Diagnosing what ails the American republic is a national pastime that has indicted particular culprits such as new technology, economic inequality, and Newt Gingrich. At the risk of adding yet another sky-is-falling tome to this burgeoning literary genre, there is another clear and present danger threatening political discourse. American politics has been afflicted by rampant reductionism, otherwise known as “Labelocracy.”
In many ways, Labelocracy is an intensified form of the scourge of identity politics. It is most clearly revealed when, as Congressman Dan Crenshaw aptly described, one entity labels “someone as an ‘-ist’ who believes in an ‘-ism’” and dismisses their statements, sentiments, and experiences altogether. Identity politics is the assertion of one’s own labels; Labelocracy is the imposition of labels onto another as a means of suffocating debate.
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Nicholas J. Romanow 