For another thing, Republican Party viability depends on racism and sexism. It's not right wing health care policy or right wing economic policy or right wing environmental policy that maintains support for the Republican Party. There is no national Republican Party without racism and sexism.

I can't even begin to tell you how pissed off I've been over the bullshit, disproved, contradictory "white working class economic anxiety/down with identity politics" narrative. Right wingers, members of the media and the likes of Sanders and Tim Ryan have all done great harm by pushing that narrative.

Meanwhile, they claim that things like "universal health care" are brand new features of the Democratic Party platform. Facts apparently mean nothing.

need to talk about white, working class issues in the next, as if that's not an identity/

Our 'identity Politics' is that Democrats are champions of civil rights. Our policies, our issues, the bills Democrats passed in Congress are designed to benefit *all* people.

Link to tweet

It doesn't exist. These people are solidly republican for cultural reasons. You can poll whatever single issue you want and might see some support but at the end of the day whether it is Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris they are going to stand by Trump. The same cultural reasons that drove these people away from Hillary Clinton will drive them away from any democratic candidate and Fox News and the Russian troll farms on social media will make sure of that.


We need to get our voters motivated to go out to the polls. Talking about issues that matter to them isn't identity politics. It is a label that the other side has put on talking about any issue that doesn't come from a white conservative christian perspective.

between identity and economic prosperity.

The dem coalition is constructed of groups that intersect at the margins. We ignore this at our peril.

It seems so flippant when people dismiss identity, as if inequality has been solved or can somehow be put behind us once the economy is reordered.

But when and if the economy is reordered, identity has to play a part -- correcting long-held social injustices -- for America to evolve and truly be free.

It goes beyond identity groups in specific countries, it's a global problem. Are all Americans part of one identity group, Americans, promoting what we see as the interests of our American identity group?

The democratic party will win if we create a coalition of groups that are not in the mainstream of American society. Obama's coalition is a good example.

And after you seize the reins of power, then we can do the hard, decades-long work of addressing climate change.

If we can not assemble ourselves into a massive body politic, we will lose and global climate change will not be addressed.

Congress. We've got the House now we need to keep it and gain the Senate in 2020.

This has been and should be the focus point, which is why I had a huge issue with certain Dems primarying incumbent Dems, proven winners, during the 2018 primaries. The most important thing was to keep Dems in power and replace repugs, not replace Dems with another Dem. That would get us exactly nowhere achieving the more Dems in the House than repugs.

Anyway, I hope we've learned and move on to pass crucial climate change, infrastructure and healthcare legislation.

The Republican Party's viability depends on racism and sexism. Opposition to climate change would suffer a fatal blow if the Republican electorate wasn't so fucking blinded by racism and sexism. Concerted efforts to reduce systemic racism and systemic sexism are vital, as changing laws ultimately has a way of changing viewpoints.

And as Politicub points out, we need more Democrats in power in order to have any hope of bringing about more progressive reform (sometimes that means voting for someone you aren't absolutely wild about, because you recognize that there's strength in numbers). Bashing identity politics does not accomplish that. On the contrary, it cuts off the nose to spite the face.

by those living in poor, third world countries. I'm not sure where you got the bashing part, I'm simply asking how identity politics addresses the issue of climate change.

it's not as big of a problem as economic inequality.

But if you choose to take it that way, that's on you.

My "bashing" reference has to do with, well, the bashing of identity politics that many (though not necessarily you) have been engaged in for years. It's completely counter-productive and it's sad that some on the left end of the political spectrum have fallen prey--right wingers and members of the media absolutely love that their narrative has been picked up and run with by the likes of Bernie Sanders and Tim Ryan.

This gets to the core of why Sanders is in a heap of trouble after New Hampshire (when all those diverse states start voting). Many can agree with a good lot of his viewpoints, even if there's some disagreement over how best to get from point A to point B, but he simply doesn't get it when it comes to racism and sexism. He continue to think classism is the only 'ism that matters, and he continues to stick his foot in his mouth on matters of race and sex. I've theorized that part of the reason for this is that all he knows is Vermont, the single whitest state in the US.

It's rapidly becoming the #1 issue world wide, especially among younger people. I'm honestly trying to learn how iID addresses this issue.

It's clear that many are opposed to identity politics, even if you aren't--they've said as much. That includes people on the left end of the political spectrum (from progressives to centrists). They make a fatal error.

Pollution for example can be a localized problem. We have seen white neighborhoods (Porter Ranch) get immediate and sustained media and political attention. Yet other disasters (Exide Batteries, Flint) get ignored because the people affected are minorities. If we don't focus on minorities and how issues that affect their communities, they will be ignored. And helping those communities will help our entire planet.

To speak on the general nature of the politics, name the socialist country where sexism and racism don't exist?

corporate polluters and we do need to focus on them. On a world wide scale poorer nations, comprised primarily of POC, are helpless to stop the pollution. Those protesting are killed (in countries like Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico to name three) or threatened to stay silent. Their leaders are also POC which makes the issue more complex that white vs POC.

Climate change however, is driven by the burning of fossil fuels which cuts across racial and gender lines (the use of automobiles for example). It will require solutions that involve all of us, working together to combat the coming environmental dystopia IMHO.

the interpretations (and extrapolations) of what she said, not so much.

How about we cut out the bullshit decisiveness -- that’s what really is bullshit here.

Do we want to win in 2020?

candidates. After the debacle of Trump - you sometimes forget what it is like to hear an intelligent, thoughtful person speaking their mind.

and Identity politics, brush.

It's here whether some care about it or not.