So, a friend of mine linked me an article from the dispatch about how in terms of actual voting, identity groups aren't really the big thing that's polarizing people but religion, and how the upcoming realignment might be more about the religious divide than the racial one.
The article tries to make it sound like this is a negative thing, but honestly, I say: GOOD. Honestly, identity politics doesn't resonate with me, as a cis white male who is liberal. I mean, I'm politically homeless the way things are. In terms of demographics, outside of my college education, I should be a republican. But I'm actually quite progressive. But I never really sat well with the identity nonsense. I don't care. I don't identify or sympathize with any of these minority groups, these politics do nothing for me. And no, I'm not going to "check my privilege."
At the same time, what does motivate me? As I expressed last night, ideology, worldview. My gateway to the left came from the new atheist movement, and becoming more secular and abandoning Christianity. And as a result, since then I've generally speaking been to the left of the majority of the country both culturally (minus the identity thing) and economically.
For me, "progressive" meaning "inclusive" and obsessed with identity and social progress between identity groups just hasn't resonated. Because I fundamentally don't agree with those politics. What has motivated me post 2012 has been the religious divide, and the economic divide. But given the current post 2016 battle lines, I've found mainstream politics to be dull, boring, and not even worth engaging in. Because I don't care about this privilege stuff. If anything, as a white progressive I feel like the rest of the party looks down on me with disdain and is always lecturing me about what other people want and how I have to bend for them. Which, this article sounds like too to some extent.
You see, a lot of POC are actually quite religious. And while there is currently a racial divide in politics in which the democrats are largely a coalition of minorities and the republicans are largely a coalition of white people. And as long as this coalition exists, I'm going to not be comfortable, because my white progressivism doesn't fit in. My former atheism is "too white", my social democracy is too white. Im constantly told how you see you white progressive, most POC democrats are religious and not big on this gay marriage and abortion stuff. And you see, they're not interested in social democracy either because we tried that in the 30s-60s and it didn't do anything for them. And then I'm once again told I have to settle for less, check my privilege, and vote blue no matter who because...black people or something. Idk. It's dumb. It's alienating. It's condescending.
But that's precisely what the divide this article speaks of. Within the democrats, there is a racial divide, and that divide is among religious. Many blacks and hispanics have religious attitudes that are similar to that as white evangelicals. And whites are a lot more...secular. While most believe in god, only like 20% outright don't, around half of those who do aren't Christian. They're like me where they have some nontraditional spirituality or something.
ANd you know what? Until this complete identity politics dumpster fire of the past few years, I largely saw politics as a religious divide. The reason aligning with democrats was so easy for me was because the republicans were religious nutcases who wanted to bring us back to the gilded age, and the democrats were the party of progress, both socially and economically. But as the political divides within the democratic party became apparent in 2016, this got derailed, and it's a huge reason I got alienated.
I pointed this out in 2016 when i was still an atheist. Hillary Clinton was this methodist type who was very uncomfortable with abortion and gay marriage personally. She also had a very moderate economic ideology, which seemed steeped in the same old protestant work ethic BS i have long since shaken off. The point is, hillary was not a progressive. She didn't want to improve society in significant ways. She was a conservative. And as the racial divide in the party became clear, I got more alienated. i got tired of hearing about how blacks and latinos don't care about social democracy, and they're religious so they dont care about social progress like I do. I mean at that point, what's even the point in allying with them? Don't get me wrong, I'd ally with them to get mutually beneficial solutions, but I'm going to be honest, on social politics, I'm far more moderate on racial justice than most dems. Because I'm a white guy who is sick and tired of the privilege crap. But I'm very progressive on cultural issues related to religion. I mean, to me, fundamentalist christianity was, until recent years, the source of most evil in this country to me. It was why people were so ignorant on issues like climate change. It was why we had fights over abortion and gay rights. It was an opium to the masses that distracted people from the real economic issues we face, as many conservatives moralize biblical statements out of context to push conservatism. For me, christianity was much of what was evil in this country.
I will say I've lightened up to some extent, as I've come in contact with more liberal christians who are a bit better grounded in reality, and I have come to realize that some liberal mainline protestants and catholics can be quite economically progressive. But still. Religious attitudes are often responsible for what's wroong with the world. And ultimately, unlike the identity crap which just comes down to this BS factionalism based on your race, gender, or other immutable characteristics, the clash between religion and secularism is a battle I'm actually far more willing to fight. Because to me, it influences everything, from social policy, to economic policy. Religion is a worldview. And if that worldview is factually incorrect, then it leads people to not see things as they are, causing them to make bad policy. And I'm quite frankly far more willing to fight on the lines of ideology and worldview than dealing with factional spats involving the circumstances of my birth vs others. The former is intellectually stimulating to me, the latter is not.
