Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Revisiting the Worst Political Issues

April 21, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Three years ago, I wrote a post about the worst political issue for the GOP and the Democrats. After investigating the topic, I focused on balanced budges for the GOP and gun control for the Democrats.

What made those issues stand out is that there’s a wide gap between generic voters preferences and how strongly voters feel about the issues. Voters like balanced budgets in the abstract. But as soon as you turn to tax increases or spending cuts – how you balance budgets in the first place – voters are far less interested. And while many people like gun control, most have no direct experience with actual gun violence.

But it’s 3 years later. Let’s check in to see whether they’ve learned anything.

Continue reading

A boxed cake product called Grand American Prestige. It's intended as a funny representation of the blog American Prestige.

Propaganda Analysis and Leftist Strategy

April 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I had the pleasure of listening to an interview on American Prestige with Nathan J. Robinson, editor of Current Affairs and co-author (with Noam Chomsky) of The Myth of American Idealism. The book – as well as the interview – discusses Noam Chomsky’s views on U.S. foreign policy and leftist politics.

I discussed the book briefly in my January Reading List post, but the interview goes into greater detail. Readers should note that the interview sits behind the American Prestige paywall. That said, I’m a subscriber. And I’d highly encourage readers to subscribe, or at the very least to listen to the free weekly news update. It comes out every Friday morning.

That bit aside, let’s talk about the interview. I think a particular line of questioning from Daniel Bessner gets at key issues of leftist strategy in the 21st century.

Continue reading

A photo of a man and a woman sitting on comfortable leather couches and engaged in conversation. The room has excellent natural light, there is a bookcase in the background, and there is a classical bust or statue behind them.

The Philosophical Counselor Is In

April 7, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Some readers have noticed new content on the blog page over the last few weeks. It remains, thus far, unannounced in any official way by me. But it’s something I’ve hinted at a couple of times – once on the blog and once in the Patreon newsletter. I’ve been working on it for awhile, and I’ve approached it gradually and methodically. I’ve even taken a professional certification course.

But that’s enough delay. Here’s the announcement: I’ve become a certified philosophical counselor. And I’m now open for business and seeing clients for philosophical counseling services.

Continue reading

The cover of the book The Enigma of Diversity, by Ellen Berrey. It depicts the title and author in white and grey text against a black background.

The Enigma of Diversity

March 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

‘Diversity’ sounds like something transformative or radical. And yet it doesn’t seem to produce meaningful change, even for people labeled as ‘diverse.’ We might call this ‘the enigma of diversity,’ or at least one such enigma worth discussing.

This forms the starting point of sociologist Ellen Berrey in her book, The Enigma of Diversity. In it, she takes a close look at the concept of diversity after the 1960s civil rights era. This gets at the heart of political debates in our turn to cultural politics in the 2010s and 2020s.

Berrey looks into these issues through in-depth case studies in academia, urban politics, and the corporate world. She finds that the appeal to diversity across these domains reflects the interests of powerful decision makers and their constituents. It does so over and above the interests of the people who supposedly benefit from diversity and DEI programs.

Continue reading

« Older posts

© 2025 Base and Superstructure

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