vox--2020-10-26--Chileans want a more equal society. They’re about to rewrite their constitution to have it.

When metro fares in Chile ’ s capital rose last year , few expected the decision would end with the fall of the country ’ s dictator-era constitution — setting the country on a politically treacherous but transformational effort to create a better society .
On Sunday , 78 percent of Chileans voted in a plebiscite to replace the current charter written by Gen. Augusto Pinochet , the far-right autocrat who ruled from 1973 to 1990 .
Starting in April , a 155-member constitutional assembly — which must feature an equal number of men and women elected by the public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When they ’ re finished , the entire population of the South American country must vote to approve or reject the new document .
It ’ s a dramatic step , but one thousands of Chileans have demanded for years , and especially in recent months .
Last October , large-scale protests broke out over a 4-cent metro-fare hike in the capital , Santiago , which quickly became a symbol of how the nation ’ s political elite were out of touch with the needs of everyday Chileans .
About a quarter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to just 1 percent of the population , leaving much of the nation drowning in debt .
As a result , even a small spike in the cost of public transportation imposed economic hardship on millions .
That pain was basically enshrined in Pinochet ’ s constitution .
His regime made the neoliberal , free market economic model the law of the land , leading to , among other things , the privatization of education , health care , and pensions .
Those policies ( and then later , democratization ) helped the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and stable in the region .
But politicians on the left and right failed to address the rampant inequality those same policies also produced .
That ’ s why much of the country began calling for a wholesale change to the constitution : If the nation ’ s political leaders wouldn ’ t completely scrap the laws written by a dictator , then the public would take matters into its own hands .
“ This is a huge victory , and the young people who led this made history , ” said Jennifer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of Richmond .
The win didn ’ t come without a cost : 36 people were killed and hundreds were wounded , tortured , or sexually assaulted by Chilean police during months of protests .
Now the hardest part begins .
Creating a whole new constitution is more challenging than ripping one apart , as is getting most of the country ’ s buy-in for it .
It ’ s therefore possible the promise of the moment gives way to the realities of governance and politicking .
Promise , though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is an opportunity to engage holistically in the kind of political and social agenda that clearly 78 percent of Chileans support , ” Kristina Mani , chair of Latin American studies at Oberlin College , told me .
Pinochet ’ s 17-year rule was inordinately brutal .
Nearly 40,000 people were wrongfully imprisoned , tortured , or killed , and more than 1,000 have been officially considered disappeared ( though experts believe the real number is far higher ) .
In 1980 , the Pinochet regime wrote the nation ’ s constitution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approved .
Beyond the economic laws , it gave the dictator and his cronies immense powers , now known as “ authoritarian enclaves , ” that persisted even into Chile ’ s post-1990 democratic era .
Most egregiously , the constitution gave seats to unelected senators in parliament ’ s upper chamber — one of which Pinochet himself occupied after stepping down from power — to hinder popular representation and give the regime more control over the political process .
As the country moved on from its autocratic past — ironically , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ downfall — Chilean leaders made 42 amendments to the constitution .
For example , in 2005 , those Pinochet-granted seats , numbering 10 at the time , were abolished from the parliament ’ s upper house , leaving it with 38 elected members .
The reforms also stripped the military of its unchecked authority , finally placing Chile ’ s armed forces under the direct command of the president .
Despite those and other efforts , two things still angered the public about the nation ’ s constitution .
First , the simple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a dictator made it an extremely unpopular charter .
“ The constitution never had democratic legitimacy , ” Richmond ’ s Pribble told me .
“ That was always the Achilles ’ heel of the document.
” Second , the constitution just didn ’ t work for everyday citizens .
Its free market model drove down poverty from 31 percent in 2000 to 6.4 percent in 2017 , according to the World Bank , and made the copper-rich Andean nation the highest-ranked country in Latin America on the United Nations Human Development Index @ @ @ @ @ @ @ murkier picture .
A recent study by the Santiago-based think tank Fundación SOL showed that 50 percent of Chilean workers earned less than 400,000 pesos per month ( roughly $ 550 ) , making a small change — like to the cost of public transportation — a plausible breaking point .
