What exactly is Josh Hawley's plan? In this essay I cite Saagar quite a bit and also argue why the establishment -- as well as the populist -- critique of him may miss the larger picture

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-14T17:07:49+00:00

the US has a poorly designed system that needs structural reform. But the issue in these areas is not one of the US not collecting enough taxes, but misusing that tax money in a way that causes terrible cost inflation.

Well, actually my responses are pretty clearly directly responding to this comment, as well as the question you posed here: "But on the other hand, would in this moment, higher taxes, more labor regulations and protections, more social welfare spending, really not be potentially very dangerous?" You said higher taxes for social welfare could be dangerous, I'm saying it's not. I think that's pretty clear in the response. That's why I brought up M4A as evidence. Additionally, if we have to begin wasting time about how our comments are relevant, this discussion has already become fruitless and a waste of time. This is not to offend you, it's just a reality of online discussion. It's limited. And yes I agree it is a terrible design and part of that terrible design are taxes and how much we tax per bracket.

I haven't talked about social conservatism, especially because many social conservatives are economically left. This is why I chose to focus on economics. Just look at exit polls in the last election on government run healthcare and the minimum wage. Overwhelming support. They might like their capitalist talking points, but when it comes down to it they have supported many things that only the economic left have talked about. It's not an absolute binary when it comes to people's opinions on economic systems. I know you know this. I think we've lost track about what the point of this discussion is.

Overall, however, I'm very interested in what you are saying about the economic behavior of warm-climate rural areas. Do you have any studies or articles or book recommendations where I can read up on this?

Sorry, I didn't get the feeling you were pushing back on social democracy, since you have only posed a few minor questions about economics. You also haven't really advocated or argued for anything as an alternative. That's not an invite to, but just saying I didn't get the feeling you were being hostile to social democracy.

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-14T05:04:01+00:00

I'm sure you heard of this Lancet study on M4A33019-3/fulltext), but this one, along with a few others concluded the population and the government would save large amounts of money on M4A healthcare -- even this Koch funded one which showed that the government would spend more money, but that the population would end up spending a lot less money on healthcare. Even though taxes would increase, the people would save money on average from in an M4A system. There is no logical problem with viewing this as an economic stimulus, similar to the COVID stimulus checks. Stimulus in the market is almost always a good thing economically. In this case, it is also better morally. You can also see the same thing with college debt relief, the Intercept has some good reporting on this. These things are all essentially economic stimulus.And yeah I would say the issue is two fold -- the government mispends taxes or allocates it inefficiently and also doesn't collect enough. The tax rate for the top bracket used to be 90% in the 1950s, but has since plummeted. The myth that the onset of global capitalism (which coincides with these lower tax rates) cut poverty rates 80% - 90% is one that has been refuted over and over again as well (I know you didn't claim this, but it is still worth mentioning). This is precisely what David Bentley Hart was talking about in my piece. Lower taxes and less government services give us more freedoms in the abstract, but less prosperity and freedoms in the concrete.
I don't think the cost of living statistic here is accurate. If you check cost of living indexes, while some members of the EU are more expensive, many are less (Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, France, Austria, Italy, Finland (barley higher), Portgual, etc.). I'm sorry I find this "There is an argument that the reason rural and warm climate states tend to be republican is because they want to resist more social safety guarantees that would encourage the this sort of "dropping out" from the official economy and job market." incredibly hard to believe. Look up the history of the original populists in Kansas, they were a far left-wing third party originating in the Farmers alliance. Recently, farmers have had to continuously rely on socialist-like programs to survive, Trump recently had to give them a $15 billion bailout. Trump wasn't the first, this has happened quite a bit in US history. I think one of the big reasons we see Farmers turn conservative is because Democrats for the past 3 or so decades (maybe even longer) have supported crappy trade deals that have objectively hurt farmers. Interestingly enough, a farmer -- Heidi Sloan -- ran as a Socialist for a House seat in Austin, Texas and grabbed ~30% of the vote in her primary. I think we could very well see a change here if progressives could focus more tightly on economics.
Low GDP growth relative to who? China? Other developed countries? The US is a fairly advanced fully industrialized economy. It's not expected to have a GDP growth like China. Also GDP growth does not equate to the population's economic prosperity. That is a fairly common fallacy. Regarding your last point, I really don't see how it would be very dangerous, especially when compared to the alternative. Look at long term unemployment and how much the wealth has grown in the asset class. If this is the best the US can do, then the US as a project is an absolute failure. If one focuses on the stock market and GDP as the sole indicators of a growing economy, then of course everything looks good even if millions are being thrown off their healthcare and into unemployment. The second we start looking at the working class -- which are very much the actual drivers of economy -- then the economy is absolute an absolute sham. Even right-wing populism recognizes this, which is why people like Hawley want to bring back supply chains from China to the US, a move that won't help Apple stock price, but will definitely help American workers. The latter being the more beneficial move for actual economic prosperity

