Strangled by Identity
American politics has grown bitterly divided and terribly dysfunctional. Many observers of the resulting multifaceted political crisis, especially on the right though in some recent cases on the left as well, explain it through critiques of "identity politics." But identity politics is something we tend to see others doing while failing to recognize that we are doing it ourselves. And because we often miss the breadth of its scope and reach, we fail to see not only how central it is to the trouble with our politics but also how it might be overcome.