The Rollercoaster
Eleven years ago, I received an irresistible inviation. Would I be interested in riding a rollercoaster at Six Flags with Steven Colbert and talk to him about the Constitution? It was fun, he sent me a nice note and a bucket of ice cream, and that was that. It never aired, and I assumed it never would. We hadn't gotten kind of technical on Marbury v. Madison, after all, not what I think he was hoping for.
Until two weeks ago, in his final weekend, Colbert ran "The Worst of the Late Show," clips so bad they belonged in a bloopers real. I stand by what I said:
The Supreme Court really did undermine the Constitution in those cases, and also local, democratic decisionmaking. But I'm more hopeful than I was in 2015 that we could get a constitutional amendment– there's so much more bipartisan anger about money in politics.
Speaking of rollercoasters, lets talk about the state level bills to ban surveillance wages and prices, a project I've been working on for the last two years. I think of it like fracking--its easier to ban it before it becomes too entrenched--and several states have now proposed laws, many of which I worked on. The issue is incredibly popular: people do not think its right for a retailer, or employer, to use data like your credit score or your romantic situation or your mood to set prices or compensation.
In Maryland, they passed a terrible law, worse than nothing, that said it bans surveillance prices but doesn't ban price differences based on data actually makes it harder to bring a lawsuit under existing law. Complicated but bad. In Colorado, both houses passed an incredibly strong law against both surveillance wages and prices, but Jared Polis vetoed it. Uncomplicatedly bad. In New York, a good bill, weakened by industry but still real progress, has passed both the Assembly and Senate. Its all on Hochul. She's over-active with the veto pen, but I'm hopeful that people hate surveillance so much that she'll sign it.
So, speaking of that Colorado bill, there's just a few weeks left before the Colorado primary for Attorney General.
My good friend David Seligman, candidate for Attorney General in Colorado, had stepped away from the campaign trail for a few days to be with his family after the tragic loss of his father. I wanted to ask for your your help to step up for him in this moment.
We need state AGs that are imaginative, serious, and driven by a desire for fairness to stop rampant white collar illegality.
Seligman has stood up in court on behalf of working people–building the bold, imaginative legal theories to take on the largest corporate landlord in America for illegally overcharging tenants, the meatpacker JBS for systematically injuring workers on the line and treating them as disposable, Uber and Lyft for using algorithms to control their drivers while also cheating them out of pay.
Every day David was off the trail was a day his campaign isn't raising money during a critical point of this competitive primary. That gap needs to be filled immediately.
He was just endorsed by the Working Families Party, and brings a kind of constantly ranging, serious mind focused on solving problems, both the problems of abusive bosses and the problems of abusive, lawbreaking, Presidents.
The last candidate I wrote you about, Chris Rabb, won an incredible victory last month, beating the establishment in Philadelphia. He's a sure thing to win the general, so keep watching for Rep Rabb.
I've been busy finishing up a book called "Anti-monopoly: A Citizens Guide", and it won't come out until January, but you can pre-order here. (https://thenewpress.org/books/anti-monopoly/). The description is a little dated (the examples I use in the book are slightly different, but you get the idea. If you have a bookstore that would be interested in holding a book reading, or an active group that would be interested, there is almost nothing more that I like than talking to people about democracy and power, and I'll come anywhere--let me know!
I've been thinking a lot about how we can join the anticorruption and antimonopoly movements together--they really are the same fight.
More soon,
Zephyr
PS: To watch the full episode, here's the link:
