This week, the bipartisan group of senators Reach an agreement Passing a new infrastructure bill totaling $550 billion gives Americans some hope that excessive partisanship will not destroy the legislation needed to repair problematic roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure in the United States .
But this deal has Frustrated some progressives On Capitol Hill, who counts Congress A separate US$3.5 trillion budget settlement bill was also passed on a partisan line.This Republicans Opposing the bill is Recently helped Arizona Democratic Senator Kirsten Cinema, Who helped negotiate a bipartisan compromise, who wanted a smaller settlement bill. The progressives did not oppose the agreement on the merits, but instead targeted the people who negotiated it—especially their race.
New York Democratic Representative Alexander Ocasio-Cortez Go to twitter Accusing Sinema of “choosing to exclude members of color from negotiations”, posted the face of the senator negotiating the deal, and commented that “Many times, the’bipartisan agreement’ is as defined by the people in power agreeing to exclude Instead of including.”
Squad member Missouri State Representative. Corey Bush Joined her, Use the same graphics It is both a complaint and a joke. “Is this a bipartisan infrastructure group or a children’s rock concert audience?” she asked. Bush was unambiguous about her concerns and added the hashtag #NegotiationsSoWhite.
Indeed, every senator in the bipartisan group negotiating the most recent deal is indeed white. But contrary to what Ocasio-Cortez said, the negotiators did not exclude any legislators; they just included every senator who wanted to reach a bipartisan agreement.
However, this little detail is not the most disturbing thing about Ocasio-Cortez and Bush’s attacks on negotiators. These relatively new members of Congress—Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress in 2019 and Bush took office in 2021—represent progressive racist ideas around governance and representation. This new racism not only requires those in power to consider everyone’s needs when enacting laws, but the only way to truly represent the ideology and interests of voters is to share their race.
Let us remember that the senators in the bipartisan group are elected by a wide and diverse group of voters and have the democratic power to speak on their behalf. Export polls show that, for example, Sinema Won 68% of non-white voters In her 2018 election (the same year she won a small number of white voters).
One of my own senators from Virginia was one of those who helped negotiate the bipartisan agreement. Of course, his skin color is different from mine, but our height or weight are also different. Compared to whether he voted the way I hoped, all these details are trivial to me.
However, the question of whether they serve the voters faithfully can only be answered in the most superficial way by simply reducing these legislators to their ethnic classification. Progressives really think that if the relatively free Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin (white) is replaced by the conservative South Carolina Republican Tim Scott (conservative African-American), the negotiation will come to them. Would it be better?
What if we adopt the logic that states that federal legislators represent ethnic groups rather than states or regions and apply it universally?Democratic Representative of Minnesota Ilhan Omar Will run into trouble.Her Minnesota area Over 60% are white; What if the white people in her area begin to believe that they cannot be represented by people from ethnic minorities and religious groups?
Advocates of the new racist mentality did not anticipate this result, because they always imagined that they were talking to a progressive audience. Devout progressives are unlikely to advocate strong adherence to white identity and participation in white chauvinistic politics. But American history tells us that many others will do this.
There is also a danger that an increasingly diverse country will become more and more divided, because residents begin to believe that people of other ethnicities cannot provide services for them in the government or other areas.
In some parts of the world, politics revolves around religion, race, or some other tribal identity. Take Lebanon as an example, Ruled by a sectarian system For decades, positions in the public sector and seats in the legislature have been reserved for certain religious denominations. Far from promoting equality among Lebanese citizens, the sectarian system imposes official sanctions on the fierce division of the country.
But a lot Lebanese youth Want to see the end of that system. With new racism intoxicating in the minds of American university activists, many young people in the Middle East are disgusted with the idea that they should be divided into tribes such as Sunni and Shia.
Perhaps this is why I find myself so repulsive of racist politics, whether it appears on the right or the left. As Americans, we are fortunate to live in a country with a relatively low level of tribalism. But not only was I raised by immigrants, but I had the opportunity to travel overseas and learn from friends and family what the world would be like when you live in a society where a narrow tribal category defines your place.
Kevin Ditch/Getty
At this moment, however, we Americans should be willing to learn from the rest of the world how we define our political identity.
I often think of the first speech given by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, at the Pakistan Constitutional Convention in 1947. Jinnah cited the historical differences between Protestants and Catholics in England, suggesting that this young country should learn how Britain can heal these tensions and build a unified nation. He told the Pakistani, “Now I think we should put it before us as our ideal, and you will find that over time, Hindus will no longer be Hindus, and Muslims will no longer be Muslims, not in a religious sense , Because that is everyone’s personal belief, but in a political sense it is a citizen of the country.”
Of course, my ancestors and my religious beliefs are very important to me personally. But the senator does not need to share them to represent me on Capitol Hill.
Many Americans agree with me. A 2019 Monmouth University poll found that 87% of Democratic primary voters said The race of their presidential candidate does not matter. Americans generally believe that their elected officials should be judged based on the content of their governance, not their skin color.
