Identity Politics

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In the past 8+ years we as a country have been subjected to identity politics.

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Identity politics was not invented by Barack Obama in 2008

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Identity politics was not invented by Barack Obama in 2008

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Modern identity politics was invented by LBJ. Obama just perfected it.

historically speaking, in America, a group's political power has not led to economic improvement. In other words, there isn't much evidence in America to suggest that a lagging group must first attain some degree of political power in order to advance economically. In reality, quite the opposite is true. Jewish and Indian Americans are two examples of this. You could add Japanese Americans also.

Today, some lagging groups are actually over-represented at various levels of government, yet economic improvement continues to elude them.

i think identity politics had been practiced for a long time in this country. I don't know when it started, but it certainly didn't begin with Obama.

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Modern identity politics was invented by LBJ

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All politics is identity politics. Always has been, always will be.

LBJ just exploited identity for political gain more effectively than many of his predecessors. But he was hardly the first.

the thing is identity politics is a fools errand in a country that's 70% white. the danger was always going to be the creation of a white voting bloc and the distribution of minorities in the united states isn't uniform ironically minorities are most concentrated in red states. take mississippi for example 37% of the state is black that's the highest percentage in the nation yet 90% of the white vote goes to republican's. a state turns red when 60% of the white vote accrues to the republican candidate and then that trend moves up and down ballot. romney lost because he under performed his national average among white voters (60%) in the mid west performing in the low 50's where as obama performed in the mid 40's. hillary clinton under performed obama among whites in the mid west by 7 points receiving only 38% of the white vote trump on the other hand performed to his national average among white voters right at 59%.

the notion that you can put together a coalition of fruits and nuts and win elections is sophistry.

Ya know. Identity politics is a pain in the arse but it's almost tolerable if we're talking "identity" in terms of groups who share certain beliefs. IE, a politician who appeals to religious people, or one who appeals to non-religious people.

People can assess belief systems and determine how they value that belief system.

But this shite of identity politics by color, sex, etc etc. That's just shite because the game there is, no one is allowed to make assessments.(well, unless it's of white people".