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InMark Lillas new book The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics, he argues that the age of identity liberalism must be brought to an end. Its a sentiment that evolved from his highly controversialarticle in The New York Times,published just after Donald Trump was elected president, in which he wrote that movement politics and the celebration of difference have become a disaster for the Democratic Party and left-liberal politics in general. Lilla spoke with Salons Amanda Marcotte about regaining voters and power, and the Democrats adopting a more inclusive message.

On where Democrats get it wrong:

Weve been losing for 30 years, so obviously were doing something very, very wrong, and I think part of it is thinking of the institutional politics as coalition-building. If we think of politics on our side as coalition-building and simply ascending groups, we will not get to the state where we need to, which is to articulate a vision.

And we also have to remember movement politics in this country is happening in the glare of right-wing media. Now, this is a fact of our lives, and we cant wish it away, and we cannot ignore it. If were serious about winning back people, lets say people who voted for Obama and then voted for Trump, and having a message that they might go for, we have to get our act together, and not act like this is just a festival, or its about self-expression.

On moving forward and seizing power on aninstitutional level:

We cannot help the people we care about if we do not seize power back from the Republicans. Its just talk, unless we actually hold power.

Institutional politics is not about speaking truth to power. Thats what movements can do. Its about seizing power to defend the truth, and the place were at now, on our side, I think all of our energies must be devoted to that.

Watch the video for more of our conversation about identity politics.

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Author Mark Lilla on liberals: We've been losing for 30 years - Salon

The thing is, political attacks are supposed to make life harder for your opponents, not easier. Maybe someone should tell the Ontario Liberals?

This past weekend, the partys Twitter account reminded voters that Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown had been an occasional guest on The Rebel, the far-right website currently embroiled in infighting and recriminations but once known primarily for its rancid Islamophobia, which included suggesting the murders of six men at a Quebec City mosque earlier this year were faked.

Plenty of conservatives have abandoned or disavowed The Rebel since one of its contributors appeared on a far-right white supremacist podcast, and someone at Liberal HQ was either bored on a Saturday or thought itd be worth trying to tie Brown to them.

So yes, Brown appeared on The Rebel, most recently more than a year ago to talk about the Liberal partys fundraising scandal funny, the topic of discussion didnt fit into all those tweets that was so tawdry and indefensible the Liberals were shamed into changing provincial election law. Thats on the public record, and voters are totally within their rights to consider that information and its context when they go to the ballot box next year.

But anyone familiar with relations between Brown and The Rebel over the past year knows things have soured badly and seem unlikely to recover. The website has chastised Brown for being a fake conservative whos gone full Trudeau in advocating a revenue-neutral carbon tax to replace the Liberals cap-and-trade system. Rebel contributors have also made dark insinuations about Muslims infiltrating PC nomination races under Browns watch.

No wonder, then, that Brown was able to easily clear the low bar the Liberals had set for him, tweeting, I deplore intolerance of any kind and in any place, including Rebel. That's why they thoroughly detest me!

The whole point of the make X disavow Y play is to put your enemy between a rock and a hard place. The Liberals put Brown between a pillow and meringue.

All this would be a silly diversion, except for the missed opportunity it represents. Brown has a better chance of being Ontarios next premier than the last three PC leaders did, and hes managed to get there without offering much in the way of serious policy.

There was a welcome exception to that last week in Ottawa, where Brown told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario that, should his party form the next government, it would reform the provinces legal liability rules. Mayors and councils have complained for years that, when it comes to doling out damages, courts treat municipal taxpayers like bottomless wallets. Brown promised a Tory government would change the rules to save money, lower insurance premiums for municipalities, and avoid tax increases.

It sounds neat and tidy, but it isnt: theres still the basic question of who should pay for court-ordered damages, which are calculated based on real harms to real people. Courts struggle to put dollar figures on peoples lives especially lives thatve been irreparably damaged. The biggest payouts are often for young people whove been paralyzed or otherwise disabled in car accidents. How much to award a 17-year-old whos going to need 60 or 70 years of care?

