Should the Democratic Party disavow identity politics?

[TDantuono]

What say you?

[Frodo]

Yes -we should disabuse ourselves of the notion that we can win back the white working class by nominating another white male candidate.

[Blue3]

Other.

Lean yes... yes in a perfect world... but some demographics are definitely unfairly targeted or unfairly vulnerable, and they need someone to stand up for them, in the age of Trump more than ever.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Other.

Lean yes... yes in a perfect world... but some demographics are definitely unfairly targeted or unfairly vulnerable, and they need someone to stand up for them, in the age of Trump more than ever.

That's fine as long as it doesn't mean picking a nominee simply because they happen to belong to a targeted demographic.

[Blue3]

Other.

Lean yes... yes in a perfect world... but some demographics are definitely unfairly targeted or unfairly vulnerable, and they need someone to stand up for them, in the age of Trump more than ever.

That's fine as long as it doesn't mean picking a nominee simply because they happen to belong to a targeted demographic.

Of course.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Semi troll opinion:
The Dems should adapt to include white working class as an identity in identity politics.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

why? identity politics have been working out for the right-wing

[Intell]

why? identity politics have been working out for the right-wing

because it has worked so well for the left!

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Identity politics is largely unavailable in politics, but the party list be smarter with the issue.

[Bigby]

Not only would it be healthier for the Dems to abandon the practice, but the nation's health would rise substantially too. Identity politics destroys American identity and turns everyone into tribal clans too paranoid of the other clans.

[Person Man]

Semi troll opinion:
The Dems should adapt to include white working class as an identity in identity politics.

Not living in a gated community and not having what you need was the original identity politics. Politics is identity based. Otherwise, who has the grievances? I guess the main issue is what RINO Tom said is something like people lose when they have a platform that is to percieved of having nothing to offer the majority of voters and when those voters just think they are looking out for very poor, the very rich, or crazy people. It is that simple.

In liberal areas, I knew a guy in urban Florida who made $400000 a year and had 3M in the bank.  He said it only makes sense to vote Republican if you make more than a million a year or have 15M in free and clear in assets.

I know in places like where I worked in Arizona and Missouri or went to school in Wyoming where people thought the same about Democrats. They said "I make 40 a year and work 3 jobs. Democrats have are only for people who make 20 a year and you really have to be lazy to only make that!"

[Person Man]

Not only would it be healthier for the Dems to abandon the practice, but the nation's health would rise substantially too. Identity politics destroys American identity and turns everyone into tribal clans too paranoid of the other clans.

But the Republican Party depends on them too. They go overboard whenever they try to use the Feds to interject themselves into things like the Schaivo case or use the DEA to bust medical marijuana dispenseries. They feel the same way when Democrats do when they are trying to bust the cops for killing black guys who were acting up or when they try to get people to use the bathrooms they want.

Other people think that they are just pandering to unhinged weirdos but to them, it is part of their greater mission of making the world either a more hierarchical, robust, and stable one on one hand or a more just, peaceful, and equitable world on the other.

I am trying reiterate my point that identity politics aren't the problem for the parties, it is just that they need to have enough people as part of their clientle.

[courts]

honestly i kind of get what you're saying but.. i think this is kind of a confused way of framing things. *every* issue is to some extent or another going to be viewed as in terms of how it benefits the in group and out group. people talking about a more "class based" politics are still essentially, advocating for another form of identity politics. there is no real way for the democrats, or any part really, to completely avoid that. its like talking about a "post ideology" world.

[RINO Tom]

The question (and answer) is obviously too simplistic, but I do think 2016 showed that Democrats can't win elections by "picking" the groups that are *worthy* of being in their coalition and disavow those they find undesirable.  Great work standing up for LGBTQ and women's rights only means so much if out of the other side of your mouth you're spewing hatred toward rural people because of the actions of a few of them.  For Christ's sake, even Republicans avoid saying things about all Black people after there's some random bad event involving Black people.

It's easy to demonize those who vote solidly against you, but it's foolish.  Coalitions change, swing states change and parties need to have foresight.  The White working class used to vote for liberals, now they vote for conservatives.  They can be swayed, just as can almost any group of people.

[Person Man]

The question (and answer) is obviously too simplistic, but I do think 2016 showed that Democrats can't win elections by "picking" the groups that are *worthy* of being in their coalition and disavow those they find undesirable.  Great work standing up for LGBTQ and women's rights only means so much if out of the other side of your mouth you're spewing hatred toward rural people because of the actions of a few of them.  For Christ's sake, even Republicans avoid saying things about all Black people after there's some random bad event involving Black people.

It's easy to demonize those who vote solidly against you, but it's foolish.  Coalitions change, swing states change and parties need to have foresight.  The White working class used to vote for liberals, now they vote for conservatives.  They can be swayed, just as can almost any group of people.

We comically talk about some Populist Democrat going to Casper or Fort Smith asking "What do you have to lose?" but it can happen.

[RINO Tom]

You know how teachers in school always said "the only way to stop history from repeating itself is learning from it," and it always sounded kind of corny but you knew it was true yet you didn't really believe deep down that it was STILL true??  If Blacks can go from supporting the Party of Lincoln to being the bedrock of the party most associated with the Confederacy, if those in the Mountain West can vote solidly Democratic upon statehood and someday become the base of Republican power, if Southern Whites can go from "supporting a yellow dog" on the Democratic ticket all in the name of not voting for Republicans to being the GOP's most loyal voters, ANYTHING can happen.  Period.  You can debate the ideological reasons behind those shifts, the antics used to make them happen, etc., but the parties have at the very least stayed the same in name, and groups have come and gone.

Things can and will change again.

[Sumner 1868]

What does this term even mean anymore?

[Tartarus Sauce]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

[Person Man]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

You mean the Southern Strategy?

[White Trash]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

You mean the Southern Strategy?

Please don't fall for that meme.

[Tartarus Sauce]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

You mean the Southern Strategy?

It has expanded to rural white voters across this country, not just the South.

[RINO Tom]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

You mean the Southern Strategy?

It has expanded to rural white voters across this country, not just the South.

Yeah, not like Republicans ever won rural Whites in the North before now or the Southern Strategy!!

[Person Man]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

You mean the Southern Strategy?

It has expanded to rural white voters across this country, not just the South.

Yeah, not like Republicans ever won rural Whites in the North before now or the Southern Strategy!!

"Southernization"? Agrarian Populism?

[RINO Tom]

Yes, the GOP is beating them at that game now. Working-Class White has transformed into the single largest political identity of them all.

You mean the Southern Strategy?

It has expanded to rural white voters across this country, not just the South.

Yeah, not like Republicans ever won rural Whites in the North before now or the Southern Strategy!!

"Southernization"? Agrarian Populism?

I'm saying neither of those had to happen or have anything to do with the equation for rural Whites in the North to be Republican.  At least some of them have ALWAYS been.

[Maxwell]

Other.

It seems like people here identify "identity politics" as any time women or minorities (who didn't lick Bernie's boots, that is) want a promotion. I agree that just yelling "Trump is a racist" is incredibly ineffective, and so we have to revise our tactics. So in some ways we have to change what we're doing, and in some ways we don't.

I'd like a definition of what the hell "identity politics" is before I make a more definitive statement.