18-08-2015, 03:12 PM
I don't think I'm the only traditional leftist who is dismayed at the rise of Identity Politics in the US. We've seen Bernie Sanders' speeches disrupted by BLM protests recently. Sanders should take the microphone back and tell them that the real issue is police brutality and the militarization of law enforcement - no matter who the victims are. The LGTB groups - whose goal of equality I support - are too fixated on their own narrow agendas. It's just as bad on the Right: white Christian gun-owning, truck-driving, hunting, English-speaking, meat-eating rural people who pretend to be oppressed victims, as well as "the real Americans." Mike Huckabee is the king of identity politics on the Right.
This polarization of the electorate into grievance groups, each focused on their own problems, each demanding their own special solutions, benefits only the ruling elite - Divide and Conquer. Of course, right-wingers tend to be exclusionary, parochial and narrow-minded in their thinking - it's what they do. But we on the left are supposed to be inclusive, to believe in the brotherhood of all humans. We should be focused on reminding people of their common problems, the shared human condition. As JFK did in his American University speech. But if all of those artificial barriers were broken down, if Red states and Blue states realized that they have a lot in common, it would spell big trouble for the ruling Elites.
This polarization of the electorate into grievance groups, each focused on their own problems, each demanding their own special solutions, benefits only the ruling elite - Divide and Conquer. Of course, right-wingers tend to be exclusionary, parochial and narrow-minded in their thinking - it's what they do. But we on the left are supposed to be inclusive, to believe in the brotherhood of all humans. We should be focused on reminding people of their common problems, the shared human condition. As JFK did in his American University speech. But if all of those artificial barriers were broken down, if Red states and Blue states realized that they have a lot in common, it would spell big trouble for the ruling Elites.
: There has been an organised plan to split the 'left' into the communist and non-communist left or take advantage of existing differences. The CIA worked their black magic in Europe with Italian and French politics. And in the US with the identity politics. Works well for them. Keeps people distracted and divided.