Municipalities probably arent the best suited to bear such damages, but theres also no free lunch: either some other level of government takes the hit, or the province caps the amount of money courts can recover from city councils which would save taxpayers money at the risk of injured people going without.

Its a difficult and multifaceted policy issue that deserves a serious, detailed answer. So far, the Tories have promised wide-ranging consultations and that whatever solution they land on will save money. And thats it.

At this point, the governing party (with one eye on next years polls) would be expected to point out the empty shell of a policy the Leader of the Opposition is trying to get away with, and then lambaste him for being unprepared to lead This Great Province.

Except, whoops, the Liberals also promised to address liability rules once upon a time (2014), and then broke that promise, making them a less than perfect messenger for such an attack.

Patrick Brown, like any other leader of a major political party that could form Ontarios next government, needs to be seriously challenged before the next election. Cute games on Twitter arent going to cut it.

See the article here:
Patrick Brown deserves tough questions. Why did the Liberals give him such an easy one? - TVO

Perhaps the Post-Dispatch editors and columnist Tony Messenger need to lay aside the rose-colored glasses that only the right promotes hate and violence.

Yes, in an ideal world, racism and hatred would not exist. Unfortunately, this is the real world, and racism and hatred will always exist to some degree. The editors bash President Donald Trump for saying both sides are to blame for the violence in Charlottesville, Va. Peace-loving, tree-hugging liberals would never do that, right?

However, CBS This Morning did investigative fact-checking, and reported on Aug. 16 that counterprotesters did come prepared to fight. Whether the Post-Dispatch, myself, or most of America like it or not, the truth is the truth.

The Post-Dispatch and Messenger also seem to forget or overlook that liberals destroyed public and private property in protests after Trumps election, and that liberals have blocked free speech several times. Whatever happened to the liberal position of I disagree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it? (The Aug. 18 editorial Hate speech is abhorrent. Banning it is even more abhorrent does indicate the position is not quite dead.)

Of course, there is Kathy Griffins disgusting decapitation, and state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, posting that the president should be assassinated. Promoting hatred and violence exists on both sides.

Stuart Clark Bridgeton

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Hate, violence are promoted by liberals, too - STLtoday.com

President Trump accused Obstructionist Democrats on Friday of hurting national security by waging court fights against his policies, in an apparent reference to the battle over his travel ban and other measures that could get renewed attention following the terror attacks in Spain.

The Obstructionist Democrats make Security for our country very difficult. They use the courts and associated delay at all times. Must stop! Trump tweeted, later adding: Radical Islamic Terrorism must be stopped by whatever means necessary! The courts must give us back our protective rights. Have to be tough!

Moments earlier, Trump had said U.S. security officials are on the lookout for any signs of trouble, while assuring that Americas borders are far tougher than ever before.

The president issued the message as Spanish officials make arrests and hunt for more suspects in Thursdays attacks that killed at least 14 in central Barcelona and the resort of Cambrils.

Homeland Security and law enforcement are on alert & closely watching for any sign of trouble. Our borders are far tougher than ever before! Trump tweeted.

Despite his assurance on the border, his administration remains locked in a court battle with opponents of his travel ban.

The Supreme Court plans to take up the case in the fall, while allowing portions of it to go into effect.

In June, the Supreme Court partially lifted lower court injunctions against Trumps executive order that had temporarily banned visas for citizens of six countries. The justices ruling exempted applicants from the ban if they could prove a bona fide relationship with a U.S. person or entity, but the court offered only broad guidelines as to how that should be defined.

The Trump administration then set new criteria for new visa applicants from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen saying they must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the United States to be eligible. The same requirement, with some exceptions, holds for would-be refugees from all nations who are still awaiting approval for admission to the U.S.

