Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Elections (Page 13 of 17)

These are posts on elections from the blog Base and Superstructure. Topics include international elections, American elections, and local Iowa elections. There’s a particular focus on describing and explaining leftist electoral results.

electability allende

The Electability Dilemma

November 11, 2019 /

Let’s start with an argument. It’s a general argument about electability, but that’s no fun. Instead, I’ll use the more provocative case of Bernie Sanders. The motivating claim is that electability stands in tension with systemic change. Or, to put it differently, that not being a threat to the capitalist system is a prerequisite to attaining electability. Replace ‘Bernie Sanders’ with any other candidate and it works roughly the same. With other candidates, it’s usually so obvious it approaches triviality.

Here’s the argument.

1. Either Bernie Sanders is electable or he isn’t.
2. If Bernie Sanders is electable, his presidency isn’t a threat to capitalism.
3. If Bernie Sanders isn’t electable, his presidency isn’t a threat to capitalism.
4. Therefore, a Bernie Sanders presidency isn’t a threat to capitalism.

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medicare for all sign health care is a right

Medicare for All: Did They Flip-Flop?

November 7, 2019 /

Back in 2017, Bernie Sanders introduced a Senate bill on Medicare for All. It’s hardly the first version of this proposal. John Conyers introduced a less detailed version of it in the House each term since 2003. But Sanders has done more than anyone else to popularize the idea in US politics. So much, in fact, that just about all the major Democratic presidential contenders hopped on board. Literally co-sponsoring the bill in the case of the senators running for president.

And that’s no exaggeration. Here’s a list of Medicare for All co-sponsors who ran for president: Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren. Let’s not forget several others also endorsed the proposal: Pete Buttigieg (!), Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Steyer, and Andrew Yang.

But times get tougher when you’re running for president. It’s one thing to announce a bold agenda, but it’s another to defend that agenda during the invisible primary. Consequently, it’s time to ask which ones chickened out. Who pulled a flip-flip on Medicare for All?

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Criticizing Bernie: 5 Theses

October 7, 2019 /

criticizing bernie

One of my first pieces of political writing I can still recall was a criticism of an allegedly socialist House member in the late 1990s for voting in favor of US intervention in Yugoslavia. That House member was, of course, Bernie Sanders. I still think there’s value in criticizing Bernie in some ways and in some circumstances. But let’s talk a bit more about that.

Twitter debate over the Bernie Sanders campaign degenerated into a dumpster fire a long time ago. Or, to put it more accurately, it degenerated twice. Once during the 2016 race against Hillary Clinton. And then a second time during the 2020 campaign. And so, I’m writing a post about criticizing Bernie in light of all this. Do people do it well or poorly? And how do we do it well?

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A One-Liner Against Each Candidate

September 30, 2019 /

Let’s say you put together a team and you’re running for president. You generally don’t make it that far in politics without some bad stuff happening. Taking some corporate donations here. Maintaining the status quo there. You know, politics.

So, what’s each candidate afraid of? For each candidate, there’s got to be a downside. Something about their politics that doesn’t line up with the image they’re presenting to you. After three debates, maybe it’s worth asking.

Eh, or maybe I’m just being dramatic.

But, really though, here’s a post about each candidate’s dark side. If you’re looking for a close and careful reading of the candidates, try some of my other posts. This one’s more in the spirit of fun. Read on for some (probably only mildly) exaggerated takes on what’s wrong with the candidates. A one-line objection to each.

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