Prior to the Civil Rights Act, Democrats used to have some of the most virulent racists

[La Lioness Priyanka]

in their party. After the CRA passed, these racists slowly moved on.

When some white men start saying things like 'we need to ditch identity politics' the rest of us begin to wonder what Democratic party are you trying to build?

one whose motto is 'stronger together' or one that attracts the white working class while pushing every other working class person out of the door?

People need to think more carefully about the type of coalition they truly want and who they are willing to shove out for it.

1964 was not that long ago.

[still_one]

1. That is exactly right, now the party of Lincoln has assumed that role

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. yes, and all this loose chatter about identity politics

makes me wonder how many of us really would be ok if we were pre-1964 democrats.

[still_one]

5. Though there was a difference between northern Democrats verses Southern Democrats, Northern

Democrats for the most part ignored the Southern Democrats racism, pretending it didn't exist, which was itself a racist act

[radical noodle]

20. If we go back to pre-1964

democrats, I'm gone... and I think a lot of others would be gone as well.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

3. Why must any group

be shoved out the door to make room for others? Many former Democrats believe the white working class was shoved out of the door to make room for blacks and Hispanics. Why should most blacks be Democrats or whites Republicans? That sets up an 'us against them' division. It's time for both parties to end the sickness that is identity politics. Trump is a direct result of identity politics.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. trump is a result of white identity politics, so go forward and fix that.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

10. Or one could say

Hillary's loss is the result of black identity politics, so go forward and fix that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. no, it's not. Black people voted for her in large majorities, as did brown people

just because you say something doesn't make it true.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

12. Blacks did not turnout for Hillary

the way they did for Obama. Not my opinion, but fact.

http://www.salon.com/2016/11/10/the-real-reason-black-voters-didnt-turn-out-for-hillary-clinton-and-how-to-fix-it/

[ucrdem]

13. That had everything to do with 8 years of relentless voter suppression

including the 2013 Supreme Court decision striking down federal oversight of elections. Well, it worked.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. 1. voter suppression 2. more recent numbers are closing that gap

that article was written well before all votes were counted

also, clearly if whites had voted like blacks or asians or hispanics, this would not have happened.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

15. You blame white folks for electing Trump

just as those same people blamed blacks for Obama's election. Identity politics is a deadly force and it cuts in every direction.

[ismnotwasm]

23. White people particularly the males, hold most of the power in the US

What you just did was usd a specious "reverse racism" type argument

[Sekhmets Daughter]

26. No, I stated a simple truth.

WTF is reverse racism?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. identity politics brought us voting rights act, civil rights act, marriage equality

i literally dont know wtf you are talking about.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

27. *sigh* n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. Yeah sigh away other people's voices

[Ligyron]

4. IDK, I think we are perfectly capable of both appealing to economic issues

and standing up for the rights of all people.

It's all about thje money - always has been.

Everybody, no matter their sex or ethnic background basically wants the same things, safe places to raise their families, enough money to do so, a good education so they can find a worthwhile career and enough money (again)to live comfortably once they retire along with other things along the way.Like decent healthcare and some vacation time.

The GOPers will provide little to none of the above except for maybe the 5 or 10% and probably for less than that.

The Democratic party can be seen to represent the majority of Americans without trampling the rights of anyone.

That's my take on what was said.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. Yes, and we did offer voters that and voters in some areas rejected that

there are many ways of fixing this, but focusing on identity politics (which used to be a right wing term), is dumb and unwarranted

[AgadorSparticus]

36. I agree. While we offered that, clearly there was miscommunication.

The receiver did not get the message. We need to do better at communicating this.

[jalan48]

8. "Us vs.them, and in the end we're only ordinary men".- Pink Floyd.

I get the feeling Identity Politics means us vs. them.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. identity politics is code for focus less on issues that matter to black people, gays, women etc.

just focus on the economy.

although a black mother who is middle class may be more afraid that the cops will shoot her son than the economy. let's never talk about her.

[Ligyron]

16. You're right, a lot of those WWC people voted for Trump in reaction to what they

perceived was a loss of "white privilege" and a changing culture they'll probably never adapt to. I've no way to actually prove that but I still think it's true. It's a f.u. backlash thing for a lot of them.

Bad news for them is: the people and culture they don't cotton to ain't going away and eventually the demographics and attrition will take care of that problem - whether they like it or not.

Unemployment isn't really that bad either even in the rust belt. We've all seen the figures - it's under 5% for the most part.

