19 Comments
Sep 10Liked by Hamilton Nolan

This is all spot on, I just want to add that the right's plan to gut the civil service is a labor issue in itself; during the lame-duck period Trump issued as executive order establishing Schedule F, which stripped bargaining rights from every federal employee involved in "formulating or implementing policy," which is nearly everyone, and turning all these millions of workers into political appointees, who could be summarily fired without cause.

Biden rescinded Schedule F on day one, but every Republican presidential candidate has vowed to reimpose it.

Expand full comment

It's just such an incredible indictment of the United States that the boot stomping on our neck forever thinks it wise to advertise itself. Says some really dark things about the human condition, honestly.

Expand full comment
Sep 10Liked by Hamilton Nolan

Believe Them

The GOP has promised what they will do to women, the LGBTQ+ community, labor, our democracy, the environment, the EPA, the FDA, the Constitution, the separation of church and state, the FBI, the Justice Department, the freedom to read the books we want, the fight against climate change and so much more. It isn’t good.

Expand full comment
Sep 10Liked by Hamilton Nolan

Many thanks Hamilton. It is always a pleasure reading your articles. I may disagree about Biden but it is not relevant. In my modest opinion, the main point is to keep on highlighting that The right wing is the worst possible option to any civilised country, here, there and everywhere. Stay safe.

Expand full comment
Sep 11·edited Sep 11Liked by Hamilton Nolan

Honestly, if I were a business owner who was compelled to pay employees time-and-a-half on Sunday, I would simply announce that we would no longer be open for business on the Sabbath, and anyone who found that inconvenient should ask themselves why they thought they could flout God’s commandments.

This is one of many good reasons it is for the best that I am not a business owner.

(Anyone, that is, apart from the workers who would lose a day’s wages. But we all know that the people who want Sabbath pay enshrined into law aren’t concerned with the plight of the worker.)

Expand full comment
Sep 10Liked by Hamilton Nolan

"The tiny little Christian aphids that eat the brains of the Republican base also appear to be getting to their Supreme Court clerks. Sad."

Those tiny Christian aphids like Russell Vought see themselves as leading the Christian Counter-Elite destruction of civil service. Ultimately what may trip them up is that everyone wants that position. No one wants to be a mere foot soldier. The clash of Christian ambitions may be the show of shows waiting behind all these machinations.

Expand full comment

One almost thinks that the whole point to writing a 900+ page policy tome is knowing that very few people will read it. I mean, I won't, because I already just assume anything from that crowd is a pile of horrible crap, 9 pages or 900. Also, I just can't bring myself to read anything that long these days. I used to be able to. Damn internet killed my attention span.

(I hope that your book is not 900 pages. I max out around 400. 200-300 is optimal.)

Expand full comment

Yes, Republicans are wretched. But we'll never get fully representative democracy with Ds and Rs alone. Their appeal is maxed. We need viable alternatives to get non-voters off the sidelines.

Expand full comment

In practice, unions take money from your pocket to create a bureaucracy that does not have your best interest at heart and that's why workers are ambivalent about unions in polling. Restoring the American manufacturing base in the interests of national security will give workers real negotiating power. These are MAGA ideas, and that's why the American worker abandoned the Democrat party a long time ago, and Democrat polling with blacks and Hispanics continues to slip.

Expand full comment
deletedSep 10
Comment deleted
Expand full comment