Future Hindsight

Retaking The Commons In order to repair our current social contract, we must first repair our relationship to the Commons. Our economy currently prioritizes property protection, wealth protection, and disproportionate power, while often disregarding the realities of human life. Social movements can create a sense of mutuality, of what we hold in common, and amass power to retake the Commons. Turning to each other has never been more effective. The Solidarity Economy Solidarity economics is a system that focuses on mutuality in the form of co-ops, community land trusts, and other social movements. The key is to create experiences that widen the circle of belonging and everyone is valuable. For example, solidarity economics aims to increase workers' power in order to get better deals from their employers. It also creates alternative economic enterprises, government regulation to prevent abuses, and rewards high road businesses. The Benefit of Mutualism Operating in mutuality is the opposite of operating in self

Faith in the Social Contract As members of a society, we must have an understanding of “we” for the social contract to function. When citizens are put in a position of protecting the state or the economy instead of protecting its people, we all lose out. Faith can help us find a sense of togetherness. If we know who we’re fighting for, the sacrifice makes that much more sense. The pandemic has been a great example of both the wins and losses of living for the greater good. Beloved Community A beloved community is one that prioritizes having enough as opposed to having abundance. If everyone has enough to get by, then no one is left out. In this way, members of the community can shed the stress of the next meal or a roof over their heads, and instead are able to put resources and engagement into one another. A beloved community builds from the heart of our social contract through a faith in neighborliness and diplomacy. Mutual Aid The pillars of mutual aid are recognizing that there are no unworthy people and

Technology in the Social Contract Increasingly, the design of new technology determines the way our society functions and the way we live. Simple design flaws like the lack of a mute button on Sony Camcorders ended up changing our laws on surveillance. We don’t elect the people that build our global technology landscape. In addition, once the technology is successful in the marketplace, its design is replicated without question. More Equitable Algorithms Algorithms have the power to harm us beyond individual privacy issues, in ways we don’t always see, such as their ability to discriminate based on race and even violate the integrity of an election. However, we’re not powerless in shaping how that landscape affects us. It’s important to prioritize our interests as citizens as opposed to the business interests of an online platform. Section 230 Section 230 is an old law that allows online platforms immunity from the impact of third-party content, meaning sites like Facebook are not liable for the posts created

Tax Policy is Where It Starts What do our tax dollars really go towards? The truth is, so much of it is invisible. Tax dollars go towards helping homeowners through mortgage deductions or keeping prices low on your water bill. The money we spend on taxes has the power to shape our social contract, but it’s not always spent correctly. By focusing on tax policy first, we can control which programs and policies are funded and which are not. In this way, taxes are at the root of social change. Tax Fairness The topic of tax fairness is shrouded in the myth that America’s tax system is progressive. We tend to only talk about federal income taxes, which do in fact increase as you make more income. But we fail to recognize the unfairness of other taxes, like property and sales tax. For example, middle class families pay the same sales tax as the ultra-wealthy, and even renters end up paying property taxes at a rate equivalent to billionaires. When you look at the full scope of the tax burden, it really falls most hea

Racism Bites Everybody Creating racist policies and ideologies is short-sighted. In the long run, these practices affect everyone, including white people. In 1978, older white voters in California decided they didn’t want their tax dollars going towards the funding of education for children who were increasingly non-white. To reflect this, Prop 13 capped property taxes and essentially led to a defunding of public education in the state, which families of every race and ethnicity rely on. Intersectionality History has shown that when the American social safety net becomes beneficial for people of color, support for the policies and programs diminish. For example, criminal justice started to be used more and more as a tool for social management after poverty programs in the 1960s allowed Black Americans to access it. Today these relationships between race and a social safety affect our entire society, across the landscape of labor, education outcomes, and incarceration. Abstract Fears Abstract fears are based o

The Legacy of the Subminimum Wage The devaluation of Black lives and women's work is at the heart of the subminimum wage. Until the 1850s, restaurant workers were white men who were unionized and were tipped on top of a living wage. But business owners started hiring women and black people for free, making them rely on tips to make their living. This means that the customer—instead of the employer—is responsible for paying the worker. A century and a half later, the subminimum wage has increased to only $2.13. Tipped Work in the Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how precarious tipped work is. Full time tipped workers, such as in bars or restaurants, often did not qualify for unemployment benefits because their tips were never reported, and it made them look ineligible for not having worked enough hours or earned enough pay. We have an opportunity to get rid of the subminimum wage by advocating for the Raise the Wage Act, supporting restaurants that pay their workers a livable wage, and demanding the same

Our Responsibility to Defend the Truth Science denialism has existed as long as science has existed. As a part of our social contract, we’re responsible for challenging the spread of misinformation and understanding, especially when it comes to science. If we open ourselves up to these difficult conversations, we can offer up a path into more logical reasoning and avoid a culture where science and truth are rejected. Science Denialism is Dangerous All science denialism relies on a flawed blueprint of cherry-picking evidence, trusting conspiracy theories, trusting fake experts, and relying on illogical reasoning. The internet has given denialism a chance to be amplified, which is especially dangerous because it confuses people and muddies the line between fact and falsehood. Science denialism hurts us in so many ways, from killing our planet by ignoring climate change to taking lives because people don’t trust vaccines and masks. Technique Rebuttal Content rebuttal is using facts to combat false claims. Techni

The Social Contract and Our Bodies The pandemic has given us a glimpse into the ways our health is woven into the social contract. The high number of deaths from COVID are the result of the government’s failure to collaborate with international organizations and with our own state lawmakers. We leaned on essential care workers, many of whom are people of color. And yet, they often lacked PPE, challenging what it really means to be “essential.” The Inequality of Health Racism is a preexisting health condition in the United States. COVID unveiled the institutional and infrastructural inequalities that have existed in our healthcare system for decades, which we see with the alarming rates of death among Black and Latino children. These inequalities and social stereotypes affect every corner of healthcare. For example, Black adults are 2 to 6 times more likely to suffer an amputation than a white adult, especially for common conditions like diabetes. Women’s Health Increasingly, aspects of women’s health, such as

Racial Injustice in the Climate Crisis Economic and racial injustices are at the center of the climate crisis. White communities have largely avoided things like polluting power plants and detrimental pipelines in their neighborhoods. Instead, communities of color have faced that burden. The willingness to sacrifice communities of color has made it easier for governments to tolerate climate chaos. Aiding Youth Activism Successful social movements often start with activism by young people, and in fact cannot be successful without them. However, it’s up to the adults in our democracy to make sure their voices are heard since they are the ones who can vote and have the financial resources. It’s been proven that just 3.5% of a population can topple a dictatorship. What can it do for climate justice? Disruptive Humanitarianism Disruptive humanitarianism challenges the status quo and forces the system to change immediately for the better. It counters the idea that it’s everyone for themselves. It can be as simple a

Architecture of Opportunity We lose talent in our society when we overlook those from poor backgrounds or minority families. For example, Lost Einsteins are children who harness above-average skills, but don’t have a chance to invent and create later in their lives because they lack access to opportunity. John Rawls' Veil of Ignorance provides the template for a just society where the luck of your birth need not be a factor in your life’s outcomes. The Importance of Childcare Our social contract has widely depended on women to provide free labor to care for children and the household. Because of the imbalance in structures like maternity leave, the gender pay gap can largely be attributed to children. By investing in affordable and accessible quality childcare, our society will benefit from the productivity and talents of all the women who are now subject to this child penalty. The New Social Contract with Business Global corporate taxes have been lowering for decades as countries fight to attract major corpo

The Social Contract The state of nature is a human condition that exists in any space that lacks a civil authority. With the social contract, we're prepared to make a deal with each other in order to live together as best we can and exit the state of nature. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau expressed versions of the social contract that influence governments around the world today. Co-Creating Reality We are all co-creators of our community politics and social outcomes. The ancient Greeks embraced civic thought as a pervasive and abiding concern for the matters belonging to the community in common. Classical ideas can provide a lens for choosing to embrace or to abandon the obligation to sustain and participate in a mutually beneficial reality. Mutual Aid Where is the social contract working today? In response to the pandemic, mutual aid sprung up to meet people’s needs in many communities. Members participate as much as they're able to and ask for what they need. In d

Our all-new season is all about something that we most often hear about in terms of its brokenness: the social contract. We will be asking big questions about how we live together, what we owe each other, what we can ask of governments, and how we can repair what’s broken, renegotiate what never worked, or what’s not working anymore. 

Subscribe to Some of My Best Friends Are at http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/futurehindsight This week, we're sharing an episode of Some of My Best Friends Are...  The show is hosted by Khalil Muhammad and Ben Austen, two best friends who grew up together on the South Side of Chicago in the '80s. Khalil is Black; Ben is white. They invite listeners into their conversations about the absurdities and intricacies of race in America. Mixing anecdotes, entertaining storytelling, and thoughtful debate, Some of My Best Friends Are... helps listeners make sense of our deeply divided country. In this episode, Khalil and Ben tell each other for the first time about trips they each took to prisons abroad. Ben traveled to Finland and Norway. Khalil traveled to Germany. They ask: How did the Nazi occupation influence Germany’s modern day prison industrial complex? How is the prison guard and inmate dynamic in Norwegian facilities different from America? They dish on what made these trips so monumental and talk about whether Ame