Amalia Gómez , a 66-year-old who had to find a job to augment her measly $ 125-a-month pension , asked the New York Times on Sunday why her government couldn ’ t provide her with a better life .
“ Why not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in minerals , fish , agriculture ?
” she said .
“ Why can ’ t we use those resources to our benefit , for our education and health ?
” The reason , experts told me , is the constitution itself .
Simply put , it ’ s extremely hard for Chilean politicians to reform those sectors because the laws governing them are in the national charter .
Any changes would require a supermajority in parliament to pass , which is tricky given political divisions in the body .
Plus , just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alteration to a nation ’ s constitution becomes a fraught and contentious battle few leaders want to spend political capital on .
Which explains why Chile has seen protest movement after protest movement for about two decades .
Some of them , namely the student demonstrations of 2011 , shook the political class to its core , making them realize the public was extremely unhappy with the status quo .
A national conversation grew around updating not just constitutional laws but rewriting the charter altogether .
Hearing those calls , Chile ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , promised to do just that — but she couldn ’ t get her more liberal constitution passed .
When the right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera came to power in 2018 , he said a new constitution wasn ’ t even on the table .
But his views changed with the protests over the metro fare hike that began on October 18 , 2019 .
Despite his government ’ s deadly crackdown on mostly peaceful protests , demonstrations continued and morphed into a campaign for economic and social equality .
In other words , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new Chilean constitution could provide .
The dogged persistence forced Piñera ’ s hand .
“ Politically , he was devastated by the demonstrations .
They were a plebiscite on his tenure in office , ” Oberlin ’ s Mani told me .
That November , Piñera said he supported a new constitution .
His government initially set up the referendum for April , but the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the vote back to this month .
Now that a rewritten charter received a resounding mandate on Sunday , Piñera has struck a different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Constitution has divided us , ” he said in a Sunday address from the presidential palace .
“ As of today , we should all cooperate to make the new Constitution become one home for all of us.
” Experts I spoke to said Chile ’ s president may not be happy about the situation , but he ’ s potentially happy about how he ’ ll be viewed .
“ This is Pinera ’ s clever move to go down in history as the leader who presided over a popular shift in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mani said .
What that next step will be , though , is what will roil Chilean politics for the next few years .
The road to a new Chilean constitution is long and bumpy Defining the rules for how a country should run is hard enough .
Add political complications and the whole process becomes near impossible .
Take just three of the main concerns experts mentioned to me .
First , 155 seats in the constitutional assembly are up for grabs .
That means there will be hundreds of Chileans campaigning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making promises to win votes that they may not be able to keep .
Intense and intractable debates may dominate discussions , thereby hindering any kind of process .
That ’ s problematic , of course .
Once delegates meet in April , they will have nine months to draft the new constitution , with the option of a one-time three-month extension .
Time , clearly , will be short .
Then there ’ s the fact that the drafting of the new charter will coincide with next year ’ s presidential elections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential candidates have could potentially influence constitutional discussions and animate partisan passions .
As a result , reasoned , forward-looking discussions might give way to more parochial , short-term concerns .
This worry speaks to the heart of the debate .
Chile ’ s current constitution , unlike others in Latin America , doesn ’ t codify things like social rights , women ’ s rights , Indigenous rights , water rights , and more .
The public ’ s hope is that the new document will reflect local and regional needs , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inclusive society .
“ This is going to be a contentious process , ” said Pribble .
“ Young voters are looking for a lot of specific guarantees and rights in this constitution.
” Should political cleavages form over exactly how to provide those rights , the result might be more of a compromise than activists want .
And if that ’ s the case , the public could reject the new document in the 2022 vote .
Third , and relatedly , only half the nation voted in Sunday ’ s referendum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote in about a decade but still low when considering the stakes .
Convincing 50 percent of the public to back a whole new charter — one they didn ’ t personally vote for — could prove difficult .
Experts don ’ t minimize the complications , and note that there could be many stumbles on the road ahead .
But even so , it ’ s a path Chileans have long hoped to travel .
