Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Page 76 of 117

Impact of the First Debate

Going into the first debate between Biden and Trump, it wasn’t clear how the debate could even impact the race. Why? Because the polls have been consistent for months. Most Americans see the election as a referendum on Trump. Most of Trump’s voters love Trump. And most of Biden’s voters hate Trump. Few in either camp hold many strong opinions on Biden.

Americans mostly settled into these opinions months ago – even years ago. Since March 2019, Trump’s approval ratings have never deviated below 41% or higher than 47%. And they almost always move between 43% and 45%. This means about 43-45% of the country loves him, and just about everyone else hates him. The polls proceed accordingly. Presidents rarely overperform their approval rating, and Trump is no exception. And so, we see the polls against Biden put him at around…43%. Big surprise. Biden wins most of the voters who don’t like him. Again…big surprise.

The New York Times tax stories certainly did no favors for Trump, either. As a result of these things, it seemed unlikely the first debate would change anything.

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Essential Workers and Wages

Let’s talk about essential workers. But first, let’s take a look back. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how wages get assigned in the capitalist system. The short version? Capitalism assigns wages to people according to, roughly, the ‘social worth’ it assigns to them. Society makes certain judgments about the acceptable standard of living for certain people. Or, in Marxist terms, the accepted value of their labor power. By contrast, the value workers add has nothing to do with wages.

What’s that got to do with essential workers? Glad you asked.

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FAQ #3: How Much Does Blogging Pay?

Not much? Blogging hit its height about 10 years ago. But people can still make money on it through affiliate marketing, ads, etc. I do these things. And I have both a Patreon and an offer for freelance work.

However, blogs that make money tend to be ones that hit solid marketing topics or topics that are widely popular. Leftist blogging is a bit narrow, though. I cover topics with a good audience, but a relatively small one. If you’re looking to make big money, you should pick a different topic.

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Intersectionality and the Left

Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term ‘intersectionality‘ in 1989 as she used the central metaphor in a paper in a law journal. Crenshaw used the term to pick out the idea that people’s identities overlap to create novel experiences. As a legal scholar, she drew attention to experiences of discrimination. For example, black women may face novel issues neither black men nor white women face.

Since then, the term – and perhaps also the idea it picks out – took on a life of its own. It’s a rallying cry for some social justice movements. People routinely assert things like ‘the future is intersectional.’ Politicians run (usually unsuccessful) campaigns around it. But as leftists, what does intersectionality mean for us? Is it a tool for getting things done? A theory we should accept or reject? How should we handle it?

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FAQ #2: Can I Write a Guest Post?

OK, so I actually get this question more than I expected when I started the blog. The short answer: No.

The longer answer: Not yet, anyway. So far, I’ve written all content on the blog. I’m open to the possibility of a guest post. In fact, I’d love to see it. But I believe writers should be paid for their work. Even for more causal blog writing, I’d like to see writers getting paid 5-10 cents per word.

So, if I invited someone to do a 1000-1500 word guest post, I’d want to pay them $50-150 to do so. At the moment, I’m not really prepared to pay that kind of money for guest bloggers. I’ll probably say a bit more about the blog’s financials in a future FAQ. For now, let’s just say I’m not pulling in the kind of cash needed to pay people that much to write. Since I can’t pay, I’m not yet allowing guest posts.

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