Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Partisan Politics (Page 15 of 17)

impeach

Should the Democrats Impeach Trump?

June 20, 2019 /

The question is simple enough. Should the Democrats impeach Trump? And yet it’s not a simple question. It’s really two questions. The first one is: has Trump done anything impeachable? And the second one is: if so, is impeachment the best strategy for handling this?

So that’s the background. To impeach is not the solution to all impeachable offenses in all situations, just as to convict is not the solution in all cases where a person has committed a crime. In the latter case, it’s a question of whether conviction is the best way to address the crime. Is it not?

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The Socialist Manifesto

June 10, 2019 /

socialist manifesto

Jacobin founding editor Bhaskar Sunkara recently published his first book, The Socialist Manifesto.

He’s trying to do a lot with the book. But here’s the main goal as I see it. Sunkara wants to distinguish between social democracy and socialism. He draws this distinction primarily in terms of the political methods people use in their pursuit. And he argues that the best political vision for our times is one that helps us move from the former to the latter. He does this via a historical project, covering everything from the feudalist roots of capitalism to German and Swedish social democracy to the Soviet Union and China to the history of leftism in the United States. Again, quite a project.

I’ll lay out some of Sunkara’s key arguments in The Socialist Manifesto. And I’ll offer some agreement and criticism along the way.

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How to Criticize the Democratic Candidates

April 4, 2019 /

Rife with disorganization and insecurity, the Democratic Party wants you to vote blue no matter who. I guess. I mean, they do sell the phrase on a t-shirt.

And it loves its metaphors. When you criticize fellow liberals, so they say, you’re just engaged in a circular firing squad. They really love that metaphor. You know, circular firing squad. They write about it over and over and over and over.

Not that they started recently. They were writing about it in 2016. Hell, even in 2006.

Probably in 1896, for all I know.

But there are real distinctions and divisions among liberals and leftists. And between liberals and leftists, as I wrote about previously in a quiz. The call to line up behind a candidate and a message is always louder when it comes from those who dominate the debate and the issues. That’s, of course, the fly in the ointment. Among others, which I’ll say more about below the flow chart.

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“Should I Write About That Politician?”

March 14, 2019 /

I write a lot in this blog about political issues, and I try to keep individual personalities out of politics as much as possible. If politics is about any specific thing, it’s about collective struggles over things like ownership and control of resources, rights, representation, et al. If you want something even more vague and unhelpful, I could stick with Aristotle and say it’s about the “affairs of the city.”

My point is that it’s not about individual personalities.

But that’s easier said than done. When I’m thinking about what to write in this blog, individual personalities frequently come to mind. In fact, I’ve devoted an entire category to an American political movement organized around an individual personality. Yes, that one.

And so, it turns out I find myself writing about specific people. When is it best to write about specific people? Here are my thoughts.

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candidate

One Tip for Each Presidential Candidate

February 21, 2019 /

Each presidential candidate is traveling to Iowa, and each presidential candidate has a problem or two. Today I’ll be their consultant.

I’ve got a few quibbles with 538’s taxonomy, but it’s a good starting point. Arguably there are five corners to the Democratic primary electorate. 538 draws a distinction between ‘party loyalists’ and ‘the left,’ whereas the better distinction is probably between ‘moderate’ Democrats and ‘progressive’ Democrats, but whatever. It’s a start.

I’ll lay out one key thing each candidate needs to do to get in a position to win the nomination.

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