Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Page 123 of 133

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.

Continue reading

Real Queer America: Bloomington, Indiana

April 1, 2019 /

Real Queer America

Samantha Allen is a trans woman and ex-Mormon who lived for a time in Provo, Utah. She recently wrote a book called Real Queer America. The basic idea is to take a road trip through red states, chronicling the LGBT communities therein. She drove from Utah to Texas to Indiana to Tennessee to Georgia.

Her premise is that the red state American crucibles produce unique LGBT spaces. These are spaces where LGBT people have to overcome differences and find common ground, avoiding the kind of arcane squabbling found in New York or San Francisco, where communities are large enough to divide into warring subgroups.

The book itself is pretty good. It’s a worthwhile travelogue, and it does show how smaller places can be as radical and beautiful as larger ones. Not that I don’t have any quibbles. She organizes the book more around legislation than movements, and there are thorny issues of gentrification and homonormativity that she sometimes overlooks.

But this post is less a review of Real Queer America than a reaction to one of the stops on Allen’s road trip. She visits Bloomington, Indiana, where I lived for 6 years.

Continue reading

“Are You Related to that Baseball Player?”

March 28, 2019 /
Doug Drabek

Source: Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kyle_Drabek_with_his_father_Doug.jpg)

Today is opening day for the 2019 baseball season. We’re finally done with all that ‘pace of play‘ nonsense! I’m going to write a bit about a question I sometimes get: Drabek? Have I heard that name before? Are you related to that baseball player?

Why, yes! Or, at least, kinda. We’re distant cousins. Both our families are from Texas, and specifically the Houston area. But we don’t know each other. My family holds a reunion each year, and as far as I know, Doug Drabek doesn’t attend. Neither do I, for that matter.

Continue reading

North Korea Policy 101

March 25, 2019 /
North Korea arirang

Source: Roman Harak (https://www.flickr.com/photos/roman-harak/5015832858)

We know Trump eats up most of the news cycle these days. Not much foreign policy gets through unless it’s about Russia. But there have been a lot of developments in relations between the US and Asian countries, particularly North Korea.

It’s all over the map. No pun intended.

I also think much of the US left still needs basic orientation around foreign policy issues. A few well known analysts (e.g., Noam Chomsky) talk a good game, but even Noam focuses on details that might not be helpful for beginners.

I’m writing about North Korea in this post. But at a broader level, I’m going to write a series of 101 level posts on foreign policy in the coming months. I’ll write in a way that doesn’t require the reader to have much prior background.

In these posts, I won’t hash out every minor detail. Nor will I solve every problem. It’s more about getting down the basics about what’s happening and how to reason through issues regarding the US’s relationship with the world.

My leading questions are: what are these conflicts really about? What are the underlying issues and interests at stake?

Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Base and Superstructure

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