Message in a Bottle
In the United States of 2020, millions are desperate for help, and they’re forced to compete for scraps from Twitter philanthropists.
244 Articles by: Meagan Day
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Meagan Day is a staff writer at Jacobin. She is the coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism.
Trump’s Culture Wars Were Meant to Distract From the Crisis. It Didn’t Work.
If Joe Biden managed to pull off a victory despite his lackluster campaign, it’s in part because the electorate felt the urgent need for a president who would focus on the coronavirus crisis instead of railing against a series of cultural bogeymen. No wonder: most people care more about their material conditions than the partisan culture wars.
A Biden Win and a GOP Senate Spells Stalemate — or Worse
Nothing is certain yet, but we may be gearing up for what amounts to a Biden-McConnell coalition government. The Left will be up against a split government composed of two parties bent on pushing austerity and war.
If There’s a Gap Between the Popular Vote and the Electoral College, Hit the Streets
There’s a real danger that the Right will steal the election by halting the vote count. But US elections can be stolen in more prosaic ways — like the Electoral College. If there’s a discrepancy between the Electoral College and the popular vote, the Left should make it clear that the result is illegitimate.
It’s Not Centrism Versus Extremism, It’s Socialism Versus Barbarism
The Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma falls into the common trap of conflating the far left and far right, grouping both under the umbrella of “extremism.” In reality, the politics advanced by the socialist left represents a countervailing force to right-wing conspiracism and reaction.
A Decent Health Care System Was the Big Loser in Last Night’s Debate
Americans want a universal public health plan, but the idea has no champion in this presidential election. Instead, we have Donald Trump’s scorched-earth campaign against the ACA, and Joe Biden moving further and further away from even a universally available public option.
The Romance of American Clintonism
The politically complacent ’90s produced a surprisingly large number of mainstream American rom-coms about fighting the Man. You’ve Got Mail gave us a new fantasy, fully neoliberalized: What if the Man is Mr Right?
The Pandemic Is Hurting Trump in Rural America
One in four rural households have been unable to get the medical care they need during the coronavirus pandemic. Rural Americans have been struggling to obtain and afford care like never before, and Donald Trump could end up paying the price in November.
Wisconsin’s Teachers Didn’t Have a Gender Pay Gap — Until Scott Walker’s Anti-Union Assault
There was no gender pay gap among Wisconsin teachers until Scott Walker’s brutal assault on the state’s public sector unions almost a decade ago. Now women teachers are earning less than men. It’s yet more proof: unions empower women.
We Can’t Trust Oil Companies to Regulate Themselves
Newly leaked documents show that ExxonMobil is planning a major increase in oil production, despite warnings from scientists about calamitous climate effects and the company’s own promises. We can’t keep relying on oil companies to regulate themselves — they need to be brought under democratic control.
Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Relief Measures Are Totally Inadequate
The president made a big show of stepping in to help struggling Americans when Congress failed them. But his executive orders have failed, too. Trump claims to back the working class, but he has abandoned them at every turn.
Donald Trump Endorsed Right-Wing Violence During the Debate
In last night's debate, Donald Trump failed to condemn white supremacists — even telling the Proud Boys to “stand by” — then refused to promise he would encourage his supporters to refrain from political violence in November. His rhetoric is growing more and more dangerous.
Trump’s “Deterrence” Strategy Targeting Black Voters Doesn’t Have to Work
In both his campaigns, Trump has run ads aimed at killing black voters’ enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee and lowering their turnout. The strategy is craven, but the ads exploit real disillusionment. Without a sharp break from their history of failing black constituents, Democrats will remain vulnerable to such opportunistic gambits in the future.
Ten Jacobin Articles That Shaped My Thinking
On Jacobin’s tenth anniversary, staff writer Meagan Day reflects on ten Jacobin articles that heavily influenced the way she thinks about politics.
The Pandemic Has Totally Undermined Any Argument for Means-Tested Policies
For decades, austerity-minded politicians have bashed universal programs by concern trolling about the danger that a handful of rich people would get them. The urgency of the pandemic is helping people realize just how inconsequential this hang-up is compared to the advantages of universal benefits.
Uber and Lyft Are Trying to Cancel Pro-Worker Activism
Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and DoorDash are paying expensive campaign consultants to incite social media users to hound their critics. These are online mobs in the service of the elite.
The Mill Was Good Socialist TV. Let’s Make More.
We need high-quality, entertaining class-struggle television. The BBC’s period drama The Mill, which was ahead of its time when it debuted in 2013, shows us how it’s done.
Corporations Like Amazon Hire Union-Busting Labor Spies All the Time
Amazon was recently busted hiring intelligence experts to spy on Amazon workers. The practice is unfortunately common — most major multinational corporations have surveillance divisions which overlap with government intelligence agencies, creating a single, powerful security apparatus at the disposal of both the federal government and private corporations to use against workers.
From QAnon to Kyle Rittenhouse, the Right is Sinking Deeper Into an Alternate Reality
Instability is a permanent feature of capitalism, but the coronavirus pandemic has introduced a whole new level of volatility. Amid the turmoil, the American right is dreaming more feverishly than ever of apocalypse and heroism.
How Class-Conscious Women Garment Workers Shaped the Movement for Women’s Suffrage
On the one-hundredth anniversary of American women’s right to vote, let’s remember the working-class socialist suffragists who struggled for the franchise. And let’s devote the next hundred years to realizing their vision.