Material conditions, which is the totality of all politics exerted on me.
Politics affects everything and everything affects politics. There is a political character to even simple things, as their existence and your propensity to interact with them and the way you interact with them are all contingent on societal structures. For example, what you were taught growing up will partially determine how much you jaywalk (a very cool way to break the law imo). Your phone exists due to a very complex and violent supply chain. When you take a walk to enjoy the sun, it’s still political - where do you walk? The built environment is largely constructed to the whims of capitalism. Do you see anyone else on your walk? Why or why not? All of society’s patterns are heavily impacted by economic factors.
Uhh, more serious answer
- Your rent is going up because
a.) rich wipipo don’t want multi-unit houses near them bc they’re racist, so housing either doesn’t get built or gets built out in the sticks away from white enclaves
b.) blackrock is buying all the houses everywhere, then renting them out at the highest prices they can, making the market scream
c.) The class of all land-leeches has a shared interest in driving the value of their properties and the prices they rent at as high as possible. There are no brakes, they’re gonna drive that fucker faster and faster until it hits a wall. As long as there is someone who can afford to pay, they’ll drive the rent higher until there’s no one left that can pay
d.) Laws in the US are structured such that houses are owned as an appreciating financial asset instead of a home intended to be lived in. That’s stupid for all kinds of reasons, but it encourages most home owners to support policies and actions, including violent illegal actions like targeted police violence intended to drive out undesirables, or police action against homeless people, systematic racism, etc, to drive up property valuations. People are incentivized to do this because the US doesn’t meaningfully have pensions or any means of caring for the elderly so if you don’t sock away a million bucks before you hit 65 you’re going to die in penniless misery.
So, your rent is going up, your mom’s rent is going up, your partner’s rent is going up, all your friends and coworkers rent is going up, your neighbors rent is going up, everyone’s fucking rent is going up and devouring more and more of their paltry income, because there’s a class of people who own things, and they want to use the things they own to extract as much wealth as possible, at gunpoint (The cops), from people who don’t own things. Which is the basis of communist theory.
This applies to every single thing in your life through more or less convoluted paths, from the cost and availability of medicine to how you get to work (car companies bought and destroyed all the trolley companies so they could sell more busses. City highways were paved over black neighborhoods and enclaves so they could be built without having to sue lots of white people, etc). to what foods you have available to everything related to the military and literally every other thing. It’s all politics.
All aspects of society belong to either its economic base, or the superstructure. Anything in the economic base is political in nature because it is in the economic base that class struggle happens, and exploitation takes place. It is also where the process of production takes place, and the details of how and to what ends production take place are very political (they’re the whole basis of who really has political power). Then the superstructure, which is shaped by the base, reinforces and maintains the base. Any cultural, religious, and social affairs belong to this component, as well as the state itself. They reinforce and reflect the nature of the economic base.
Everything is political
Everything can be traced back to politics, but that’s a bit of an obvious answer. But really, when you take time to relax and just close your eyes, aren’t there things you’re considering first? Am I going to be late for work? How much money will I lose? Will I still be able to cover this month’s rent? Am I going to be fired? Will I lose my health insurance for the whole family?
Of course, most people stop at “am I going to be late for work?” But the connections to the economy and government are there if you just keep asking “why am I thinking about this issue?”
Well, I have an unfortunate genetic condition that causes me to emit a smell that unerringly draws congressional aides from as many as three miles downwind. Every morning I have to get a broom and chase them all out of the kitchen.
Gravity is all around us, it’s a force that shapes our everyday life that most people pay no attention to. Politics is not gravity, while it is a force that plays a part in everyones life, it needs to be paid attention to and those that ignore it need to be punished for not participating. Many that do participate do so in a wrong way, and they should pay for it, only those with the right politics should be shown any love or affection or respect and it’s not really personal experience or choice that makes someone’s politics, it’s mostly a result of one’s environment, your politics are molded by your environment, one really does not have a choice in it, but that doesn’t excuse having the wrong politics. Wrong politics mean the difference between life and death, you should realize that people who haven’t read or believe or understand Marxist theory are bad, and it is our job not to enlighten them, we aren’t educators, but we should hit them with a big fucking stick whenever they get in our way. The people will be led astray by bad politics if we don’t physically oppose opposing views.
