Advocacy
On why you have to vote: Abandoning democracy rather than fighting to improve it is a solution we may live to regret. Understand why you should vote when the social motive for voting defeats the rational choosers’ voting dilemma.
Election Day should be organized as a mass mobilization to save democracy. The “what difference will one vote make” attitude is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps the people who benefit from low voter turnout like the fact that “why should I vote, it won’t change anything?” is their ticket to stay in power. Make sure you vote. To make sure casting a vote feel as satisfying as attending a "die in," let's prepare for the '2020 hazmat-suits-for-democracy' event. Read on...
On the administration's handling of Covid: With Covid cases surging in 32 states and holding stead in 17 states, it is an accurate assessment that the nation is beseiged by a viral pandemic that the administration denies. As of October 25, 2020, the United States has a death count of 225,156 according to data from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Should we hold the administration accountable for the loss of a greater number of Americans than in the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars combined? Certainly not, if we remain convinced that the U.S. has the world’s greatest healthcare system, and if we refuse to let facts stand in the way of our beliefs.
This is a time to be guided by epidemiology, not belief systems. It is incontrovertible that Trump and Pence are directly responsible for the high number of Covid deaths in the country. Citizens should recognize that having a high quality of life necessitates having an accountable government.
Our pre-pandemic world was one already filled with the "deaths of despair" for many Americans. Two economists—Anne Case and Angus Deaton—coined the term to talk about the interplay between economic trends, frayed social networks, and psychological effects, causing considerable numbers of people to lose the sense of purpose and optimism needed to keep moving forward with their lives.
On globalization: For decades, mainstream politicians of both parties have been operating under the assumption that free trade and financial deregulation will raise our GDP and therefore benefit all Americans. Where this fails is identifying the winners of such policies and compensating the losers.
For example, the loss of some manufacturing jobs by U.S. workers in today’s globalizing world is more than made up for by the benefits to far larger numbers of U.S. consumers in the form of less expensive goods from other countries. The winners in this equation could be taxed, the losers could be compensated by means of job training and subsidies for the companies who hire them.
This is a win-win situation that makes America equitable and powerful. Although economic analysis supports the subtle view that not everyone wins from the policies of free trade, we know what domestic policies could help address this.
