Way too true: the politics of identity is not a good way to formulate public policy

 

The political markers and positions with which people self-identify become meaningless if the most politically meaningful act is the act of self-identification.

— C.M. Lewis (@thehousered) January 25, 2023

 

As someone who has attended multiple little party groups around Sacramento County, I can testify that people at such meetings are entirely uninterested in hearing about policy options. It's a social club, not a think tank. This makes such gatherings--and such parties--susceptible to distraction by relatively trivial controversies, particularly concerning race, gender, and abortion.

I don't mean to say those "relatively trivial" controversies are unimportant--they are important to those who need abortions, or who suffer discrimination. They're just not as important as things like the existential threat of climate change or nuclear war...and those threats are frequently discounted, and seldom seriously discussed.

For example: “Gas stoves!” freak-out is the least convincing fake Republican outrage ever. Suddenly the party that despises kale and Dijon mustard wants to pretend they’re precious about culinary techniques

These things are like the tar baby.