view his cartoon and read it at:
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/democrats-need-to-escape-identity-politics/

Democrats need to escape identity politics
April 4, 2024 at 1:16 pm

Skip Ad
David Horsey By David Horsey
Seattle Times cartoonist
Just as Republicans find their most loyal voters among conservative
Christians, militant gun owners and billionaires who want to hoard their
fortunes, the Democratic Party has long depended on Black, Latino and
Asian voters to give them an edge. But that may be changing.

Latinos, in particular, are shifting in significant numbers toward the
GOP. A large share of these voters are working class folks and, like
white working class voters, many have bought into the very dubious
notion that Republicans have their best interests in mind.

There is the fact, too, that this overwhelmingly Catholic ethnic group
is much more socially conservative than the progressive activists who
are monopolizing the Democratic Party agenda. Among Black voters, as
well, one finds far more churchgoers than in the Left Coast cities and
university faculty lounges, and many are not buying what the activists
are selling.

What about Asians? There is no group as negatively impacted — at least
in their own perception — as Asians when it comes to affirmative action
programs and efforts to open up more university slots to
underrepresented students. They fear their own high-achieving kids will
be bumped out to make way for someone else.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs in the South Asian communities
may well take offense at the anti-capitalist rhetoric of the Left. And
the new dogma in the academic world that divides everyone into two
antagonistic groups — colonialist oppressors versus the virtuous
oppressed — also may not ring true for a big share of non-white voters
who see the world in more nuanced ways.

Which is all to say that Democrats need to escape from the social
theorists, the activists and one-dimensional identity politics.
Democratic politicians should not think they can continue to stand up at
a national convention and rattle off a list of groups — Blacks,
Hispanics, Asians, Indigenous, gay, lesbian, trans, yadda, yadda, yadda.
— and think they have given a speech that says anything at all to these
very distinct human beings.

The more diverse this nation becomes, the more complex it will be.
Political campaigners will not find it easy to categorize people and
superficially assume they know what those people care about. The biggest
surging cohort in our citizenry is mixed race individuals. Will they be
Democrats or Republicans? The answer is both and neither. They will be
what they will be and they are quite unlikely to find common cause with
each other as a predictable voting bloc.

Those who want to box Americans into tidy, monolithic racial or ethnic
groups are swimming against the tide. Democrats should stop listening to
the shrill voices of activists and start listening to the actual voters
themselves.

See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey

View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons

Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads
on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community
policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate
required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a
Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and
include your full name, address and telephone number for verification
only. Letters are limited to 200 words.

David Horsey is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
for The Seattle Times. His latest book is “Drawing Apart: Political
Cartoons from a Polarized America.”