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Uncle Joe

(58,389 posts)
Sun Feb 21, 2016, 11:45 AM Feb 2016

I believe this author may have a point regarding "Identity Politics"



(snip)

So does that mean Sanders is poised for a resurgence after his narrow Nevada loss? Well, not exactly. Clinton has one big thing going for her: the limits of the Sanders crowd's political imagination.

Many Sanders voters are mature enough to reject the cult of upward mobility, yet naive enough to believe that government can compensate by simply paying for a big enough array of entitlements. Ultimately, they believe that the walls that impede success were put there by rich capitalists or by capital itself. The fact is that when everyone competes and we all become more similar in our tastes, dreams, fears, and capabilities, the vast majority wind up interchangeably insignificant in the bulge of the universal bell curve, while a relative handful of crazily talented and ambitious people make extraordinary gains. It's true that raising taxes on the ultra-rich would ameliorate the pain and anxiety we feel. But we don't have the financial system to blame for this as much as we do ourselves.

The solution to that problem, according to Alexis de Tocqueville, is for people to risk the awkwardness of coming together face-to-face to grapple firsthand with the unglamorous details of everyday life.

The temptation today in American politics is to give up on fundamental reform in favor of the comforts of identity politics. Whatever its partisan stripe, identity politics gives us a shot of pride right at the moment we'd rather not feel so insignificant before America's vast problems and vast government. This is what Clinton awkwardly taps into and what Sanders ignores — at his own peril.


http://theweek.com/articles/607357/how-hillary-clinton-awkwardly-exploited-limits-bernie-sanders-political-imagination



No doubt identity politics; if it doesn't have power creates the illusion of power.
3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I believe this author may have a point regarding "Identity Politics" (Original Post) Uncle Joe Feb 2016 OP
I don't think... Bohemianwriter Feb 2016 #1
People are easily fooled most Americans are too stupid to make informed decisions. JRLeft Feb 2016 #2
What astoneshes me... Bohemianwriter Feb 2016 #3
 

Bohemianwriter

(978 posts)
1. I don't think...
Sun Feb 21, 2016, 12:36 PM
Feb 2016

This author manages to look at the big picture and focuses only one one thing..The "identity politics" meme. It's divivise and exclusive.

If identity politics means "I am going to pander to you now, and then I am going to ignore you later for then expect your loyalty at the next election", I see how and why people vote name recognition or some cheap talking point as to say "you are special"..
That is the actions of the Clintons can be understood by anyone who's not been completely asleep the last 25 years depicts this perfectly.

Are there anyone here who have studied social economics?

We took that in high school already in Norway. There's a world of difference between the American high school curriculum and the Norwegian one. The American high school system doesn't make people think for themselves. I remember getting multible choice questions in history and am. pol. class!
I should be empathetic to the naive mindset of the American voter (ad television, and fat food on top of that) and how one are so easyily lured into cheap talking points, not being able to have two thoughts in the head at the same time.
This is the environment American journalists and pundits comes from, and lacks the understanding of the importance of an all inclusive politics and not pander politics. I know that minorities who have been ignored or even persecuted feel that their identiy and voices needs to be heard and seen. This is what Bernie Sanders has done since the 60s. One would think that his track record would prove that he don't need to pander like Hillary does.
What Hillary has done is tryiny to minimize his efforts and elevate her own alleged activism to do exactly as stated above: To pander to the voters and hope they have forgotten her "super predator" remarks.

I agree that the Bernie campaign must be clearer in the differencers between Hillary and go on both track records regarding "identity politics" and convince the black voters that this is a joint effort with all the groups coming together, where no group are more important than others.

Hillary panders to each and every one as I understand...What I wonder, is how long it will take before people see through her bulshit. First, she panders to feminists, and have a well known TERF (transexlusionary radical feminist) coming with sexist remarks about female Bernie voters.
Then you have Albright (with half a million Iraqi lives on her consience) saying in a "jokular" way "there is a special place in hell for women"..."Women must help other women"...Regardless. This is a divisive tactic, and shows the ugly side of "identity politics".

Republicans stab you in your face. DNC stabs you in the back. And I am still looking for any good reason why any PoC should give their vote to Hillary Clinton no matter how much the American education system have brainwashed them into thinking that "socialism is evil"...

 

Bohemianwriter

(978 posts)
3. What astoneshes me...
Sun Feb 21, 2016, 12:47 PM
Feb 2016

..Is that I sit on the other side of the planet (well, a quarter of the other side of the planet anyway) and can dig up dirt on anyone I want in American politics, and then you have low information voters who get their "news" from a rabid neighbour who have listened to Rush Limbaugh go out and vote based on what he heard from said neighbour.
I am thinking of evey single person who vote against their own interests because bigotry, fear, or smear tactics against other candidates that goes unchallenged.

Calling out bullshit should be a new meme...

Because that is what every informed voter need to do when hearing bullshit...Calling it out for what it is...



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