We live in the age of identity politics. This started in earnest in the late 20th century with a shifting away from broad-based party politics into an alignment with a particular subclass, religion, ethnic group, nationality, gender, or social class. This was when multiculturalism became a popular term in America.
This year’s presidential election is the quintessence of identity politics. Trump is the ultimate personality, the candidate of the past, representing a time when “Father Knows Best,” when church pews were filled, where families were intact and when America was “great.” But Trump has gone beyond identity politics with his use of metaphors like The Wall and Drain the Swamp. His Wall metaphor has an impact because it unconsciously stands for a solid containing structure that holds the American identity together.
Kamala Harris has an opposing identity. And a different personality with a warm smile and a strong backbone. She embodies the identity of women, African American women, Asian American women and most of the disenfranchised in America. Her political credentials are as imposing as Trumps since she was a district attorney, a junior senator from California and the vice president of the Untied States.
But her task may be more difficult than Trump’s because she must represent, symbolize and contain such varying groups of citizens. I first realized how daunting the Democratic Party’s task was during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. You may recall that there were 17 Democratic candidates in those debates which showed me that the party was fragmented almost beyond repair.
The cause of identity politics has its roots in multiculturalism of the 1990s. This stage was also called post-modernism and was brought about as our traditional forms of authority, such as family, the church, the education system and politics were dismantled. But we all needed these institutions to identify with or as the Rolling Stones sang: “We all need someone we can lean on.” So America began to lean on its ethnic roots for a while. That was called multiculturalism.
We live in times which are fragmented, overwhelming and confusing. We look to our leaders to give us solace, structure, safety or someone to lean on. Thus we now have identity politics. We don’t have time, patience or energy to think about the finer points of politics.
It’s all we can do to identify with the guy or gal who is kind of like us and then latch on as we would to a life preserver when adrift in the ocean. And make no mistake about it. We are all adrift in an ocean of information, entertainment and electronic media life.
What Trump has done so well is to establish some simple metaphors that allow his followers to identify with him.
Can Kamala Harris invent a metaphor to match Trump’s? If she does, she will win. If she doesn’t. she will lose.
Trump has The Wall and Drain the Swamp and “Make America Great Again.” These refer us back to a simpler time.
I have yet to hear either a metaphor or a slogan that Kamala Harris has established that the citizens can rally around. Do not underestimate the power of a simple metaphor. Trump has mastered this art and Ms. Harris has yet to do so.
