The Tyranny of Symbolism: Kamala Harris, Identity Politics, and the Death of Substance

History, that tireless collector of humanity’s worst decisions, is littered with tales of leaders who rose to power not by the weight of their ideas but by the clever branding of their banners—often as empty as the heads waving them. The fall of Mrs Harris as a political force, and her Democratic Party’s fixation on identity politics, is yet another grim chapter in this story—a warning about the perils of elevating symbolism over substance.

One need only recall the hollow leadership of Louis-Philippe of France, the so-called Citizen King, whose rule was justified as the victory of middle-class respectability over the old aristocracy. His reign was a triumph of appearances, collapsing in revolution when the people, tired of starving while being told to admire the scenery, exchanged his crown for a noose and his policies for a bonfire of everything he once stood for. Mrs Harris, like Louis-Philippe, represents the triumph of optics: a politician whose primary currency is not action but her status as a symbol, wielded by a party that confuses representation with progress.

The Democratic Party has become enthralled by the illusion that identity alone is transformative. Harris’s political ascent has been framed as a victory for representation: the first woman, the first Black and Asian American vice president. But what of the nation’s most pressing issues? Rising inequality, a crumbling infrastructure, climate change, and the disillusionment of the working class—all of these have languished under leaders more concerned with what they symbolize than what they deliver.

This is not a new phenomenon. Consider Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who cloaked himself in nationalism and military pomp, only to alienate his people, destabilize his nation, and bumble his way into a world war that shattered empires and left millions dead. Such leaders thrive on the manipulation of symbols, stoking loyalty with empty gestures while dodging the unglamorous labor of real governance. Harris, too, has wielded identity as a shield—not to lead boldly but to deflect criticism, offering symbolism where vision was desperately needed. History teaches us that such neglect doesn’t just fail—it explodes.

Harris’s record as vice president reads like a case study in managed irrelevance. Tasked with tackling immigration reform, she delivered soundbites instead of strategy, gestures instead of solutions. Her approach mirrored the broader Democratic Party’s descent into impotence: a group so consumed with not offending its base that it cannot articulate a unifying message.

Her failure is not merely personal—it is emblematic of a party that has traded Rooseveltian ambition for performative wokeness. Identity politics, as practiced by the Democrats, has become a poor substitute for class politics, eroding their historic base of working-class support. While they celebrate diversity in boardrooms, the factories close and the farms wither, leaving their former constituents to the wolves of right-wing populism.

The danger of this hollow symbolism extends beyond the Democratic Party. History reminds us that when political movements fail to address real grievances, they open the door to demagogues. Weimar Germany, with its fractured left and disconnected elites, gave rise to a far darker force, one that exploited economic despair and cultural alienation with catastrophic consequences.

Today, the Democratic Party, drunk on the pageantry of representation, risks ceding the future to figures even more cynical than Mr Trump. While they congratulate themselves for breaking ceilings, they neglect the crumbling foundations below.

The lesson of history is clear: identity, detached from substance, is not leadership—it’s marketing. The Democrats, with their endless celebration of Harris as a milestone, seem determined to run a party like an awards show, where the speeches are long, the victories symbolic, and the substance nonexistent. If they keep this up, they might as well nominate a QR code next time—it’ll check all the boxes, and at least it might take you somewhere useful. Meanwhile, the Republicans will be busy building the gallows, and the Democrats will be proudly announcing that their rope supplier is minority-owned.