In Spain, a fourth person was arrested on Friday in connection with the terror attacks.

The death toll rose to 14 after a woman died following an injury when a car plowed into pedestrians in Cambrils, about 80 miles south of Barcelona. She is the first fatality of the attack in the popular seaside town.

Police shot and killed five suspects who were equipped with bomb belts in Cambrils. The belts were found later to be fake. It was not immediately clear if the Barcelona van driver was among the arrested or dead suspects.

Local governmentconfirmed the incident in Cambrils was linked to the attack in central Barcelona, which wounded more than 100.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Trump slams Obstructionist Democrats as danger to national ...

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Because, of course, they want rule of law to reign, a group of citizens began digging up the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis this week over his helping found the Ku Klux Klan.

They only got a few shovelfuls before giving up. But they vowed to return with a backhoe to dig the rest of the mans grave up later.

Legally speaking, this would be called grave robbing and vandalism, and might even violate a few of Gods laws, as well. But none of that matters to vigilantes in pursuit against racism and racist racists who practice it.

Real guts, these fine people have, to take a stand against something so popular as racism. Yeah, its right up there with gonorrhea, syphilis, flesh-eating amoebas and child rape. Good old red-white-and-blue racism.

But there is a method to this nihilistic madness. Without racist America, you would not have the political party known as Democrats. Its entire existence, every dime it raises, every position it takes is based on this century-old cliche that somehow America the country that invented freedom and self-governance is still totally racist.

Their leader Nancy Pelosi a full decade after she became Speaker of the House is shocked SHOCKED, I SAY!!! to find that there are Confederate statues all throughout the Capitol building where she has worked for more than a quarter-century.

Suddenly she finds them reprehensible symbols of racism.

There is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country, Mrs. Pelosi said.

After, apparently, 30 years of herself celebrating violent bigotry.

In this land of dishonest race hucksters, it is always important to remember that small lies never win. They always go for the BIG LIE.

Remind me, again, who was behind all the violent bigotry of the Civil War? Oh, yeah, it was Democrats. And who was behind all the vestiges of it over the last century? Democrats.

Mrs. Pelosi knows this, of course, because she worked shoulder-to-shoulder for 23 years beside a retired member of the Ku Klux Klan. That would, of course, be the great senator from the great state of West Virginia, Robert C. Byrd, a lifelong Democrat.

As the Exalted Cyclops of the KKK, Mr. Byrd recruited more than 100 people to join his chapter and warned in a letter against America becoming degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.

Modern-day Democrats denounced Byrd in 1989 by naming the suite of offices in the U.S. Capitol that house Democrat leadership the Robert C. Byrd Rooms.

During Black History Month that year, Democrats talked up Byrd for serving in the Senate with great distinction for more than 30 years. They noted his diligent work, attention to detail, boundless energy and intense loyalty.

Funny, Adolf Hitler also noted those same prized characteristics in awards he gave his most efficient oven masons and wire-fence builders.

Democrats also denounced Exalted Cyclops Robert C. Byrd by placing him No. 3 in line for the presidency.

And to think that a racist like Donald Trump sits in a seat once reserved (three times removed) for the great Exalted Cyclops Robert C. Byrd!

Anyway, we shall see if Nancy Pelosi and fellow members of the racist Democratic Cartel will call for the dismantling of the Robert C. Byrd Democratic Senate office rooms. Or the 400 bridges, roads and federal buildings that bear his name in West Virginia.

In his defense, Exalted Cyclops and Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd did later renounce his membership in the Klan.

Once, more recently, while advising that young people get involved in politics, he added this admonishment: Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Dont get that albatross around your neck. Once youve made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena.

So, nothing to do with the KKK being a bunch of dumb, racist scumbags. It just makes it hard to advance very far in politics.

Unless you are a Democrat in the U.S. Senate.

Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes.com and on Twitter, @charleshurt.

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Democrats decry the KKK while forgetting legacy of one of ...