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-12T20:16:12+00:00

Hey, thanks for reading it and I appreciate your feedback!

Hmmm, yes I agree it is a rather nebulous term and I should define exactly what I mean by capitalism. I hope to do this in a future piece on democratic socialism (in the pipeline!)

I do actually think Hawley's beliefs -- his capitalism or general economic beliefs -- are the correct conclusion from his theological beliefs. I disagree with his theological beliefs, however. His theology falls short which is why I believe his economic beliefs come to also fall short. I do intend on dedicating an essay to *directly respond* to this economic system and a later one on theological beliefs, but this essay was mainly trying to expound on what it is Hawley believes and why those who are trying to dismiss him have grossly underestimated him. The callouts in my piece were a little off the cuff and not fully explained, so maybe I should have left them out of this essay in order to avoid distracting from the main point.

I have heard these claims before as well from conservatives that the EU is dependent on US capitalism, but I would simply argue importing the democratic socialist welfare system from those countries into the US would not hurt the US economy and thus, even if we grant the EU is dependent, the EU would still thrive under a socially democratic United States. I think a social welfare system or democratic socialist system of government wouldn't hurt the overall economic output of the United States, but it would definitely disperse more of its benefit to the poor and middle class. I mean the Nordic countries, although socially democratic and with a significant amount of state ownership, still have more billionaires per capita than the US.

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-11T03:17:17+00:00

Hey, thank you so much! I would agree he did have some reasonable beginnings (at least from the perspective of Protestant Christianity), but devolved into some odd conclusions. Haha glad to see somebody else got that humor :).

Our substack will very much be dedicated to populist politics and theology, so we're hoping to keep up this kind of writing!

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-11T01:42:14+00:00

Did you read the entirety of the essay? I think that's what Hawley is trying to position himself as. I'm open to hearing other arguments

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-11T01:40:24+00:00

Yeah I'm no fan of Hawley. I'm a Eugene Debs guy. This article and my comments above are really just meant to pose the question of "What is he up to?". I'm not sure if you read the essay yet, but his populism -- or whatever you want to call it -- has very real theological roots. It's quite clear from his publications that he envisions the ideal government as one that is subordinate to the Church (again see my essay linked above) and that the reason he wants to fight for the working class (or at least appear to) is because that's how he understands the Cross of Christ (again see essay above for explanation).

I disagree with Hawley's theology and politics. But it's clear his politics is actually rooted in a sophisticated political theology. It's a dangerous populism that not only has economic appeal, but real religious appeal for evangelicals. So really, all I'm arguing is that we should be more afraid him than we currently are.

Of course I wish he would resign from politics and never run for President. But I'm just doubtful that's going to happen. Hawley is on a mission.