The problem, of course, is that the jobs they or their kids have now don't pay anything like what it takes to maintain the lifestyle of a middle class family 30 or 40 years ago and NAFTA has become the whipping boy for many of them in that respect. They blame the likes of Hillary for NAFTA even though it was a GOP push through for the most part, just like the crime bill. For them, with their traditional view of things, the wife is just a reflection of her husband, Bill's will.

So ironically, some POC are pissed at her for the crime bill but she get's no credit for it from the WWC who probably support the sickening result. Nonetheless, the WWC probably DO blame her for NAFTA and associate her with trade problems like the TTP she once supported.

She can't win and now some people wish she'd never tried.

What everybody really needs is an increase in income and I think that's what we should be all about. That doesn't mean we throw our people to the wolves of voter suppression and killer cops and we push back on bigotry and and violation of civil rights every
time.

But those people and their attitudes are not going away until they eventually die off anyway. Plus, we can't do anything to help anybody until we regain quite a bit of the ground that was lost under the present Democratic leadership and our main message from now on in order to do so should be an economic one.

[AgadorSparticus]

37. I totally agree w/you that people voted for trump as a perceived loss of white privilege.

And we really need to hone in on that economic message.

[meow2u3]

17. They were Dixiecrats, not modern-day Dems

Ideological realignment began with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the VRA, which Dixiecrats didn't like one bit. Nixon accelerated the realignment with his dog-whistle-laden "Southern Strategy" to lure white supremacists to the repig party and slowly, racist Dems have switched parties from Dem to puke.

[geek tragedy]

18. Obama was able to pull of "stronger together" while celebrating the idea of American unity

Clinton gave us name-checking of specific demographics at speeches, followed up by referring to 20-45% of the country as "deplorable."

People in rural Wisconsin could disagree with Obama but feel that he respected them. There's a reason he constantly referred to his family from Kansas--to reinforce the commonality even between small town auto repair mechanics and a guy whose ancestors came from Kenya and who studied at Harvard.

I think Clinton found herself in a trap--she needed to really boost turnout amongst the Obama coalition, which wasn't as naturally responsive to her. But, she may have neglected to include all segments of society in her outreach--at least in terms of perception if not in terms of policy.

So, no, don't stop celebrating our diversity and certainly never abandon our commitment to civil rights.

At the same time, make sure everyone--regardless of where they live or whether they like NASCAR etc feels at home in the party. I think the focus on the "coalition of the ascendant" had the effect of making some feel like they weren't visible to the party.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. Obama did not run against this sort of white nationalism

he might have also said something similar if he had (clinging on bitterly to god and guns, for instance)

[geek tragedy]

28. I can't imagine him referring to millions of Americans

that way, even if they've earned it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

30. He literally made that comment about guns and

God

[geek tragedy]

32. It was arguably condescending but (a) attempted

to be empathetic and (b) wasn't intended for public consumption and (c) didn't state these people were irredeemable.

It was also eerily prescient re: Trump.

This is the "economic anxiety" argument.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

33. If you are willing to give him context you

Should also hear what she said in context .

She clearly said that we should not discount all his voters as irredeemable

[geek tragedy]

34. Sure only half the 60 million who voted for him

It was not a smart thing to say. Especially since a lot of people who might not have been inclined to support Trump had a loved one who did, and would have taken offense.

[forjusticethunders]

38. The "deplorables" argument was pretty much exactly the same in substance.

[geek tragedy]

39. She said tens of millions of voters were beyond redemption

as human beings. She took it much further.

Is it pretty much something I've said myself? You bet. But there's a lot of stuff I say that Presidents shouldn't.

I have relatives who are Trumpers. Racist, nutty ignoramuses? Yes. Irredeemable? No.

[hedda_foil]

19. Actually, before the Civil Rights Act, all of the virulent racists were Democrats.

The solid South (solidly white because African Americans were kept from voting in the old Confederate states).was solidly Democratic. Then the Civil Rights Act was passed and Nixon started the Southern Strategy to make the Republican Party attractive to racist creeps. Paul Weyrich brought in the bigoted right wing Xtian preachers to convince their flocks that Jaysuz loved bigotry in the name of the Laaawrd. Fifty years later and VOILA!

[Ken Burch]

22. Bernie is not a racist and neither he nor his supporters have anything in common with the Dixiecrats

n/t.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. no one said that. nt

[LexVegas]

31. White dudes are talking about "identity politics", from Senators on down. White dudes. nt

[louis c]

35. "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Party left me"...quote of old bigots

The Democratic party never left those white, blue collar bigots. We threw them the fuck out.