General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can we craft a stronger economic justice message WITHOUT throwing anyone under the bus? [View all]loyalsister
(13,390 posts)I think that classifying people as deplorables backfires because it turns them into an enemy. I also don't think we have to desert people whose civil rights have come far to late and inadequate to avoid that trap.
We were on the defensive against a basket full of bigotry, but classifying everyone who has ever had a bigoted thought as enemies we sabotaged a possible message that Obama and Howard Dean promoted. Dean said it least eloquently, but most vividly when he said that people with confederate flags on their trucks should be voting for Democrats because their kids don't have insurance, either.
"We are all better than the worst thing we have thought or done" is an idea to work with. I don't mean that as a sappy platitude. It comes from a book by Bryan Stevenson about his work as a pro bono defense attorney. Civil rights are systemic. We have to continue to fight the culture wars and embrace "identity politics" as a moral imperative. But, we don't have to completely demonize people either. What Trump appealed to turns my stomach. At the same time, I want their kids to have a good education and be able to see a good and healthy future ahead of them.
It's a tough road to negotiate but we have until 2018 to begin to put something more helpful to work.