May

If Democrats win where they never win or haven’t won in ages, it’s not just because people turned on Trump. It’s because people are drowning. And they don’t want a one-time check or bailout. They want to break the systems pushing their heads underwater. What does it look like to do that? Break up the insurance giants that get fatter and richer while we get sicker. Don’t just investigate. Break them up. Make healthcare a right. Give every new mom paid maternity leave. Stop this insane thing where Europeans pay less for American medicines than Americans do. Labor unions are some of the most popular institutions in this country. Make it radically easier to form them. If AI makes people radically more productive — if, there’s no evidence it does yet! — then listen to Shawn Fain and move to a 4 day workweek. The Senate passed a 30 hour workweek in 1933. Are we better than 1933? And when those new elected officials who rode this wave are told “No, you can’t do that" or they’re asked “How will you pay for that?” They should ask: How come there’s always money for bombs and never money for moms or teachers or kids or small business owners or anyone who isn’t a billionaire? How come corporate profits are at their highest while corporate taxes are the lowest – and workers’ share of those riches are through the floor? In 1890, Congress began to build an architecture to check the trusts, to check their version of corporate power. They reinforced that scaffolding and expanded it in 1914, 1936, and 1950. The key question now is not “How do we maximize the next 2 years?” or “How do we repair that scaffolding?” – much as we should do that. The key question now is: How do we start a 10 or 20 year project to pass the next generation of laws that protect regular people?