Hello All.
I read the most interesting book the other day. It is something that really explains the republican party after Ronald Reagan and shows how Democrats just aren't fighting the way they should be because they are trying to be republicans, especially in the example that the author gives regarding Proposition 187 in California a few years back. Proposition 187 was an initiative voted on by Californians to deny illegal immigrants medical and educational benefits in order to help their failing economy.

I don't agree with everything in this book. I don't think the ills of society can be blamed on the investment in whiteness and nothing else. There comes a point where we must stop looking at all of the cultural reason for problems with society and force people to take responsibility for the structure and our own participation in it. It is good to know reason for actions if they change action. I do agree with the parts that explain why people are more likely to vote for men that embody the patriarchal, heterosexual patriotism that has only increased since 9/11. Do I think there is a culture war going on? Not really. I think people are scared and they are looking for something to cling to so they stick to the idealogy that brings up memories or famtasies of a simpler time, a time when God was king and mainstream society shared the same view on race, sex, and politics. By mainstream society I am mean white people. After the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movements things got all crazy, there was diversity and equality everywhere which can be very threatening to some people. The Reagan administration was very successful at exploiting that.

Check this book out:

It is called The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics. by George Lipsitz.

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