CommentsTHE VIEW FROM HERE - Decades ago, Nancy Pelosi thought that introducing racism into politics was a crackerjack idea.
Then, she had a stroke of genius, “Nancy, why stop with race? Let’s gin up all groups with grievances.” Thus, racism was re-named “Identity” and was married to Democrat Politics!
Had Pelosi’s Identity Politics limited itself to pride in one’s own race, religion, ethnicity, like Gay Pride parades, Identity Politics would have been benign. In 1776 America, race, ethnicity, religion, were afforded zero relevance in public life. The Declaration laid the foundation that each individual had inalienable rights, and a decade later, the US Constitution created the prototype division between identity and politics. In private, anyone could have any religion, but religion was verboten in public life – hence, the phrase Separation of Church and State. This good division has benefitted America because everyone has the freedom to be themselves in private without identity being relevant to their public life.
Identity Politics Explodes Los Angeles
When politicos teach people to disregard the individual and that political power comes from the group to which one belongs, terrible things happen. Donald Trump is one example. Pelosi’s political evil is that she tried to unite minorities by hatred of Whites, while she was blind to the fact that the subgroups did not like each other. Identity Politics has no room to reward individuals based on their own character, but rather everything should be based on a quota system, where the political spoils are distributed based on the size of your group. Unfair allotment causes internecine hostilities.
“Polarization” Is a Euphemism for Hatred
The Declaration of Independence was written to end Identity Politics, aka Group Rights, by basing the nation on individual inalienable rights beyond the reach of even the government to transgress. The Founding Fathers knew that they had to take this action or the hatreds of Europe would be transplanted into the new world.
When Identity Politics resurrects evil racism, the Wokers bestow palatable catch-words like equity, equality and social justice. When things get out of hand, politicians turn to the word “polarization” to conceal what they are doing: race hatred, ethnic hatred, religious hatred. Make no mistake; hate works! Look at Rick Caruso, who is running to be mayor of Los Angeles, and the religious bigotry he unleashed against Scientologists – and no one defended them. In addition to his religious hatred where Caruso tarnished all Scientologists without exception, he violated one of the oldest prohibitions in Western Culture – Do not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Not only did Caruso falsely claim that Karen Bass supported the leadership, but he renamed the entire religion “Church of Karen.” No one, except this column, uttered a peep. Why? Identity Politics has made it A-OK to hate an entire religion based on the misdeeds of a few leaders.
Here’s another of the destructive aspect of Pelosi’s group rights – there is no integrity. The sole measure is getting votes. If lying, cheating, and character assassination get votes, then they are all OK. After all, individual character counts for nothing in Identity Politics.
Now, Angelenos are upset that City Council President Nury Martinez called Councilmember Bonin’s son “ese changuito” (that little monkey). One need not be Mexican to know that Mexicans do not like Blacks, whom they routinely call mayates. If in their private lives people want to support priests who sodomize young boys, that is their private right. If Blacks want to hate Whites and AOC wants to hate Jews, that is freedom of thought in private. Under the American way, however, all such “private beliefs” are to be excluded from public life.
A Criminal Act Results in a Civic Benefit
The morality of secretly tape recording and then broadcasting the private conversation around the world is beyond the scope of this article. Since none of the four know who taped the meeting, their consent was not obtained. The taping was criminal under California law, Penal Code, § 632. For now, let’s note that it looks like PC § 632 was violated.
Identity Politics Promotes Hatred of the Other
Pelosi knew that each group’s having pride in itself would not create a cohesive voting block, but hatred does! Oh, how hatred of others makes strong political bonds. June 21, 2018, The Dangers of Dichotomy: The Saved vs. The Damned Thus, Identity Politics quickly focused on the very few extreme white supremacists as objects of hate. Identity Politics made the sins of the Alt Right representative of all White people. The Wokers covered up that it was Dem Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy who had brought the Unite the Right hordes to Charlottesville for the purpose of having a violent confrontation with Antifa. Without the Dem Vice-Mayor’s two years of effort, the various Alt Right groups never would have come to Charlottesville. November 28, 2016, Homophobic, Sexist, Anti-white Language Abundant in Charlottesville Vice Mayor's Tweets, by Anna Higgins and Tim Dodson
Lacking enough propaganda material in present day America, Identity Politics went far back in history and adopted the concept of Inherited Guilt. Thus, all Whites are responsible for slavery. A current day White person’s ancestors did not have to own any slaves or even be here during slavery. Under Identity Politics, if you have light skin hue, you owe Blacks reparations since you owe your station in life to discrimination against Blacks. This rule applies in California where Mexicans are supposed to give slavery reparations to Blacks, while they get zero for the multi-billion dollar Anglo land grabs from the Californios.
The role of Mexicans, Latinos, Hispanics in Identity Politics is like a bit player in a B movie. While touted as members of the good guys coalition under Identity Politics, they are not prime time players. They were expected to follow along in the footsteps of the Blacks, grateful for whatever crumbs fall the big shots’ table.
Why All Is Not Well Within California Identity Politics
In Los Angeles, Blacks are 8%, but they hold three (3) of fifteen (15) city council seats, but by population they should have only one (1) seat. Hispanics are 48% of LA, but have only four (4) seats. Under Identity Politics, Hispanics merit seven (7) seats. The Hispanics have been gerrymandered out of their proper representation. Blacks should have only one (1) councilmember, while Hispanics should have seven (7) councilmembers. Under the group rights rules of Identity Politics, each group gets proportional representation. The council should have (7) Hispanics and one (1) Black – if you believe in Woker Identity Politics.
Pelosi’s racialization of Identity Politics, e.g. that each minority group gets equal representation everywhere, is a pernicious idea. While no individual should be discriminated against based on race, the claim that any race has right of equal representation is false. No group has a right of representation. As one member of Union de Vecinos said during the city hall kurfuffle on Tuesday, “We should vote values and not Identity Politics.” Identity Politics rejects Martin Luther King’s “judge each individual by their character.” With Identity Politics, everything is about race, race, race.
Nothing Good Comes From Identity Politics
Under the Declaration, each person is an individual human being and is to be treated according to their individual character and not as members of some group. Under Identity Politics, however, your ascriptive group comes first. That is the basis of Affirmative Action quotas. That is the basis of redistricting by race. That’s the justification for California’s slavery reparations. Identity Politics is a nationwide scam to seize political power. Values should over ride identity.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed by Mr. Abrams are solely his and not necessarily those of CityWatch.)