Yet this article keeps warning us that this realignment is bad and we should think twice before we piss off the POC because they can be progressive allies. Allies how? Like, I'm going to be honest, I'm not racist, I dont care what your skin color is, but if you're going to be factionalized in such a way where your racial identity is your primary motivator in politics, how does that help me? What does the black community or latino community offer me? If anything, it is a huge reason why progressives lose primaries. Because these communities are socially and economically moderate and obsessed with advancing their own racial interests, they often make poor allies to causes I actually care about, consistently voting against me in politics, which then leads obnoxious neolibs to go on and on and on about how I don't get these groups. I DONT CARE, HONESTLY. I really don't. If they're not on my side, why do I care? In some ways a lot of these guys might as well be conservatives. if they're socially conservative on issues of religion, and they arent interested in economic justice, how are they my allies?
Honestly, if POC want to go and join the republican party over religion, let them. Let's just clear the air. I have no real interest in the democratic party as it is. Given the domination of moderates, neolibs, and all of these identity oriented interests, my own preferred factions get consistently outvoted and I'm stuck voting for candidates I dont even believe in if I don't just rebel and go full on third party.
It's honestly getting to the point that if the conservative factions of the democratic party don't leave for greener pastures, I will. And that's really the kicker, why I'm so willing to let POC leave and become republicans. if they don't leave in this way, I will, because this democratic party doesn't represent my ideology and interests.
Again, to make things clear, this isn't me being racist. This is about how identity influences real world political ideology and positions on issues, and if POC don't align with me on the causes I care about, to the point that I'm alienated from the democrats, then I'm fine with them leaving. Because maybe then we can actually get things done.
If we can depolarize the racial issues in this country, where the GOP becomes browner, and the dems are more progressively pure that's a win for both groups. Because it brings the GOP back from the brink of fascism, and it makes the dems more able to be progressive. It serves as a moderating force on the GOP and a force that frees the dems from being so moderate.
Now, one issue the author of this article has is that this might make politics more about religion, and religion should never mix with politics. Does it matter? The GOP has been the party of nutcase religious righters since the 1970s. We just overturned roe v wade because we have a theocratic supreme court. Even though trump wasnt religious, he still pandered to the religious faction of the republican party.
We're already fighting this culture war, we were fighting it for decades, and you know what, we were winning it until this identity crap became front and center. Millennials and zoomers are far less religious, there's an age divide on religion, and once the older generations go away, we're playing a whole different ball game.
When we talk about the "coalition of the ascendent" in the early 2010s, something that i considered myself to be a part of, I looked at a generational divide, in which young people were far less religious and far more liberal than older counterparts, and the older evangelical mindset would wither and die. I saw it as the left winning the culture wars through attrition, in which the right was on borrowed time and the left was going to win. But then this identity nonsense happened. ANd the SJWs went mainstream, alienated a bunch of progressives, and the right saw this massive breath of life flowing back into it as they got so pissed off at the left for blowing it so badly, it threatened to undermine the whole thing.
THe reason politics has gotten me so down is because if we're not careful, this identity crap could be the future, economic issues are ignored, as affluent suburbanites and minorities dominate the democratic party leading to an obnoxious emphasis on cultural issues at the expense of economics, and the republican party becomes a party of disaffected populists being drawn closer and closer to fascism by demagogues.
THat future of politics scares me. But if politics instead becomes the most secular people on the left wanting progress, the most religious on the right wanting to go backward, and the middle going one way or another, I feel like we can win that. And here's why.
WHile Christians are 60% of the country (and declining), they're not a monolith. Which is why I dont necessarily hate religion like I did. It's really only the fundies and conservatives that are the problem. There are a lot of white mainline protestants and catholics that have unorthodox views. I've encountered christians who are supportive of gay marriage, trans issues, and even tolerant of abortion. Keep in mind, you can be politically pro choice but personally pro life. I've encountered liberal protestants and catholics supporting stuff like universal healthcare and UBI. Hell, andrew yang is a christian, and there isnt a politician i agree with more than him ideologically to my knowledge.
There are a lot of issues I can work with the more reasonable christians on. And I feel like at the end of the day, many of them would be drawn more closely to the progressive side than the conservative side. Because the conservative side is insane, and the progressive side's main opposition to religion is it leading to people believing and advocating to harmful things. But push comes to shove, I feel like liberal christians would choose reality based politics over the beliefs of the fundies. many of them can compartmentalize, knowing that their beliefs should not govern the country. That while their beliefs might lead to personal decisions, that others might live other ways. Liberal christians can be tolerant of others, and we can be tolerant of them. I see no contradiction there.
But as I see it, if POC christians basically agree more with fundamentalists on policy issues and only vote democrat because of the identity crap...uh....bye. Have a nice life. PLEASE join the republicans, please. I dont want conservatives in the party holding us back and making our politics obsessed with racial issues. I really don't. It's why mainstream politics has been such a drag in recent years. I dont care about identiy politics, and i didnt leave the republicans to have my agenda obstructed by moderates who aren't my ally on issues i care about. If they dont care about my issues, i dont care about theirs. So yeah, I'd rather fight politics on religious and ideological lines than based on the current lines, because as things stand, neither party represents me.
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