“ It ’ s important to have a re-legitimation of the system , ” said Oberlin ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contributed , thank you .
If you haven ’ t , please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world : Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

When metro fares in Chile’s capital rose last year, few expected the decision would end with the fall of the country’s dictator-era constitution — setting the country on a politically treacherous but transformational effort to create a better society.
On Sunday, 78 percent of Chileans voted in a plebiscite to replace the current charter written by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the far-right autocrat who ruled from 1973 to 1990. Starting in April, a 155-member constitutional assembly — which must feature an equal number of men and women elected by the public — will draft it by early 2022. When they’re finished, the entire population of the South American country must vote to approve or reject the new document.
It’s a dramatic step, but one thousands of Chileans have demanded for years, and especially in recent months.
Last October, large-scale protests broke out over a 4-cent metro-fare hike in the capital, Santiago, which quickly became a symbol of how the nation’s political elite were out of touch with the needs of everyday Chileans. About a quarter of the country’s wealth goes to just 1 percent of the population, leaving much of the nation drowning in debt. As a result, even a small spike in the cost of public transportation imposed economic hardship on millions.
That pain was basically enshrined in Pinochet’s constitution. His regime made the neoliberal, free market economic model the law of the land, leading to, among other things, the privatization of education, health care, and pensions. Those policies (and then later, democratization) helped the country become one of the most prosperous and stable in the region.
But politicians on the left and right failed to address the rampant inequality those same policies also produced.
That’s why much of the country began calling for a wholesale change to the constitution: If the nation’s political leaders wouldn’t completely scrap the laws written by a dictator, then the public would take matters into its own hands. “This is a huge victory, and the young people who led this made history,” said Jennifer Pribble, an expert on Chilean politics at the University of Richmond.
The win didn’t come without a cost: 36 people were killed and hundreds were wounded, tortured, or sexually assaulted by Chilean police during months of protests.
Now the hardest part begins. Creating a whole new constitution is more challenging than ripping one apart, as is getting most of the country’s buy-in for it. It’s therefore possible the promise of the moment gives way to the realities of governance and politicking.
Promise, though, is better than nothing. “This is an opportunity to engage holistically in the kind of political and social agenda that clearly 78 percent of Chileans support,” Kristina Mani, chair of Latin American studies at Oberlin College, told me.
Chileans voted overwhelmingly to replace their military dictatorship-era constitution in a referendum.
About 78% had approved the option of a fresh charter to replace one drafted in 1980 under the right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet. pic.twitter.com/ErNx2l2e17 — DW News (@dwnews) October 26, 2020
“The constitution never had democratic legitimacy”
Pinochet’s 17-year rule was inordinately brutal. Nearly 40,000 people were wrongfully imprisoned, tortured, or killed, and more than 1,000 have been officially considered disappeared (though experts believe the real number is far higher).
In 1980, the Pinochet regime wrote the nation’s constitution and rigged the plebiscite to have it approved. Beyond the economic laws, it gave the dictator and his cronies immense powers, now known as “authoritarian enclaves,” that persisted even into Chile’s post-1990 democratic era.
Most egregiously, the constitution gave seats to unelected senators in parliament’s upper chamber — one of which Pinochet himself occupied after stepping down from power — to hinder popular representation and give the regime more control over the political process.
As the country moved on from its autocratic past — ironically, a 1988 referendum led to Pinochet’s downfall — Chilean leaders made 42 amendments to the constitution. For example, in 2005, those Pinochet-granted seats, numbering 10 at the time, were abolished from the parliament’s upper house, leaving it with 38 elected members. The reforms also stripped the military of its unchecked authority, finally placing Chile’s armed forces under the direct command of the president.
Despite those and other efforts, two things still angered the public about the nation’s constitution.
First, the simple fact that it was mostly written by a dictator made it an extremely unpopular charter. “The constitution never had democratic legitimacy,” Richmond’s Pribble told me. “That was always the Achilles’ heel of the document.”
