Identity Politics Sucks

I've been meaning to say something about a piece I saw last week in the Washington Post by David Broockman, a political science grad student from UC Berkeley ever since I read this one finding from his research: "disengaged and infrequent voters who allegedly constitute the moderate middle are actually more likely to endorse extreme policies than politically active voters." Btoockman's premise is that the real extremists are American voters, not politicians, something that goes along well with something my friend Danny Goldberg told me decades ago about politicians, that they are forever running to catch up to the head of the column of activists working for change.

Broockman finds that most American voters aren't especially centrist in their views. "On many issues," he writes, "much of the public appears to support more extreme policies than legislators do." It isn't that politicians are pursuing an extreme agenda because of a handful of activists and campaign donors. "Most Americans," he explains, "are simply not ideologically consistent enough that ideological labels such as 'conservative,' 'liberal' or 'moderate' accurately describe them.

Many political observers have the sense that something has gone awry in American politics, and the metaphor of extreme elites spurning a moderate public is understandably appealing. They may be right to worry that American politicians are more partisan and less responsive than in decades past, that interest groups have succeeded in countermanding majority will in many instances, or that each of the parties is out of step on some issues. However, concerns about a wholesale “disconnect” between extreme elite positions and moderate public opinion may be overstated.

In fact, the Americans who we often call moderates may be less likely to adopt moderate positions on any given issue. These Americans appear more aptly described as “conflicted,” agreeing with each party on some issues and more extreme than either party on others.

Overall labels like “moderates,” “liberals” or “extremists” are often not able to describe individual Americans’ opinions at all-- and, when we do analyze public opinion in ideological terms like these, we’re likely to be led astray. As the relationship between mass opinion and politicians’ actions differs a great deal by issue, better understanding about what may ail American politics may require attending to the unique politics each issue presents.

Much to my own dismay, in fact, I keep seeing the ugly specter of identity politics popping up to explain political support across the board. Gay people get angry with me because I don't cut LGBT Members Sean Patrick Maloney and Kyrsten Sinema a little slack because they're gay. WHAT!?!?! The best voting record for a freshman in the entire U.S Congress this session is held by Mark Pocan (D-WI) who also happens to be gay. I'm happy Mark is gay and I think his husband, Philip is a totally awesome guy, but we support Pocan because of his voting record and because of the amazing working he does on behalf of working families in Madison and across the country. Maloney and Sinema have-- literally-- two of the worst voting records of any Democrats in Congress. Maloney, who does his call time from a hedge fund office, is a member of the corrupt Wall Street-owned New Dems. Sinema is also a New Dem but, apparently she wanted to appear even further right than that and last week joined the Blue Dogs. Pocan's ProgressivePunch crucial vote score for the 113th Congress is 98.52. Sinema's is an abysmal 33.07 and Maloney's is an even worse 31.11, more right wing than several Republicans-- including upstate New York neighbor Chris Gibson (34.81).

Yesterday, there was a PA-13 congressional primary debate hosted by DFA. The worst candidate, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky expects to win based on being the mother of Chelsea Clinton's husband and stayed away from the debate. So it was only the Blue America-backed Daylin Leach, Brendan Boyle, the machine-backed, anti-Choice conservative and Val Arkoosh, a local doctor. Boyle would be even worse than Margolies-Mezvinsky and Arkoosh isn't bad, just not ready for Congress yet, especially not with a stellar candidate like Leach running. But when I opined as much on Twitter during the debate, another woman-- with nothing to say about her support for Arkoosh other than her gender-- was furious. Right now, Blue America is backing an incredible woman in Maine for the Senate seat, Shenna Bellows. We're backing her because she's the best candidate and will make as good a senator as Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. None of their genders are what concerns me, nor is the gender of Shenna's opponent, Susan Collins. We only endorsed two candidates for governor so far-- Barbara Buono in New Jersey and Heather Mizeur in Mayland-- each because they are clearly the best candidate and would make the best governor. In CA-31, California's Inland Empire, there's a 4-way race between the emply suit DCCC recruit, Pete Aguilar, an ex-congressman best known for being a Blue Dog and a misogynst, Joe Baca, another guy with no support, and a dedicated community activist and grassroots progressive, Eloise Reyes. We're not backing Eloise because of her gender. We're backing her because she is the best candidate.

It demeans women politicians simply because they are women, rather than because they are the best. That's what's so insidious and horrible about EMILY's List. They are always ready to endorse unqualified women against better qualified men-- best example was their anti-Semitic sociopath Nikki Tinker against stalwart progressive Steve Cohen in 2008, and this year, the corrupt military industrial complex shill and New Dem Colleen Hanabusa against sterling progressive Brian Schatz (D-HI). EMILY's List has also endorsed Eloise, but not because she's the best qualified or will make the best representative for the people living in San Bernardino County, just because she's a woman. Sad-- and unfair to her and other talented women. It always used to drive Joni Mitchell nuts when someone would say she's a great woman songwriter. She'd get furious. I don't blame her. She's an amazing women, for sure, but her place in the songwriting pantheon… she's just a great songwriter, regardless of gender.