The Millennial Democracy

Since the results of the 2020 presidential election were announced, declaring Joe Biden the winner of the contest, there has been a considerable and concerning percentage of the American population willing to believe that our nation and many of its institutions are irreparably damaged. Many right-leaning Americans now buy into various conspiracy theories, ones often decades old, alongside claims our national elections are so lax one party can control the results. The open discussion of secession, civil war, threats of political violence and other destabilizing topics once reserved for the far margins of society are now commonplace, even if almost exclusively peddled by partisan hacks in the right-wing media sphere. Fascist-leaning ideas and the lies used to fuel them are growing rapidly in popularity in the US, and this trend is unlikely to end anytime soon. This authoritarian-primed society is our new reality, and we more rational Americans need to attack it head-on if we intend t...

For over 100 years, the United States has had various grass-roots movements attempting to implement and expand universal health insurance coverage. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, campaigns backed by progressives and socialists to pass universal healthcare legislation were opposed and blocked not only by conservatives, but eventually their own allies in labor unions due to the union's collective fear of losing power over paid-benefits (and thus their usefulness) in an era before there were legal protections for organized labor. While many European nations were beginning to provide 'sickness insurance' and subsidizing mutual benefit societies which helped workers cover medical costs, America's struggle for any forward momentum on the subject led to the issue being handed over to individual states. The states in turn mostly handed the responsibility over to private insurance companies and non-profits, a practice they've perfected through the decades. Throughout...