Second, the constitution just didn’t work for everyday citizens. Its free market model drove down poverty from 31 percent in 2000 to 6.4 percent in 2017, according to the World Bank, and made the copper-rich Andean nation the highest-ranked country in Latin America on the United Nations Human Development Index. But beneath the surface lay a murkier picture.
A recent study by the Santiago-based think tank Fundación SOL showed that 50 percent of Chilean workers earned less than 400,000 pesos per month (roughly $550), making a small change — like to the cost of public transportation — a plausible breaking point.
Amalia Gómez, a 66-year-old who had to find a job to augment her measly $125-a-month pension, asked the New York Times on Sunday why her government couldn’t provide her with a better life. “Why not, if we are a country rich in minerals, fish, agriculture?” she said. “Why can’t we use those resources to our benefit, for our education and health?”
The reason, experts told me, is the constitution itself.
Simply put, it’s extremely hard for Chilean politicians to reform those sectors because the laws governing them are in the national charter. Any changes would require a supermajority in parliament to pass, which is tricky given political divisions in the body. Plus, just like in the US, any considered alteration to a nation’s constitution becomes a fraught and contentious battle few leaders want to spend political capital on.
Which explains why Chile has seen protest movement after protest movement for about two decades. Some of them, namely the student demonstrations of 2011, shook the political class to its core, making them realize the public was extremely unhappy with the status quo. A national conversation grew around updating not just constitutional laws but rewriting the charter altogether.
Hearing those calls, Chile’s last president, the left-wing Michelle Bachelet, promised to do just that — but she couldn’t get her more liberal constitution passed. When the right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera came to power in 2018, he said a new constitution wasn’t even on the table.
But his views changed with the protests over the metro fare hike that began on October 18, 2019. Despite his government’s deadly crackdown on mostly peaceful protests, demonstrations continued and morphed into a campaign for economic and social equality. In other words, the creation of a society only a new Chilean constitution could provide.
The dogged persistence forced Piñera’s hand. “Politically, he was devastated by the demonstrations. They were a plebiscite on his tenure in office,” Oberlin’s Mani told me. That November, Piñera said he supported a new constitution. His government initially set up the referendum for April, but the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the vote back to this month.
Now that a rewritten charter received a resounding mandate on Sunday, Piñera has struck a different tone. “Until now, the Constitution has divided us,” he said in a Sunday address from the presidential palace. “As of today, we should all cooperate to make the new Constitution become one home for all of us.”
Experts I spoke to said Chile’s president may not be happy about the situation, but he’s potentially happy about how he’ll be viewed. “This is Pinera’s clever move to go down in history as the leader who presided over a popular shift in Chile, its next step,” Mani said.
What that next step will be, though, is what will roil Chilean politics for the next few years.
The road to a new Chilean constitution is long and bumpy
Defining the rules for how a country should run is hard enough. Add political complications and the whole process becomes near impossible.
Take just three of the main concerns experts mentioned to me.
First, 155 seats in the constitutional assembly are up for grabs. That means there will be hundreds of Chileans campaigning to represent their districts, each potentially making promises to win votes that they may not be able to keep. Intense and intractable debates may dominate discussions, thereby hindering any kind of process.
That’s problematic, of course. Once delegates meet in April, they will have nine months to draft the new constitution, with the option of a one-time three-month extension. Time, clearly, will be short.
Then there’s the fact that the drafting of the new charter will coincide with next year’s presidential elections in the country. The debates the presidential candidates have could potentially influence constitutional discussions and animate partisan passions. As a result, reasoned, forward-looking discussions might give way to more parochial, short-term concerns.
This worry speaks to the heart of the debate. Chile’s current constitution, unlike others in Latin America, doesn’t codify things like social rights, women’s rights, Indigenous rights, water rights, and more. The public’s hope is that the new document will reflect local and regional needs, as well as provide for a more inclusive society.
“This is going to be a contentious process,” said Pribble. “Young voters are looking for a lot of specific guarantees and rights in this constitution.”
Should political cleavages form over exactly how to provide those rights, the result might be more of a compromise than activists want. And if that’s the case, the public could reject the new document in the 2022 vote.
