wes.whitman's blog

The Biden/Harris platform is actually really good. I say this in spite of Biden being my least favorite of all the main party candidates other than Trump.

I like the healthcare policy. It doesn't eliminate for-profit private health insurance, but it would expand coverage to over 90% of the populace (excluding only illegal immigrants). It would subsidize costs for anyone below 400% of the federal poverty line and create a public option (basically "Medicare for All who want it"), but allowing the public option to negotiate prices.

Over the last 6 years or so, I've gotten really into policy analysis and data-driven politics. The things is, everything I've learned feels totally useless because we've entered into a post-policy era in American politics. Everything is going to be determined by arbitrary discretion of a few individuals at the top. Your average representative and senator have no power. All power is held by the President, the Speaker, and the Majority Leader—three individuals. Policy analysis only matters in a democratic world and this isn't a democracy anymore, at least not at the federal level.

Being a centrist doesn't necessarily mean being a moderate. A centrist is simply someone who borrows ideas from the left and the right. The terms "left" and "right" come from the French Revolution: the left was pro-revolution, pro-insurrection, pro-progress, pro-egalitarianism, and pro-democracy, while the right was anti-revolution, anti-insurrection, against radical changes, against egalitarianism, and against democracy.

The economy is going to collapse. People are going to stay home, be unable to work, not be able to pay bills. We need a stimulus package to prevent a deflationary spiral. Policy analysts and legislators are now calling for a direct bailout (stimulus) for the people or an emergency temporary universal basic income (emergencyUBI). The gist of the plan is to give every adult American citizen $1000 per month as long as the crisis continues and possibly an additional $500 for children. There's several similar proposals on the table.

For the record, Andrew Yang is (and has been) polling in the top 6 candidates, yet they seldom let him speak during the debates. They consistently give him the least amount of speaking time. MSNBC, which donated tons to Buttigieg and Biden, gives its favored candidates all the speaking time in the debates so that you won't know the other options. Why do they not let Andrew Yang speak?

I've been reading Irving Krisol (the father of neoconservatism) a lot lately. I agree with the idea of "property-owning democracy" (widespread distribution of property ownership) as ideal. This idea has deep roots in conservative philosophy. But the neocons fall short because they fail to support any institution that fosters property-owning democracy.

The welfare state is a conservative institution and widespread distribution of wealth is also a concervative ideal. Conservatism largely looked to the economic system of medieval Europe and the political system of 18th centruy England as ideal (i.e. parliamentary or representative democracy). These two periods were what traditional conservatism idealized.

The welfare state is an American idea and a conservative institution. The Church did poverty relief and free healthcare when it was a public institution funded by taxes. When the "separation of church and state" was introduced under the new republican system of liberal democracy in America, the church lost its ability to raise revenue from legally mandatory tithes (income tax). When this happened, some of the social responsibilities of the church had to be passed on to the government.

It's inaccurate to read Adam Smith as the "father of capitalism." Capitalism wasn't a thing yet. Wage-labor wasn't the norm. He was a defender of the emergence of industrialization and the division of labor. Marxism is just as much a logical outgrowth of many of Smith's doctrines as neoliberalism is.

Listen, politics is a matter of life and death. Y'all need to vote for Andrew Yang. Here's why.

If someone's toddler is sick and in the hospital, they shouldn't have to worry about "how am I gonna pay for this treatment to save my baby's life" or "I better get back to work soon before I lose my job."

If someone gets sick and loses their job after being bedridden for months, that shouldn't wreck their financial wellbeing. And they shouldn't have to be jobless and still stuck with the medical debt from being sick.