Democrats have become the masters of identity politics. They don't try to unite us as a community, state, or nation, and address issues that affect all of us. Instead, they seek to divide us and exploit our differences, turning us against each other. They pit black vs. white, rich vs. poor vs. middle class, urban vs. rural, devoutly religious vs. faithless, young vs. old vs. middle age, native-born American vs. immigrant, male vs. female, heterosexual vs. homosexual, homeowner vs. renter, employed vs. unemployed, and so on. You get the point. They want us fighting amongst ourselves so we don't unite to fight them and their bad ideas.
Liberals have also given rise to the notion that a government official can't represent someone unless they have the same pigmentation, genitalia, or other similarities. They think a white female cannot represent a black male's interests. Diversity above all else seems to be a major goal for the left. Look at the furor over the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy. Not just any liberal will do; President Biden must nominate a minority female to make the court "look more like America."
This isn't just a national phenomenon. Kentuckians got a good dose of it last week in some machinations involving a state House of Representatives race.
Over the past decade or so, Kentucky has gone from the Democrats having a substantial majority in the lower chamber to facing a Republican supermajority. The transformation has been remarkable. Given voting trends, it was probably inevitable, as the GOP was gradually picking up seats, but 2016 was successful beyond the party's wildest dreams. Even some Democrats thought to be unbeatable, like House Speaker Greg Stumbo, went down to defeat. No doubt President Trump had long coattails on the 2016 ballot, but the flip in the majority was going to happen eventually.
This year is the first time that Republicans have been in charge of the decennial redistricting required as a result of census data. In Louisville's 44th District, the new boundaries mean that it is a "majority-minority" district; meaning that the majority of the population belongs to a racial minority.
The 44th District is represented by Joni Jenkins, who serves as the head of the Democrats' dwindling caucus numbers in the House. As the minority floor leader, she is the top-ranking member of only 25 Democrats. Jenkins is a white female who has served in the House since 1995 and as her party's leader for the last two years. But that won't be the case after this year.
Jenkins filed for re-election, but due to delays in passing the redistricting bill, the filing deadline was extended from Jan. 7 to Jan. 25. During that time, Beverly Chester-Burton, the black female mayor of Shively, also filed to run for the seat. And that paved the way for Jenkins to do a bit of political grandstanding.
Jenkins withdrew from the race after Chester-Burton's entry on the filing deadline day, touting the Democrats' line that pigmentation matters. "I have long advocated for a General Assembly that looks like Kentucky, so when minorities became the majority in the newly redrawn 44th House District, I did not want to be a person of color joining the Kentucky House of Representatives," Jenkins said in her withdrawal announcement.
Neither Jenkins' decision, nor the all-but-assured new representative, are without controversy. Accusations quickly came that Jenkins had tipped Chester-Burton off to her decision and recruited her into the race, thus hand-picking her successor in a district in which no Republicans filed. And Mayor Chester-Burton was charged with driving under the influence in December 2020 when she crashed her vehicle into a utility pole after allegedly passing out in a White Castle drive-through line. (No resolution of that charge came up via an Internet search). So the residents of the newly-created 44th District will be getting a representative with some personal and political baggage that may hamper her effectiveness.
What better example of identity politics could one ask for? Give Jenkins credit; she put her money where her mouth is. But is it possible that the real reason she's decided not to run for another term is that she sees her party becoming even more of an irrelevant minority after the 2022 elections? The consensus among political observers is that the GOP legislature drew GOP-friendly districts, even though it pitted two sets of incumbent Republican representatives against each other. (It also pit two sets of Democrats against each other, but in one of the districts, one of the incumbents decided to run for a judicial position instead of seeking re-election to the House.) There is a very real possibility that there could be fewer than 20 Democrats in the House of Representatives when it convenes in 2023 for its organizational and 30-day session. The caucus would be powerless, and trying to lead to lead it would be an exercise in futility. It makes sense that Jenkins would want no part of that.
We as a community, state, and nation, are more alike than we are different. We have common goals that are worth attaining and common enemies that wish to destroy us. It's pointless for us to fight among ourselves; we need to channel our energies to point in the same direction. But the left wishes to separate and divide us, while our goal is to unite as Americans and as residents of our states and communities. Identity politics is an obstacle to that goal, and political grandstanding in its name like that Joni Jenkins engaged in last week is harmful to our progress and does nothing to elevate the discourse.