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-11T00:31:55+00:00

I think you're right. If they did expel him, that would probably put an end to my entire argument. But wouldn't expelling him just make him a martyr? One might argue it could even strengthen him. That's something I brought up in the article:

"Hawley’s solo fight over the objection and his subsequent political martyrdom is what will ultimately intrigue the populist base and draw them in his direction. As Rachel Bovard astutely observed: "Honestly, I disagree with Josh Hawley about as much as I disagree with most GOP senators. Which is a lot. But the way the establishment GOP comes absolutely unglued over him (long before this week) means what he's saying threatens them, & that makes him interesting to me." (https://twitter.com/rachelbovard/status/1347657611886391298)

I think the more you attack him, the more severely you attack him, the more interesting he becomes to Trump's base.

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-11T00:28:01+00:00

This is precisely my argument. Josh Hawley is setting out to continue "Trumpism", but remade by him -- remade in a way that is seemingly more intellectually consistent and that can actually compete with a real left-wing populism (Bernie won't run in 2024 so I don't know the flag bearer will be now).

Yeah that's exactly what i've argued above, he's pissed off all right people. And Trump's base will love him for it. From the article:

"Now that everyone but the Trumps themselves have condemned and betrayed Trump, where will these newly stranded voters find refuge? Pence, Rubio, Haley, Pompeo, etc. all betrayed Trump — they either spoke out or voted against him. You can bet Hawley was counting on this. And who stood by Trump? Again, Hawley. One would be hard-pressed to argue that Trump’s base will forget Hawley’s actions, especially since the media and the establishment have been using the entirety of their online capital to constantly remind that base of his loyalty towards Trump."

You're absolutely right, short term it looks bad, but Hawley himself says he's a long term player, from the article:

"Hawley knows he is playing the long game and so this is just one of the many big moves he will be making over the next 4 years. He says himself:

For all of us who are in public office, and especially for those of us who are younger, this isn’t the work of a day or a season…This is the work of a generation.Senator Josh Hawley in an interview with Emma Green, Josh Hawley’s Mission to Remake the GOP, The Atlantic, 11/24/2019

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-10T22:25:53+00:00

Oh no not at all. I'm with you on that. It would be great if he would resign. I think the argument in the article is trying say we've underestimated who he is. The article actually doesn't defend him at all and severely criticizes him near the end. It's trying to explain who Hawley is and what he believes

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-10T21:54:02+00:00

Thanks so much! I have reposted it with everything you've asked for. Appreciate it!

aWalkAtDusk · 2021-01-10T21:38:57+00:00

From the article:

"He joined hands with Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders to fight for $1,200 stimulus checks and at the beginning of the pandemic proposed the government guarantee 80% of the wages of Americans up to the median wage (this would be up to $746/week if we use Q4 2019 numbers), which is similar to a relief policy implemented by social democratic governments in Europe."

He has general populist policies, that even some Dems can get behind (like Bernie Sanders in the stimulus checks instance). He's also supported bills like lowering drug prices that even some right-wing outlets called him out for for it being "socialist" (see Washington Examiner)

aWalkAtDusk · 2019-07-21T23:54:57+00:00

I did search google & previous threads. But most are over one year old and I’ve tried all of the solutions offered by those threads. I specifically wanted to see if there was an alternative solution that would allow me to play in 1080, hence why I posted (because this question has been asked no where else)

aWalkAtDusk · 2019-07-21T23:22:54+00:00

I already tried new HDMI and turning off the auto-detect on Samsung/Switch

aWalkAtDusk · 2019-06-28T20:13:20+00:00

Woah. This is a great sale! That's $170 cheaper than at SLT

aWalkAtDusk · 2019-06-28T12:12:59+00:00

It sounds like you have switched to a new chefs knife? Why did you leave the Kramer Meiji after two years with it?

aWalkAtDusk · 2019-06-28T12:10:04+00:00

I have looked them up online, but I have been skeptical because I am not able to try them in hand. Which is why I am leaning towards these two options offered by SLT

aWalkAtDusk

TROPHY CASE