In the past few weeks Democrats have celebrated the following victories in primary elections. They have nominated two Muslim women. They have put the first transgender woman on the ballot for mayor of a major city. They have put two female candidates for US Senate on the ballot in California, for the second such election in a row. They have put a 28-year-old bartender named Ocasio-Cortez on the ballot in a district which is 68% Puerto Rican, who professes to be a Democratic Socialist, unseating a three-term Democrat.
Do you see a trend here? They are celebrating not the policies which these candidates espouse, but their identities. They are not electing candidates who espouse policies which will benefit the nation as a whole. They elect candidates because they are identities which are championed by the Democratic Party: women, minority, LGBTQ, Muslim…
If you are male, you cannot win in a Democratic district. If you are white, you cannot win in a Democratic district. If you are straight, you cannot win in a Democratic district. If you identify as the same sex that is on your birth certificate, you cannot win in a Democratic district. If you are Catholic, do not even bother to run in a Democratic district.
Notice, in that last paragraph, I never mentioned policies.
Update: Saturday, 7:30am
"...but what," Bruce asks, "are they going to actually do?"
You miss the point entirely, my boy. They are not going to do anything.
Democratic politics is not about doing anything, it is about being.
It is about being special (gay, female, trans, etc.) and about not being Trump.
All these diverse candidates are great and all, but what are they going to actually do? What is their platform? Is it their own, their districts, the Democratic party, or just anything "anti-Trump"? I don't really care who you are, just what can you do /are willing to take on and are you realistic about what's actually going on?
ReplyDeleteI think that's a large part of what got Obama elected - he was not Bush. Never mind that anyone else was not Bush either. Of course, the fact he was young and eloquent and African American helped.
I got your point immediately, my irascible elder uncle. and my question was (mostly) rhetorical. I don't really expect them to do much, just was pointing out what appears to be flash over substance. But then you kinda did already.
ReplyDelete