Third, and relatedly, only half the nation voted in Sunday’s referendum, the highest turnout for a national vote in about a decade but still low when considering the stakes. Convincing 50 percent of the public to back a whole new charter — one they didn’t personally vote for — could prove difficult.
Experts don’t minimize the complications, and note that there could be many stumbles on the road ahead. But even so, it’s a path Chileans have long hoped to travel. “It’s important to have a re-legitimation of the system,” said Oberlin’s Mani.


vox--2020-10-26--US hospitals are preparing for the worst-case scenario as Covid-19 surges again

The latest Covid-19 surge is forcing US hospitals to take drastic measures — setting up temporary facilities or preparing to transport patients to other cities and states — to avoid being overrun .
The number of Americans currently hospitalized with Covid-19 has risen by 12,000 over the last month , reaching 41,753 on October 25 , according to the Covid Tracking Project .
Some hospitals are drawing up plans to ration care if they have more patients than beds , the kind of worst-case scenario they ’ d been hoping to avoid .
Case numbers are still rising too : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new Covid-19 cases every day , higher than the previous peak in July .
Hospitalizations lag behind cases , because it takes time for a person to become ill enough to require hospitalization‚ and so that number is likely to keep going up as well .
Deaths are already ticking up , with the US now averaging more than 800 every day , and they usually follow the same trends as cases and hospitalizations with a slightly longer lag .
( Fortunately , hospitals have figured out how to better treat Covid-19 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But still , more patients in the hospital will inevitably mean more deaths . )
And the scary feature of this new wave is that cases and hospitalizations are climbing everywhere .
In previous waves , cases were ebbing in one part of the country while they spiked somewhere else .
But now , the entire country is experiencing a surge at the same time .
Every state except Hawaii , Delaware , and Louisiana ( and Washington , DC ) saw their case numbers rise over the last two weeks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 40 states have a higher number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 now than they did 14 days ago .
Public health experts have long expected that cases would increase during the winter months , when social distancing becomes more difficult and the colder weather makes it easier for the coronavirus to spread .
But this new data shows the difficult days are already here .
And hospitals are feeling the strain , just as they did in previous surges .
The weekend brought numerous reports of hospitals taking emergency measures in order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to Covid Exit Strategy , 20 states have more than 70 percent of their ICU currently occupied ; that remaining capacity could quickly shrink if the current trends continue .
In some cities , hospitals have already reached their capacity .
Here are just a few examples of hospitals being pushed to the brink in the pandemic ’ s third wave .
El Paso , Texas , is setting up a field hospital and ordering a mandatory curfew El Paso County has issued a mandatory curfew , from 10 pm to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 300 percent in less than three weeks .
A recent University of Texas study projected a 96 percent likelihood that the area would have more ICU patients than beds by November 8 and a 85 percent probability that all of the hospital beds would be filled .
Several other regions in the state — around Amarillo , Lubbock , Wichita Falls , Abilene , Dallas/Fort Worth , and Odessa — also have better than even odds of exceeding their ICU capacity in the next two weeks .
Statewide , the number of currently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on October 1 to 5,206 on October 25 .
“ We are at a crisis stage , ” El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said this weekend , according to CBS News .
A field hospital is being set up at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center , initially with 50 beds but the capacity to add 50 more .
More than 1,000 state and federal health workers have moved into the county in recent days to try to provide more support .
As Vox has previously reported , one problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; sometimes , they may have open beds , but not enough nurses and doctors to take care of the patients .
Hospitals are also preparing to airlift patients from the El Paso area to other parts of Texas with more available beds .
Gov .
Greg Abbott has raised the possibility of opening a military hospital to civilians .
“ Hospitals are reaching a point where they have expanded , within their existing brick and mortar , as much as they can , ” the University Medical Center in El Paso said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preparing to ration medical care for Covid-19 patients Covid-19 has exploded in Utah over the last two months .
On September 1 , the state was averaging less than 400 new cases every day ; as of October 25 , the average number of daily new cases had nearly reached 1,500 .
Hospitalizations have followed the same trend , with the number of currently hospitalized Covid-19 patients more than doubling from 145 to 313 over the same period .
