Today I again read an opinion piece about the “identity politics” of the Democratic Party. Eager to regain power, the Dems have identified various segments of our society and have formulated policies to lure these groups to vote blue in each election. Many of these identities are well-known.
African-Americans are the most visible, and voting trends bear out how successful the Party has been in securing their vote. For many recent election cycles, over 90% of the African-American vote has been for Democrats. Promising laws which are to the advantage of this group has kept the black vote in line for decades.
Another identity group, a growing one, is the Latino vote. With the notable exception of Cuban-Americans, those with Hispanic background have been courted by the Dems, and they rewarded the Party with a majority of their votes.
Other groups include women, and Democratic leaders have long touted themselves as the champions of women and women’s issues. If fact, some of the more loud and obnoxious opponents of the Republicans (and their nominal leader, President Donald Trump), are women. Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton — the list is long, and all are Democrats. The gay community, the LGBTQ set, are also a part of the coalition the left that the Democrats pander to. Immigrants and immigrant enclaves are havens of left-wing politics and dutifully follow the Party line.
Anti-gun people activists, environmentalists, clean air enthusiasts — each has its niche in the Democratic Party’s big tent. Globalists make up a small but vocal bit in this ever-expanding list of “identities” which are favored with policies and public funds when the Democrats hold the reins of power.
With all those different sets making up the whole, why am I left out? I feel dissed, deliberately ignored, when I can lay claim to belonging to several such identities. How can I, with integrity, vote for the Democrats when they refuse to recognize that, I, too, am a part of an important minority? In fact, I can lay claim to several statuses that are minority and deserve consideration for inclusion by the party of the left.
First, I am old, a senior citizen on a fixed income. Where are the Democratic rallies that feature millions of us, being targeting with favorable status by the left? In addition, I am disabled, with hearing loss — a hearing aid and cochlear implant. Those of us who are covered by the Americans with Disability Act need a party that trumpets help for us and spends jillions of dollars to help us.
In addition, I am a fundamentalist Christian preacher, but I don’t see any effort to include me and my cohorts in any concerted effort to improve our financial or social status. Just the opposite — in the 2012 Democratic Party platform, they attempted to remove the word God from that document. I’m insulted that we, in this tiny identity, are ignored.
And where are the policies that favor those of us who have a specific and special ethnic heritage, but are never touted by the Dems? My ancestors came from Germany, but the only Germans we hear about are Hitler and the Nazis when left-wing speakers want to demonize their opponents. With so many of us German-Americans around, this niche group would be a powerful electoral identity for the Democrats, but alas, we are shunted aside.
But since my ancestors really “got around”, I am also Scottish-American. When was the last time you saw a Democrat wear a kilt and espouse programs to help those of us who are proud descendants of the highland clans?
Since one of my forebears was William of Normandy, my Norse roots should be championed by the party of “identity politics”, but, again, we see it not in the Democratic talking points. When was the last time you saw a Democrat making a speech standing next to the Rune Stone in Alexandria, Minnesota? Never? Right.
My maternal grandfather was from English stock. Speaking English and with Anglo-Saxon blood in many Americans, that would be a powerful voting block, if only the Democrats had the brains to mine the voting gold there.
Jane, my wife, is a proud 4th generation Swedish-Norwegian. If that bloc were singled out for special attention, the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota would be blue for centuries. What a spectacle that would be; marching, shouting Vikings with their horned hats and carrying replicas of their longships. But, alas and alack, a powerful identity group ignored.
This could go on and on, as Americans can lay claim to many kinds of special identity statuses. But instead of demanding special treatment, we prefer to be known as simply Americans. Democrats may win some elections by groveling before their identity units, but their policy of doing so is short-sighted. By doing this, these small-minded politicians do disservice to those they are elected to serve.
So don’t look for me agitating for my ethnic or other unique groups of which I am a part. I am proud that those of us opposed to these tactics have been called the “deplorables, the irredeemables,” (Hillary Clinton) and those who “cling to their guns and Bibles” (Barack Obama). Those of us in flyover country, and our compatriots in other places in our proud land, will band together and unite into one large identity group, American patriots, to make America the “shining city on a hill”, which she was always meant to be.