Haney Lopez: Can Democracy Survive Racism as a Strategy?

[TomDaisy]

As a practical matter, at the present moment the survival of democracy in the United States hinges upon the electoral success of the Democratic Party. Given the radicalization of the Republican Party, there is little prospect that democracy endures unless Democrats win enough elections to remain in control of the federal government.

Major hurdles facing the Democratic Party include the disproportionate power of rural states, gerrymandered districts, voter disenfranchisement, the composition and rules of the Senate, and other factors. But chief among these challenges looms identity politics—the success of the right’s identity politics, and the tendency of Democrats to engage in identity wars with each other.

...

Many factors contribute to conflict among Democrats. But nothing hamstrings the Democratic Party’s power to define itself and its mission as much as the right’s strategic racism. The GOP’s embrace decades ago of racial dog whistle politics has turned Democrats against each other. One Democratic faction believes with every fiber that white racism must be directly confronted, though this alienates white voters and loses elections. The other side insists that the best strategy is to mainly ignore racism—though this leaves unchallenged the Republicans’ main electoral strategy. Democrats are thus two Titanics, steaming in opposite directions. From their respective decks, each can see the iceberg in the other’s path, but not the jagged teeth beneath their own bows. For democracy itself, whatever hope there is depends on both these Titanics turning.

...

Can the two Titanics of the Race and Colorblind lefts turn to steer a parallel course? To ask the question this way is to call to mind all of the forces that typically prevent big changes. But even so, their identity is something that Democrats can unilaterally control. Unlike so many of the proposed structural changes to protect democracy that cannot be enacted without either significant cooperation from Republicans or landslide Democratic victories, Democrats right now can begin to tell their own story about who we are to each other, who threatens us, and why we must fight for each other. Democracy, and not just the fortunes of the Democratic Party, hangs in the balance.

much more at link https://protectdemocracy.org/project/endgame/#section-4



https://protectdemocracy.org

[Hoyt]

1. Yes, we can/will survive. It's been intolerable for the victims for several centuries,

but we are surviving and most people are doing better. Much more to do, but society will survive.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I read the whole thing

I disagree with this premise by the author. I 'get' that he's a leading scholar on Critical Race Theory - but . . .

But nothing hamstrings the Democratic Party’s power to define itself and its mission as much as the right’s strategic racism. The GOP’s embrace decades ago of racial dog whistle politics has turned Democrats against each other.

I disagree with this. Being a Democratic Party Member (not a liberal, progress, democratic socialist - but a Democratic Party Member) means you believe that LBJ did the noble thing. It cost him - but he did the noble and right and just things for the people that built this country. Jesus - we'd been here 300 years - 100 not enslaved - and he made my dad (a Military Officer/Green Beret at the time) who was born and raised in Alabama . . . am American Citizen.

One Democratic faction believes with every fiber that white racism must be directly confronted, though this alienates white voters and loses elections. The other side insists that the best strategy is to mainly ignore racism—though this leaves unchallenged the Republicans’ main electoral strategy.

What is he getting on about here? Is he certain that confronting racism directly alienates white voters and loses elections? I did not see one word about the Concerted Focused Effort to Disenfranchise (PUNISH) black Americans for showing up because we knew that our country was OVER if Trump one again.

Not posted in the OP - but at the link:

Yet the real strength of fusion politics rests not on how well it polls, but in what it represents to Democrats: a single story that can be genuinely owned by the contending Race and Colorblind sides. Fusion politics addresses the core concerns of the Race Left, directly confronting racism and also speaking in the most convincing frame to communities of color. In addition, fusion politics also satisfies the demands of the Colorblind Left: far from alienating white voters, it’s the most politically persuasive message among white voters (as well as for those voters of color disinclined to see themselves as racial victims)

.

I'm a Democratic Committee Member - have been since March 2018. This is the first I've heard about this 'infighting' and major break between these supposed factions.

I've got to be honest - we flipped our borough, district, and state leg districts blue in 2018 and 2019. This county seat was Red for DECADES. We did it by focusing on -

Good vs Evil
Right vs Wrong
True Americans against UnAmerican

We STILL have a county government with Sedition Susan Soloway on it but . . .

It's how we won. It's how we will keep the 7th Blue in 2022.

2022 comes down to good Americans bringing to heel unAmerican evil forces that wish to implement a dictatorship.

There's no race in that - and there isn't a single member of DU who can't give one example of unAmerican policies our Opponents are implementing.

I'm just not seeing this major split. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted. The GOP will always say ugly things about Democratic Party Members. Always. But they are the ugly and evil ones . . . and we need to start believing it, saying it, and GOTV'ing it.

[abqtommy]

3. Thanks for your excellent response. Since I'm here I'll just repeat my frequent

message that I oppose the terms "race" and "racism" since I subscribe to the
science that informs me/us that there's only one race and that's the human race.
We are composed of many ethnic groups and experience a lot of ethnic bigotry.
But if we roll up our sleeves and get out and vote in every local, state and national
election we can fix it all.