Identity politics is what is wrong with America these days

Spectator:

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While Trump and his fiery brand of populism grab all the headlines, the most powerful ideology in America remains identity politics. It permeates our culture and fuels our national obsession with diversity, understood as the proportional representation in all realms of life of the various “communities” that have gained recognition: African-Americans, women, Hispanics, LGBTQs, Asians, and, if the Census Bureau has its way, MENAs — Middle Easterners and North Africans. Conspicuously absent from the list, of course, are whites, Christians, and men — three of the most numerous groups in America.

Via the doctrines of affirmative action and disparate impact, identity politics has reshaped our laws and our legal system. It has weakened our commitment to meritocracy and equal treatment under the law as a result of its single-minded focus on equalizing group outcomes.

It has replaced post-modernism and watered-down Marxism as the unofficial creed of our institutions of higher learning. And it has taught all Americans that prejudice in all its forms — including merely in speech — is the one unforgivable sin.

The fundamental division in America, according to the identitarians, is between the oppressed and their oppressors. They view the country as a rich mosaic of victimized groups that have been and continue to be exploited, stigmatized, and marginalized in countless overt and subtle ways. American history is reconceived as a forward march of social progress. In the beginning, only rich, privileged, Christian, straight white males were free. Over the centuries, their privilege has gradually eroded, and America has become more inclusive as more groups have received more rights. Presumably, one day, all will be free and equal. Paradoxically, the division of America into various balkanized identity groups and the relentless fostering of grievances is somehow supposed to pave the way for a non-oppressive society in which all harmoniously co-exist.

The seemingly benign rhetoric of inclusion and diversity conceals a deeply illiberal current of thought. The elites who enforce identity politics categorically forbid uttering any statement that they deem bigoted in any way. Native Americans may not object to the name Washington Redskins, but the bien pensants take offense on their behalf. They are the ones who decide what counts as racism — or any one of its corollary sins.

Of the five competing worldviews, identity politics is the only one that has the power to police the public square to punish those who violate its sacred creed of political correctness. You can safely call Trump and his followers fascists or denounce Bernie Sanders’s entire economic platform any which way you want, but you will likely pay a heavy price if you deviate from the accepted script when talking about favored identity groups. From Brendan Eich to Curt Schilling, many prominent people — and an even greater number of ordinary ones (like James Damore) — have lost their jobs and seen their names besmirched for espousing views deemed to be bigoted.
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Identity politics embodies the current evils of liberalism.   It eschews merit in favor of "victimhood."  It is one of the reasons rich football players are disrespecting the national anthem and the flag under a banner of "systematic oppression."  They may be sincere in their beliefs but the concept is a fraud.  They believe something that is not true.  Universities embrace liberal snowflakes and are intolerant of freedom of speech that might make the snowflakes feel uncomfortable in their own prejudices.