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VDH: The End Of Identity Politics
hoover.org ^ | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 02/20/2017 4:16:50 AM PST by RoosterRedux

This shift from the ideal of the melting pot to the triumph of salad-bowl separatism occurred, in part, because the Democratic Party found electoral resonance in big government’s generous entitlements and social programs tailored to particular groups. By then, immigration into the United States had radically shifted and become less diverse. Rather than including states in Europe and the former British Commonwealth, most immigrants were poorer and almost exclusively hailed from the nations of Latin America, Asia, and Africa, resulting in poorer immigrants who, upon arrival, needed more government help. Another reason for the shift was the general protest culture of the Vietnam era, which led to radical changes in everything from environmental policy to sexual identity, and thus saw identity politics as another grievance against the status quo.

A half-century later, affirmative action and identity politics have created a huge diversity industry, in which millions in government, universities, and the private sector are entrusted with teaching the values of the Other and administering de facto quotas in hiring and admissions. In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran a campaign on identity politics, banking on the notion that she could reassemble various slices of the American electorate, in the fashion that Barack Obama had in 2008 and 2012, to win a majority of voters. She succeeded, as did Obama, in winning the popular vote by appealing directly to the unique identities of gays, Muslims, feminists, blacks, Latinos, and an array of other groups, but misjudged the Electoral College and so learned that a numerical majority of disparate groups does not always translate into winning key swing states.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; vdh; victordavishanson
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1 posted on 02/20/2017 4:16:50 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

The end of political correctness.


2 posted on 02/20/2017 4:18:12 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: RoosterRedux

Winning the popular vote with legal citizens and winning the popular vote with illegals are two totally different things.


3 posted on 02/20/2017 4:19:51 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: RoosterRedux

Plus factor in voter fraud.


4 posted on 02/20/2017 4:20:25 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Biggirl

It ain’t over until the libtards have been crushed.


5 posted on 02/20/2017 4:20:56 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: RoosterRedux

BTTT


6 posted on 02/20/2017 4:21:52 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (STOP THE TAPE!)
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To: RoosterRedux

The salad components don’t really have a will, so the salad isn’t entirely an applicable analogy.

So what is one? Maybe I don’t know, personally.


7 posted on 02/20/2017 4:23:25 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: RoosterRedux

... but whatever happens will probably depend on the willingness of the “salad components” to unite when juxtaposed by circumstance.

Full self segregation, while legally permissible, is probably socially unhealthy. The trick is to emphasize policies that encourage (but not force) self segregation to minimize if not disappear.


8 posted on 02/20/2017 4:25:29 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: RoosterRedux
gays, Muslims, feminists, blacks, Latinos, and an array of other groups

And make no mistake - these groups have common enemies.

If you are a Christian, you are an enemy.

If you are a Jew, you are an enemy.

If you are a veteran, you are an enemy.

If you are White, you are an enemy.

If you are heterosexual, you are an enemy.

If you are a patriot, you are an enemy.

If you believe in the Constitution, you are an enemy.

If you are a father, you are an enemy.

If you refuse to abort a child, you are an enemy.


9 posted on 02/20/2017 4:26:36 AM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: wastoute

We are watching the left going thru the dying process.


10 posted on 02/20/2017 4:30:40 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Biggirl

Correction: through.


11 posted on 02/20/2017 4:32:00 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: RoosterRedux
The End Of Identity Politics

If our nation is to survive this has to happen but as long as we have political groups like Black & Hispanic caucuses it won't.

12 posted on 02/20/2017 4:36:30 AM PST by Altura Ct.
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To: SkyPilot

Make no mistake these so-called groups forget that the same folks they hate are also armed to the teeth. Better not mess with said groups.


13 posted on 02/20/2017 4:37:02 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: RoosterRedux
She succeeded, as did Obama, in winning the popular vote by appealing directly to the unique identities of gays, Muslims, feminists, blacks, Latinos, and an array of other groups...

The most important "other group" being the illegal alien, dead, and multiple voters that put her over the top.

If President Trump accomplishes nothing more than to clean out fraud from the voting system, his presidency will be a resounding success.

I love President Trump. He voices the frustration many of us have had with the lying duplicitous media for decades. He sees the voter fraud and tackles it--unlike every other Republican, ever, who ignores vote fraud if it wasn't enough to prevent his election. MAGA!!!

14 posted on 02/20/2017 4:40:20 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: RoosterRedux

Personally, I think identity politics are going to get a lot worse before they get better. The Democrats are going harder Left, which means more identity politics from their side. I really doubt they will give it up as it has hijacked their Party. Much like Labor in the UK, more election loses will only thin out the dissenting voices.


15 posted on 02/20/2017 4:41:00 AM PST by rbg81 (Truth is stranger than fiction)
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To: RoosterRedux
Excellent article, again, by VDH. A real gem.

This excerpt was something I think I felt at some level, but had never consciously formed into a discrete statement as VDH did in his article:

"...The culture’s obsession with tribalism and special ethnic interests—often couched in terms of opposing “white privilege”—had alienated millions of less well-off white voters. Quietly, many thought that if ethnic activists were right that the white majority was shrinking into irrelevance, and if it was acceptable for everyone to seek solidarity through their tribal affiliations, then poor whites could also rally under the banner of their own identity politics. If such trends were to continue in a nation that is still 70 percent white, it would prove disastrous for the Democratic Party in a way never envisioned during the era of Barack Obama..."

It never occurred to me to view it quite that way, but what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

16 posted on 02/20/2017 4:41:56 AM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: SkyPilot

Well said...good post.


17 posted on 02/20/2017 4:43:15 AM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: rbg81

The left is going through a dying process.


18 posted on 02/20/2017 4:48:59 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: rlmorel
From 12 years ago:

The Hicks Bit Back

19 posted on 02/20/2017 4:53:22 AM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Biggirl

They ain’t going fast enough.


20 posted on 02/20/2017 4:56:14 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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