Some of the issues with identity politics are critical moral issues. But we've got to show America that we don't have a plan just on these so-called identity politics issues, but that we have a plan for the economy, that we know how to provide for a strong national defense.
I don't know if I even consider myself a very political person. I have always had strong beliefs on important social issues. Politics have politicized social issues, but I don't know if social issues are in fact political. If anything, they are more human issues than they are political issues.
You know, the key issue is that city issues are not to be put in a box and say well, that's what the mayor wants. They're Canadian issues. Cities account for 75 percent of our GDP. If you don't have a plan for cities, it means you don't have a plan for the economy.
Issues are won based upon whether or not you can keep this economy strong; elections are won based upon economic issues and national security issues.
It's not enough to be a woman. You have to care about women's issues. And women's issues here in Iowa are that we have a strong economy. We have jobs that our sons and daughters can go off to someday. We have a great educational system. And women want strong national defense. We want to know that our families are going to be safe.
In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
It is a moral issue how we are going to treat workers. On these issues, these are moral issues, principled issues, where there aren't compromises.
It's a bad strategy to have an identity-based strategy on the left. De-emphasizing identity all-around would help our politics because we would have to pay more attention to the issues. We may have to pay more attention to class if we didn't have these self-defeating identity agendas.
Economic issues are just as much moral issues as social issues.
I believe that women are rising to the occasion to tackle many challenges. Whether it's issues that relate to prosperity, the defense of country, the economy of our country; issues that have traditionally been considered women's issues like health and education and the environment are now being defined in terms of our national strength. So I think women have made a big difference in putting things in perspective.
The demand for racial (and sexual) justice gets reduced to politics of identity - and excoriating the so-called perpetrators of the identity politics.
Issues of the economy are profoundly affected by how you live out sexual orientation and gender identity.
Remember, it is the president's constitutional duty to provide a strong national defense. Don't insert politics into national security. Listen to your ground commanders. They know better than anyone what our military's needs are. Have somebody strong at home who can provide you with needed support 'off the battle field.'
I'm involved in issues, and issues are about grass-roots politics.
I'm on the Armed Services Committee, which gives me the opportunity to get involved on some of these international issues. My focus is, as you know, on the economic issues and budget issues.
Party politics must be transcended to resolve pressing issues like agrarian matters or other similar issues.
So when we're really addressing issues like poverty, you can't do that without addressing the real driver of some of those, which is stable homes, families. So that's why to me those issues are important. They're not frivolous. They're critical economic issues.