Boxer Gets Boxed

Like a card up the sleeve, it can always be counted on when the opportunity arrives. It can be the clincher in a discussion or an argument against another person that is too weak or uninspired to protest. It is perhaps the most powerful tool in our contemporary political landscape where elections are decided by percentages small enough that a crucial and monolithic voting bloc can decide virtually any election.

What is it?

It is called identity politics.

Identity politics is a well honed strategy that pits a dissenting member of a particular group of people as inauthentic because he or she strays from the blessed position of the group. I have written about it before on several occasions, but rarely do you see uglier real world examples than the one perpetrated by Democrat Sen. Babs Boxer in her attempt to keep Harry Alford quietly picking cotton on the plantation.

Mr. Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce was not going to stand for it.

Dissent can be a lovely thing.