With some hospitals already forced to activate their emergency surge capacity plans , hospital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how to ration care if they have more patients than beds available .
It could literally become a matter of choosing which patients live and which patients die .
From the Salt Lake Tribune : Utah hospitals are also facing the same staffing problems seen elsewhere : Though the state created plans to establish a field hospital at an expo center , medical leaders are warning that they don ’ t have the doctors or nurses available to staff those new beds .
Health care workers have described feeling overwhelmed throughout the Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do even more , months into the pandemic .
“ Hundreds and hundreds of nurses are not able to work as they were [ before ] because of their own disease or infection in the family , or they ’ re moms and dads with school issues , ” Bell told the Tribune .
“ Some are worn out , some are on leave because they ’ ve been doing this for seven months.
” Idaho hospitals are planning to send patients out of state as beds fill up Idaho has set @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weekend with 259 people currently hospitalized , up from 135 at the beginning of October .
The state is also averaging almost twice as many new cases as it was a few weeks ago , meaning more hospitalizations are likely coming .
Hospitals might need to send patients to hospitals in other states as their beds fill up , an enormous logistical challenge for the facilities and an emotional one for families that may be separated from their loved ones by hundreds of miles .
At least one hospital in northern Idaho has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kootenai Health in Coeur d ’ Alene reported at the end of last week that it had reached 99 percent capacity .
The health system will send patients to Portland , Oregon , or Seattle , Washington , if its numbers continue to rise , because nearby hospitals are experiencing the same surge and don ’ t have room to take extra patients .
Another hospital , Saint Luke ’ s Magic Valley in Twin Falls , has announced it will start transferring children who require hospitalization to hospitals in the state capital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beds available for Covid-19 patients .
The surge in Covid hospitalizations is going to be worse before it gets better There are more stories like this across the country : • Wisconsin has set up a field hospital on the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee .
( Covid-19 hospitalizations in the state have doubled since the start of the month . )
• Hospitals in Kansas City , Missouri , are reportedly turning away ambulances because they don ’ t have any beds available , and urban hospitals warn they may not be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
( Hospitalizations in Missouri reached a new record last week . )
• Oklahoma City hospitals are activating their surge capacity plans to add more beds , call in extra staff , and possibly reduce non-Covid services .
( Oklahoma is yet another state to see a record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the last few days . )
With cases rising , hospitalizations will follow and deaths after them .
It ’ s an established pattern .
This will get worse before it gets better .
But we can try to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staff .
As Vox explained at the beginning of the pandemic , the goal of social distancing is to suppress Covid-19 ’ s spread so that hospitals don ’ t become overwhelmed .
It also buys time for hospitals to put their surge capacity and staffing plans in place .
It won ’ t be easy .
The federal government isn ’ t going to provide more resources to hospitals for the foreseeable future , with hopes for another Covid-19 relief package before January fading .
Some state and local governments continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stressed areas like Idaho ) and other social distancing restrictions .
Wearing a mask and keeping our distance is something each of us can do on our own to reduce Covid-19 ’ s spread and slow down on the rapid growth in hospitalizations .
There is no time to waste .
Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work .
If you have already contributed , thank you .
If you haven ’ t , please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world : Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

The latest Covid-19 surge is forcing US hospitals to take drastic measures — setting up temporary facilities or preparing to transport patients to other cities and states — to avoid being overrun.
The number of Americans currently hospitalized with Covid-19 has risen by 12,000 over the last month, reaching 41,753 on October 25, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Some hospitals are drawing up plans to ration care if they have more patients than beds, the kind of worst-case scenario they’d been hoping to avoid.
Case numbers are still rising too: The US is now averaging nearly 69,000 new Covid-19 cases every day, higher than the previous peak in July. Hospitalizations lag behind cases, because it takes time for a person to become ill enough to require hospitalization‚ and so that number is likely to keep going up as well.
Deaths are already ticking up, with the US now averaging more than 800 every day, and they usually follow the same trends as cases and hospitalizations with a slightly longer lag. (Fortunately, hospitals have figured out how to better treat Covid-19, which is leading to lower mortality rates. But still, more patients in the hospital will inevitably mean more deaths.)
