Given the current state of affairs at 1600 Pennsylvania, it’s not surprising that there’s a lot of talk about revolution in the air. How can the left rebuild itself from the wreckage of the 2016 election? I’ve heard some good ideas, I’ve heard a few great ones, but I’ve heard one very bad idea over and over: “The revolutions needs to focus on fixing the structure of the economy and not get bogged down by distractions like abortion or bathrooms or BLM.”
Any leftist movement worthy of the name includes radical social justice as a top priority from day one. I am appalled by how many people I know who think that these “lesser issues” can wait until the big work is done.
If the pitch to women, to people of color, and to the LGBT community is “Help us fix the problems that we think are important first, and then we will take a look at your issues,” why would anyone believe that? If you’re saying that social justice issues are distractions, you have already sent a pretty clear message that you don’t think these concerns are important.
If that’s your idea of a revolution, you can leave me out.
P.S. I read this after writing this post. It’s a description of a Democratic event that ran up against pretty much exactly what I’m talking about:
“This is very raw,” said Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, conceding that “after the presidential election, there is still this ongoing debate about identity politics versus economic opportunity.”
I don’t agree with the phrasing, and I certainly don’t agree with the idea that the two are, or even can be, mutually exclusive. A system that is economically unjust is going to be socially unjust, and a system that’s socially unjust is going to be economically unjust. We’re adult human beings; we can focus on two things at once.