Theological Journal – September 22 Important Take on Democratic Politics – Steven Ray

 So, here, is the fundamental flaw which continually leads the Left to the brink of catastrophe in American politics. There are too many in the progressive movement who view our political landscape through normative white eyes. This is a problem because it hinders many in the movement from seeing the fundamental truth that when the Democratic Party became the party of women and POC, it became an illegitimate organization/movement in the eyes of conservatives. This illegitimacy meant that neither the party, nor the people it represented, were due any political respect or concern. So, no matter what an electoral outcome, no political ground was ceded by those who had the presumptive right to rule our nation.

In this political landscape Mitch McConnell, far from being hypocritical in his dealing with the Supreme Court, is totally consistent. From the conservative vantage point, the question is why would anyone believe that the same set of rules should apply to an illegitimate interloper (Obama) as to a representative of legitimate power in the United States (Trump)?

 

In this landscape, the Left must make the hard recognition that those among us who are not POC, have through their association with us and our common aspirations devalued their whiteness such that they should not expect fair or consistent treatment in the politics of this historical moment. This recognition will help us get to the point of recognizing that unless we exert the political power only availabe to us through common coalition, we will always stand on the precipice of catastrophe.