Category: Politics
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Thoughts on the Critique of the Gotha Programme
I wanted to talk about the Critique of the Gotha Programme because I feel it has relevance to our current situation where the left is in the political wilderness. The Gotha Programme’s aims, in the eyes of Marx, were to sand down the edges of the socialist movement such that it would not seem so…
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Whipping Ourselves and Weeping
This broad tendency among the Western left, from the end of the French Revolution to the present day, is fueled by an impulse towards self-flagellation. The question then is: why does the left feel the need to lash itself in penance? This is not a thorough study but I have been thinking about this for…
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What Is Capitalism?
What is the point of all this? The point is to be able to come to some sort of understanding of what capitalism means so we can understand the political implications and effects it has. We tend to be presented with capitalism as only partly political because it is so strongly associated with money. Because…
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What Happens When a Country Defaults?
If a ruler wants to get something done, they need to give orders. Personally, there are four types of orders: suggestions, directions, requests, and purchases. On a society-wide mechanistic level, these become two types: decrees (orders without the expectation of repayment, which includes suggestions and directions) and requisitions (orders with the expectation of repayment, which…
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What Is Divine Kingship?
It’s obvious that this includes two historical concepts — the divine right of kings in Europe and the mandate of heaven in China (and nearby regions) — but what else does it include and what does it not include? I live in the United States of America, a country whose population is officially about 70%…
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Technology of Authority
This is the theory of a theory, a pre-theory. Capitalism is not simply an economic system or mode of production, it is a method of establishing domination: a technology of authority. It is the more or less direct successor of divine kingship. When the European revolutions of the 19th century had destroyed divine kingship, at…
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Palestine, Resistance, and Ressentiment
When trying to make sense of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, few among the supporters of Israel concede that Hamas had anything in mind but trying to kill Jews. The goals of the Palestinian people are always attributed to a hatred of Jews. Why is this?
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The Theory of the General Crisis
In a relatively short space here, I am going to describe the basic formation, function, and structure of the state. My goal is to help clarify the actual nature of the state so that we, regardless of our individual statuses, can respond to the state based upon our true position.
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Against Ur-Fascism
The study of fascism has a problem of basic definition. It is widely agreed that fascism has certain common tendencies but the reason for this is usually not stated. An example is the essay “Ur-Fascism” by Umberto Eco. He attempts to describe a proto-fascist situation by its symptoms rather than making a root diagnosis. In…
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Against Sotomayor
The end of the U.S. Supreme Court may happen within my lifetime. While it persists, it is an institution which will only do harm. Yes, it can be argued that the Supreme Court has made rulings which have made American society and business less oppressive to those vulnerable but this must be coupled with the…