The Democratic Party’s Negative Identity Crisis

Onyx Contributor:  Johnny Silvercloud (@JohnnySilverclo)

Nope We Can Believe In

With the nomination process ending, we have Donald Trump emerging as the Republican nominee.  From the opposing party, it is looking more as if Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee.  Very few seem to be thrilled.

I’m going to have to admit, Trump’s rise to the top is fascinating.  With the combination of conservative media priming the conservative base to cultivate a blind, ignorant hatred of all things Obama for technically, nine years — and a Trump campaign that’s ran with a reality T.V. show strategy — It’s no surprise that Trump can show up and act conservative and defeat actual right-edge extreme conservatives like Ted Cruz.  Hillary on the other hand is a different story.  With strange stories of voter registrations getting lost, institutional sabotage of Sanders’ campaign and other voter confusion, the Democrats (public) and other liberals are beginning to realize how corrupt the institution of Democrats are.  When President Obama was then candidate Obama, no one was the wiser because both the institution and the public agreed with wanting Obama.  In this case, we see a public wanting Bernie Sanders, and an institution wanting Hillary.  The institution is winning that battle.  What the public does from here is up for grabs.

Defined by Nope

As a black man — an abolitionist if I may say — I have a very interesting perspective.  Long story long, I have always noticed a serious flaw in the Democratic Party, as well as liberals.  Especially white liberals.  This flaw is what I call a negative identity.  In social identity theory, a negative identity is an identity that is defined by not who they are and what they can provide, but who they are not.  This type of identity does not have or provide any answer to what they are about, all they have to do is point to some other identity, and arrogantly announce that they are not those other guys over there.  Technically, a negative identity will always need a rival or opposing identity to bank off of.  Have you ever seen this movie called Megamind?  You haven’t?  Here’s the plot:  this is a movie where the villain realizes that he’s empty, without definition when he kills the hero.

While Megamind needs a hero to define himself, Democrats need Republicans to define themselves.  More to the point, Hillary needs Trump to define herself.  The only reason to vote for Hillary is the fact that she’s not Trump.  As in, “well, that guy over there is worse, so you have no choice, bitch.”

The thing about this Hillary/Trump dynamic is that it is the story of the American liberal.  True diehard liberals might be upset on how GOP-lite Hillary is, but as an abolitionist, I can tell you that I am just as upset on how liberals do not seek to destroy racism and white privilege.  Instead of engaging in kinetic action to defeat white supremacy, many of them are found proud of themselves, full of hubris, knowing that “at least they aren’t those conservatives .”  This is the exact same logic Clinton follows.  “You’re gonna vote for me because, at least I’m not Trump.”

I really do hope that liberals are highly pissed off right now.  I hope that people begin to realize how corruption within the Democrats operates, and seek to hold those in charge accountable.  If you want to be honest, they have been doing this for years, especially when it comes to the black vote.  Ever since the Republican adoption of the Southern Strategy and the persistent J. Edgar Hoover-esque, COINTELPRO style misinformation and outright smear campaign against Afro-Americans from conservative media, Afro-American people were stuck with a one-party system in America.  Democrats, knowing this, do nothing to fix, aid or assist black people by way of abolishing racist institutional practices.  President Obama was elected because he looked and sounded like a problem solver in regards to institutional racism.  Boy were we wrong.

To Vote or Not To Vote, That is The Question

Some people are stating that they are simply not going to vote (for Hillary) by way of party loyalty, because they realize the party isn’t loyal to facilitate their needs.   Technically, this is a form of revolt or protest.  I can’t blame them.  I am not going to suggest people to vote for Clinton, because I really hate the negative identity thing myself.  I’ve been seeing this for years, so if you are angry now, imagine knowing this for a really long time.  I am also not going to tell people to not vote either, because choosing the lesser evil might be a way to work for a greater good still.  After all, I do not see how the Republican Party deserves the Presidency after sabotaging a sitting President for eight years straight, attempting to undo anything great he has done, which may be a crazy way of erasing him from our history books.  I believe that the Republican Party should be punished, not rewarded.

One thing I do know for sure is that the negative identity thing Democrats have, it’s not going to last long.  It just cannot.