Obama and the Rise of Identity Politics

The Rise of Identity Politics and

 Nativism Among Conservatives

The opponents and supporters are looking through the self-identification prism respecting Obama and political figures throughout the nation’s history. A wide range of class, regional, ethnic, racial, religious and other identifications are involved in long-term partisan commitments, short-term movements of political opinion, and “wedge issues” that drive voters from one candidate and party to its opponents. Polarization respecting these variables depends on the condition of the economy. The nation is now experiencing this polarization as the economy is slowly recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Each group is demanding a larger return on their taxes.

Those with the highest means and taxes are demanding the greatest relief through conservative politician and austerity programs being offered by the Republican Party. Those with the least means among the working class and poor are using the social safety net to save them from hunger, homelessness, and deprivation due to prolonged unemployment beyond the payment of benefits. With their health needs beyond their means, they needed more government assistance from legislators whose campaigns are financed by those demanding tax relief and smaller government.

Identity politics has driven conservatism since the sixties. The Reagan conservative revolution was built on attracting Democrats to the Republican Party in pursuit of policies designed to stagnate racial progress by non-whites, particularly blacks (African-Americans) and browns (Latino) populations. Democrats demand for economic justice and fairness was rechanneled into ensuring that non-whites are not or less subsidized by white taxpayers. Ethnocentrism, nativism, and racial resentment built the Republican base of voters, politicians and its conservative ideology (Douthat, 2012).

Nativism among the established or dominant group heightens when there is a surge of immigration, particularly during times when the economy is stagnant. The dominant group in the United States has been White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) by the force of their arms, institutions, and wealth-building institutions from the inception of the nation. Nativism is the political position of demanding a favored status for the established or dominant inhabitants of a nation as compared to fair treatment of out-group members or immigrants (Entzinger, Martiniello & Wendon, 2004).

For more information click on the following link:http://rojimerson.tripod.com/drjimersonslatestbooks/or Amazon Books and Kindle under the author's name: Dr. Rufus Jimerson.