“Identity politics” is redundant

[supergee]

The Rude Pundit (using language) says what I think about the Alabama election: Black people saved the country. Making sure they are not disenfranchised is the most important thing the Democrats can do.

Comments

[arlie]

Ugh. I wrote the above after reading the first paragraph. The rest of the article totally confirmed what I'd hoped/expected was me running off on a tangent again, probably due to some knee jerk.

As a woman, I'm kind of stuck with the Democrats. They don't represent me to any extent, but at least they aren't actively opposed to my interests. and while I might conceivably have class interests in common with Republicans, a close look at the tax bill they are pushing suggests that even with my healthy middle class income, and immense (by US standards) savings, I'm not rich enough for them to help me, or even have no net effect - I'm just another cash cow to be milked to benefit billionaires. (Perhaps if I were married I'd be within their no-net-effect target, but I'm not and don't want to be.) [Abortion isn't a self interest issue for me. I'm long past menopause, and have in any case never been pregnant.]

But ye gods I don't like the Democrats very much. Whether or not I care about Democrats winning depends on policies, not on tribal identity. They are not "my team" in any way. If the Republicans wanted to go back to the middle-of-the-road, tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee politics of my young adulthood, I'd seriously consider voting for them.

This author not so much - while he talks about saving the country, what I hear is "how can We Win". Is he on their payroll? is he hoping for a career in politics? If not, why does he care? And on the flip side - what if anything would his Democrats do for black people, other than not be Republicans, and encourage black people to work hard supporting Democrats?

[minoanmiss]

This is an interesting reaction piece you've written to that essay. *contemplates*