Lots of things bother me about this current election cycle. For example, the lack of attention by the media and the candidates on the issue of global warming, the failure of either Democratic candidate to state whether they will pursue prosecutions of Bush’s Torturer’s Club, the free pass given to John McCain by the media on just about everything, Congress’ refusal to impeach Bush and Cheney no matter what they do, the censorship of government scientists for political gain, the continuing blight on our national honor that is New Orleans, Blackwater continuing to get government contracts in Iraq, the politicized prosecutions of Democrats by Bush’s Department of Justice, the ever growing number of dead in Iraq, etc. I’m sure you could come up with another 1000 or more things that bother you and I’d agree with most, if not all, of them.
However, there are several things about our current political scene that just don’t get me all that hot and bothered, namely:
1. Black people voting for Barack Obama because he’s black.
2. Women voting for Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman.
3. Stupid old white men voting for John McCain because he’s a stupid old white man.
In my view people should be entitled to vote for people with whom they identify, if that makes them happy. Besides, how many bad tempered, potential Alzheimer’s sufferers with lousy comb overs are there in America, anyway?
Here in Florida, I ocassionaly to see new Ron Paul signs. Just yesterday I saw an SUV with a hand-written sign on its rear window: “Google Ron Paul.”
In Florida. Not PA, IN, NC, etc.
I salute the candidate’s fervor but what’s the goal? Per a campaign spokesperson
So how does one characterize voter identification for Ron Paul? Besides the obvious literary analogy of Sancho Panza’s support of Don Quixote, I am also reminded of Chief Bromden’s affinity for Randle McMurphy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Paul has as much chance of changing the GOP (who calls him ‘loony’ after all) as McMurphy had to change Nurse Ratched.
And I have no problem with loony libertarian white supremacists voting for Ron Paul, even if he isn’t on the ballot.
Better to be involved and motivated than a heap of mashed potatoes on a couch not even voting. Hell, Hillary is preparing for 2012, why can’t Paul?
Identity politics and forms of tribalism have been driving factors in our election process since, well, forever. And it really doesn’t bother me all that much either right now. The thing that seems to upset the apple cart for so many in this go round is that it is being effectively practiced by groups which have traditionally been minority players in the process since its inception; women and African Americans. For the most part, their effectiveness has been able to be successfully muted in the electoral process over the years. But the likelihood that these groups might be successful in overturning the established white man’s hierarchy that has existed since the inception of the country is extremely unsettling for many, particularly those who have most benefited from its existence, mainly the white male electorate.
The evident fear is much more pronounced concerning the rise if the African American identity as a significant and potentially powerful political block. The struggle of women has been much more at the forefront of people’s consciousness for a couple of generations and is therefore perceived, I think, as less threatening as a change from the status quo. But the African American community now has someone, in the person of Obama, who seems to be able to transcend the racial aspect and appeal to a broad swath of the non-African American community, and this helps create a groundswell of support which might well be able to overtake the built-in mechanisms of the process which have been able to continually marginalize this segment of the voting populace for a couple of centuries.
It has been a rarity on our country’s history that someone comes along who possesses the qualities necessary to accomplish this type of sea change. And when they do come along, the reaction is often strong and, sadly, often violent. It is exciting to me to see how things have evolved here so quickly and that we are now in a position where there is strong support, and a realistic chance, for either a woman or an African American to be elected President. After enduring what can only be described as one of the most hellish, evil and blatantly un-American presidential administrations ever, it gives me the first ray of hope in a long time that we might actually be able to start restoring this country to the principles on which it was founded and which made it the envy of the rest of the world.
identity politics will not be the no:1 driving factor in this election. We’re all in the same boat without paddles or life jackets:
It will be pocket book issues. The worst crisis since the Great Depression. Paul Volcker, former Fed chairman, said this week, we’re facing “the mother of all financial crises.”
A 12-18 month severe recession as trillions are wiped out as millions face foreclosures. No practical solution, talk notwithstanding. Up against $45 trln of worthless OTC derivatives…that a low 9% of the $500 trillion.
Counties and cities facing bankruptcy
Gas Tops $4 a gallon in Chicago
Food security and social unrest: you either feed the car or feed the stomachs
As more people in America rely on food stamps to get by, riots will happen here.
I agree. Identity will most certainly be trumped this cycle by concerns over pocketbook issues. In the end, this election will be almost all about economics.
When you see headlines like this:
Retailers post weakest March sales in 13 years
And like this:
1 in 10 Ohioans on Food Stamps, Food Banks Short on Supplies:
And when you see numbers like these:

then it really begins to sink in that the shit is going to hit the fan. Come November, when gas is nearing $5.00 a gallon in many parts of the country, a loaf of bread in the heartland is $5.00 and a dozen eggs is $4-5.00 then the torches and pitchforks might start to come out.
Those who depend on food stamps will basically not be able to feed their families. And here in Ohio, where that’s 10% of the population of the entire state, it just cannot be ignored (unless your name is George Bush).
I can’t help thinking of the Leonard Cohen song we were singing here last week:
“Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.”
Seems like that applies to Randle P. McMurphy as well as Ron Paul, Charlton Heston, and the rest of us who attract media attention.
On the other hand I don’t want some sweet-talking old geezer robbing my octogenarian widowed mom blind. When old white guys are talking about fucking with social security, I am bothered.
I cannot prevent identity politics. Nevertheless, watching “feminists” and “liberals” support Clinton is troublesome considering Clinton’s record on social issues that negatively impact women and are by definition not liberal (trade laws, her husband’s destruction of welfare, etc.). It’s saying, “I’d rather have someone with the same plumbing failing to represent me than someone actually looking out after my interests.”
So, like other things, mass stupidity often distresses me.
Much of identity politics boils down to “us versus them.” That’s why I am offended with the stupid talking point about “sexism is worse than racism” that keeps coming from the Clinton true believers. Either is bad, and better that you don’t find yourself suffering from either or both of them. If you are a black man in Texas being dragged behind a pickup truck full of drunken white men your instant take on this debate is different than a woman who is not believed after a sexual assault. To debate that one is worse than the other necessarily diminishes the “other.”
A true liberal perspective is to understand all oppression and work to end it.
Hitler was a master of identity politics. Identity politics in the US involves the same iconic connection to a candidate with the same failure of the icon to reciprocate to his audience’s needs. This connection obscures you and and your interests in favor of some attractive corporeal apparation. I may not agree with you about whether that new highway needs to be built, but if the only reason why you are supporting that new highway is because your icon is black or has breasts or is old and white then you are wasting your vote and negatively impacting the rest of us.
That is, identity politics at its core is illiberal. I don’t deny its existence but I don’t deny its negative aspects.
Baby Boomers, millions upon millions of them…