In the past I’ve noted several times the way that Bernie Sanders reflects antifascist thought, and I’ve long thought I should write up something more substantial to flesh this out. Here’s an attempt at doing so.
Continue reading “Why Bernie is the Antifascist Candidate, Part One”For my second Bernie-related post, here’s a FAQ. If the tone appears a little stiff or cheery, it’s because I originally wrote this content for canvassing literature.
Continue reading “Why I Support Bernie Sanders, Part Two”
I’m a cultural historian. I’m not a theorist, a philosopher, nor a political scientist. But I’m intensely interested in the question of how people got so confused about the difference between capitalism and a “free market economy.” The question gets to the heart of confusion over other definitions: capitalism, anti-capitalism, and socialism, specifically. And it thus raises broader questions about language and who has the power to shape narratives and epistemes. So I think it’s worth diving into.
So here are my thoughts on why it’s wrong to conflate capitalism and “free markets.” Fair warning: these are in some ways a repetition of and an extension of thoughts I posted here a few years ago, so it’s not entirely new.
Continue reading “What’s the difference between capitalism and free markets?”
Editor’s Note: Before you read this post, here’s a weird story about how it was almost published elsewhere.
I initially wrote this essay, and sent it off to various online publications to see if it might be posted somewhere a little more prolific than my humble WordPress site. After many solicitations, I found an editor that was interested, who emailed me to say that they “would be delighted” to publish the essay on their website. That editor and his publication will remain nameless, but suffice it to say it was the website of a relatively venerable magazine of the left. Continue reading “How the Hollywood Blacklist Gave Us the Term “Witch Hunt”—And Why the Phrase Would Be Best Forgotten”
I’ve gotten in the habit of writing about some of my essays here when they go live, so I thought I’d share some random thoughts about my latest, “‘Sometimes a Bee Can Move an Ox’: Biblical Epics and One Man’s Quest to Promote Jewish Values in Blacklist-Era Hollywood,” now online at the journal Modern American History (MAH), which, in a reflection of the paper’s provenance, still sits in my computer in a folder labeled “Hail Caesar Project.” I like to write these postmortems just to get some of my thinking on the record, so to speak, but if you’ve already read the essay and might like to know a little more, please do read along. Continue reading “Postmortem on My “Hail Caesar Project””
