Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Month: September 2023

Living with a Dog (Molly)

September 25, 2023 /

When her mother died in 2020, my partner inherited a 13 year old dog, Molly. Now 16 years old as of July, Molly has lived with us these past 3 years.

Molly is a Peekapoo – a hyrbid breed between Pekinese and Poodle. She’s a very small dog, weighing in at maybe 12 or 13 pounds. And we’ve seen her through years of getting older, moving on from a senior dog to a quite elderly dog. Despite being quite elderly – and limited in various ways in her mobility – she’s a healthy and active dog for her age.

My partner and I have talked a number of times over the years about whether we want a dog (we’ve both firmly ruled out cats). And I think our experience with Molly has given us some insight into aging and care for the aging. Not to mention some good times taking walks and showing off our dog stroller to the neighborhood.

Do you have a dog? What are the joys of dogs for you?

Cover for the book A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman.

September Reading List (2023)

September 21, 2023 /

I started looking through the books I’ve been reading as we headed into the fall, and I saw some of what I expected. Books about politics, presidential candidates, and so on. But I noticed a continuation in my recent summer theme of issues of philosophy and aging.

Yes, we’ve got more of those books on this month’s list. What else will join them on the list? Read on to find out.

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A protest sign that says Shut It Down! It has an image of a fist.

Iowa City’s Anarcho-Liberalism

September 11, 2023 /

Bhaskar Sunkara kicked up a bit of a storm when he first wrote about ‘anarcho-liberalism’ in 2011. Sunkara wrote about this odd term as an extension of the politics of the New Left.  Specifically the anti-globalization movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s. And when he used the term, Sunkara called to mind two things: first, a rejection of the mass working class institutions and politics of the left, and second, ‘revolutionary’ critique and action from people and small groups.

Let me narrow this down a bit in a way that readers might apply to their local situations. Anarcho-liberalism often amounts to a kind of knee-jerk cynicism and opposition toward government, especially at the local level. And it lacks any serious plan to build a movement to take power in the interests of the working class.

Insofar as anarcho-liberalism allows for an alternative, it falls back on NGOs, non-profits, or ‘mutual aid.’ And these are the best options. At its worst, it fails to go beyond ‘pestering’ local officials with no deeper goal.

In short, it’s a mess. And it has its backers in Iowa City.

Let’s talk a bit about that.

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