I'm listening ...
“Defund police, open borders, socialism - it’s killing us,” said Representative Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from South Texas who won just over 50 percent of the vote, two years after he nearly captured 60 percent. “I had to fight to explain all that.”
The “average white person,” Mr. Gonzalez added, may associate socialism with Nordic countries, but to Asian and Hispanic migrants it recalls despotic “left-wing regimes.”
Polling often shows that White Democrats are more liberal than POC Democrats on a variety of issues. Also, it seems White Democrats simply assume that POC have to vote Democrat, because Republicans are racist whereas White Democrats somehow by definition aren't.
I think as a White member of the Left, it is important to listen to POC about where they stand on the issues, and where they stand on cultural values. And when I say "listen to POC" I don't mean the professional Twitter activist class, but POC voters and workers and parents and grandparents -- those who don't steep themselves in politics for hours online each day. Those who aren't competing to out-Left each other in purely academic debates.
My politics bifurcates -- there's my idealism, informed by decades of studying the world and my wish to remake it as a better place; and my realism, also informed by decades of studying the world and my wish to remake it as a better place. My idealism led me to vote Green/Socialist this year, along with 0.5% of Marylanders. But my realism urged people to vote for Biden in the swing states, and to make sure that their slogans & positions are actually popular.
Democrats failed to take the Senate, and lost seats in the House, because too many Democrats are saying unpopular things, and too many White Democrats are taking POC for granted. Politics in a democracy should be an exercise in customer service. The people are your customers. What are you offering them in exchange for their votes?
The “average white person,” Mr. Gonzalez added, may associate socialism with Nordic countries, but to Asian and Hispanic migrants it recalls despotic “left-wing regimes.”
Polling often shows that White Democrats are more liberal than POC Democrats on a variety of issues. Also, it seems White Democrats simply assume that POC have to vote Democrat, because Republicans are racist whereas White Democrats somehow by definition aren't.
I think as a White member of the Left, it is important to listen to POC about where they stand on the issues, and where they stand on cultural values. And when I say "listen to POC" I don't mean the professional Twitter activist class, but POC voters and workers and parents and grandparents -- those who don't steep themselves in politics for hours online each day. Those who aren't competing to out-Left each other in purely academic debates.
My politics bifurcates -- there's my idealism, informed by decades of studying the world and my wish to remake it as a better place; and my realism, also informed by decades of studying the world and my wish to remake it as a better place. My idealism led me to vote Green/Socialist this year, along with 0.5% of Marylanders. But my realism urged people to vote for Biden in the swing states, and to make sure that their slogans & positions are actually popular.
Democrats failed to take the Senate, and lost seats in the House, because too many Democrats are saying unpopular things, and too many White Democrats are taking POC for granted. Politics in a democracy should be an exercise in customer service. The people are your customers. What are you offering them in exchange for their votes?