Intersectionality As an Assemblymember, González-Rojas works to address a variety of intersectional issues facing her community, ranging from housing to healthcare. Her prior experience as a reproductive justice advocate has trained her well for intersectional lawmaking, which is often siloed by the political process. This approach serves the people most marginalized and helps create dynamic bills that tackle multiple areas of injustice to help constituents. Excluded Workers’ Rights Excluded workers are not protected by many of the labor laws that govern most sectors, which include undocumented, part-time, and contract workers. They perform critical duties in our economy and have little recourse against various forms of exploitation and discrimination. During the COVID pandemic, excluded workers were labeled ‘essential’, and should be protected because they protect us and our economic system. Reimagining Public Financing New York City has publicly subsidized elections, but New York State and most of the rest

Youth Vote Power Young people wield a lot of power when they vote. A whopping 73% of youth who were registered to vote by NextGen turned out to vote. This type of turnout can change the outcome of an election. Because voting is a habit, investing in youth leads to long-lasting change in the electorate. Letting young people know the power they have can make a tremendous difference. Voting Rights and Immigrants The current battle over immigrants is not just about immigration. It is also about race, power, and voting. Purging naturalized citizens, preventing DACA recipients from becoming citizens, and undercounting in the US census are all efforts to enact racist policies and to suppress votes. Keep the Door Open When Cristina first organized undocumented workers in Texas, she was met with hostility from pro-labor unions. Over time, they realized the work she was doing benefited everyone, and are now her allies. Leaving the door open for others to change their mind and work with you is a valuable tool that can y

The Power of State Legislatures State legislatures pass the laws that affect our daily lives. When Democrats won the ‘trifecta’ in Virginia in 2019, they controlled both chambers of the House and the governor’s office. Immediately, they passed voting rights legislation, abolished the death penalty, improved the criminal justice system, abolished no-knock warrants, and more. Purple District Network Sister District identified a gap in resources for legislators from purple districts. The Purple District Network focuses on providing support by sharing best practices, governance techniques, and strategies for being effective. They also give lawmakers access to alumni of their program, allowing for mentorship, networking, and strategizing across state lines. Redistricting Flipping and holding districts is key to progressive strategies in 2021-22, especially because of the redistricting process after the 2020 census. Democrats were unable to take any state legislatures back from Republican control last year. However

Helping Diverse First Time Candidates Run Since its founding, Run for Something has helped elect 515 young, local officials across 46 states. A third of those elected officials are between 25 and 30, 10% are between the ages of 18 and 24, a third are women of color, and 11% are LGBTQ. Electing young diverse candidates compounds on itself. After transwoman Danica Roem was elected in 2017, many other trans people decided to run for office. Local and State Races Run for Something focuses on local and state elections because of their impact on people’s daily lives. Members of state legislatures have control over election administration, school boards have real power over what children learn, city and municipal officials have real control over police reform, and more. Winning local office is often easier to achieve than state or national leadership and has more direct impact on constituents. Better Governance Electing younger, more diverse candidates has resulted in better governance. Jessica Ramos of New York Sta

Pro-Choice Democratic Women Eleanor’s Legacy specifically helps pro-choice Democratic candidates for several reasons. First, due to a long-standing Republican majority in the state legislature, New York State had not codified Roe v. Wade protections until 2019. Second, not all Democrats are pro-choice, and Eleanor’s Legacy only supports candidates who are pro-choice. Lastly, clearly stating your values and building your brand always helps in politics. Importance of State and Local Office Controlling state and local office can mean huge differences for everyday voters. When Democrats took control of the New York State legislature in 2019, they significantly expanded access to voting, immediately protected abortion rights, began to address climate change, and protected survivors of childhood sexual abuse. None of these laws would have been passed if Democrats hadn’t won in local elections. Healthy Political Landscape Although things are improving politically in New York, there is still work to be done to create

Normalize Black Women’s Leadership Normalizing Black women’s leadership means that it is as plausible to have a Black woman represent a majority-white district as it is to have a white man represent a majority-Black district. Supporting Black women candidates in all districts will allow more qualified, more diverse candidates everywhere. Political Power of Black women Black women are the building blocks of successful political coalitions on any level of government. They were instrumental in Obama’s election, the “Blue Wave” in 2018, and in 2020. They are the best return on our voting investment because they also organize their families, neighborhoods, churches, unions, and other social groups. Black women have immense political power. Participating in Democracy Voting is only a starting point for participating in our democracy. Organizing for a cause, proposing legislation, and holding power accountable are all ways to be governing partners for our elected officials all year long. By being active participants