Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Month: November 2020 (Page 1 of 2)

The Years of Lyndon Johnson

November 30, 2020 /

the years of lyndon johnson robert caro

Robert Caro’s series The Years of Lyndon Johnson sounds like a bad idea for lots of reasons. At a minimum, LBJ seems rather outré. I mean, a white southerner who rose through the ranks of the racist southern Democratic Party of the 1940s and 1950s? Yes, LBJ ushered through important Civil Rights legislation. And then he followed it up by prosecuting the disastrous Vietnam War. To top it off, the Great Man Theory of history went out of style decades ago. Though leftists and liberals disagree on much, it seems they can at least agree that Great White Men ought not drive history so much.

But, despite these concerns, Caro’s project works. I mean, it works. It works really, really well. Let’s take a look at The Years of Lyndon Johnson.

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faq

FAQ #4: What Should I Read First?

November 26, 2020 /

After more than 2 years and a couple hundred posts, there’s a lot of content here on Base and Superstructure! Occasionally people ask me where they should begin. They want to know what to read first.

I’ve got enough anarchist in my political background that it’s a weird question. I think anywhere works. But that’s pretty unhelpful. Posts here cover related issues, and more recent posts build on earlier ones. Later posts where I use words in novel ways might be a bit disorienting to people who didn’t read the earlier ones.

And so, here’s my best recommendation. I’ve used the ‘categories’ function to sort the posts in this blog. I included a category called ‘Foundations‘ for those background posts I repeatedly build upon. Just click ‘Foundations‘ and then start reading from the beginning. Luckily there aren’t too many posts. I think only 7 or 8 at this point. So, it shouldn’t be all that large a reading load.

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white women trump

White Women and Trump, Part 2

November 19, 2020 /

After the 2016 election, I wrote a post on the status of white women in Trump’s coalition. Trump landed a surprise win over Hillary Clinton, and many people singled out white women as the key driver. In that previous post, I looked at the evidence and concluded that this is false. White women were not the key driver of Trump’s win.

White women have been moving toward the GOP for decades. They even moved slightly away from the GOP in 2016. And so, white women were not the decisive factor in Trump’s victory. It was white men who led Trump to victory. Insofar as, e.g., racial justice movements, singled out white women, it was likely because white women made a more attractive target than white men for moral appeals. Not because white women were key to Trump’s base.

With that as our starting point, let’s return to the issue of white women and Trump. How did 2020 go? Did white women vote for Trump again? Did movement in the votes of white women propel Biden to victory?

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biden wins

Which Voters Won the Election for Biden?

November 16, 2020 /

After an election, people get right down to the business of trying to influence the new administration (or they don’t). One way to do that is to claim to represent some group of voters who ‘delivered’ the election to the winner. And Joe Biden will be no exception to this trend.

Indeed, the think pieces started rolling in as soon as the networks called it for Biden. Bernie Sanders claimed progressives delivered the win, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agreed, arguing further that moderate Democrats largely failed. Moderates in turn blamed progressives for their own failures. Many commentators argued Democrats should ‘thank a black woman,’ while some praised Stacey Abrams in particular. And so on.

What should we make of all this? Which voters won the election for Biden?

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