And the scary feature of this new wave is that cases and hospitalizations are climbing everywhere. In previous waves, cases were ebbing in one part of the country while they spiked somewhere else. But now, the entire country is experiencing a surge at the same time.
Every state except Hawaii, Delaware, and Louisiana (and Washington, DC) saw their case numbers rise over the last two weeks, according to Covid Exit Strategy. More than 40 states have a higher number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 now than they did 14 days ago.
Public health experts have long expected that cases would increase during the winter months, when social distancing becomes more difficult and the colder weather makes it easier for the coronavirus to spread. But this new data shows the difficult days are already here.
And hospitals are feeling the strain, just as they did in previous surges. The weekend brought numerous reports of hospitals taking emergency measures in order to handle the influx of Covid-19 patients. According to Covid Exit Strategy, 20 states have more than 70 percent of their ICU currently occupied; that remaining capacity could quickly shrink if the current trends continue. In some cities, hospitals have already reached their capacity.
Here are just a few examples of hospitals being pushed to the brink in the pandemic’s third wave.
El Paso, Texas, is setting up a field hospital and ordering a mandatory curfew
El Paso County has issued a mandatory curfew, from 10 pm to 5 am, after hospitalizations surged by 300 percent in less than three weeks. A recent University of Texas study projected a 96 percent likelihood that the area would have more ICU patients than beds by November 8 and a 85 percent probability that all of the hospital beds would be filled.
Several other regions in the state — around Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Odessa — also have better than even odds of exceeding their ICU capacity in the next two weeks. Statewide, the number of currently hospitalized Covid-19 patients has risen from 3,190 on October 1 to 5,206 on October 25.
“We are at a crisis stage,” El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said this weekend, according to CBS News.
A field hospital is being set up at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center, initially with 50 beds but the capacity to add 50 more. More than 1,000 state and federal health workers have moved into the county in recent days to try to provide more support. As Vox has previously reported, one problem hospitals experience during Covid surges is staffing; sometimes, they may have open beds, but not enough nurses and doctors to take care of the patients.
Hospitals are also preparing to airlift patients from the El Paso area to other parts of Texas with more available beds. Gov. Greg Abbott has raised the possibility of opening a military hospital to civilians.
“Hospitals are reaching a point where they have expanded, within their existing brick and mortar, as much as they can,” the University Medical Center in El Paso said in a statement.
Utah hospitals are preparing to ration medical care for Covid-19 patients
Covid-19 has exploded in Utah over the last two months. On September 1, the state was averaging less than 400 new cases every day; as of October 25, the average number of daily new cases had nearly reached 1,500. Hospitalizations have followed the same trend, with the number of currently hospitalized Covid-19 patients more than doubling from 145 to 313 over the same period.
With some hospitals already forced to activate their emergency surge capacity plans, hospital officials have started drawing up criteria for how to ration care if they have more patients than beds available.
It could literally become a matter of choosing which patients live and which patients die. From the Salt Lake Tribune:
Greg Bell, president of the Utah Hospital Association, said administrators of the state’s hospitals confronted Gov. Gary Herbert on Thursday with a grim list: Criteria they propose doctors should use if they are forced to decide which patients can stay in overcrowded intensive care units. Under the criteria, which would require Herbert’s approval, patients who are getting worse despite receiving intensive care would be moved out first. In the event that two patients’ conditions are equal, the young get priority over the old, since older patients are more likely to die. “We told him, ‘It looks like we’re going to have to request those be activated if this trend continues,’” Bell recounted, “‘and we see no reason why it won’t.’”
Utah hospitals are also facing the same staffing problems seen elsewhere: Though the state created plans to establish a field hospital at an expo center, medical leaders are warning that they don’t have the doctors or nurses available to staff those new beds. Health care workers have described feeling overwhelmed throughout the Covid-19 crisis and now they are being asked to do even more, months into the pandemic.
“Hundreds and hundreds of nurses are not able to work as they were [before] because of their own disease or infection in the family, or they’re moms and dads with school issues,” Bell told the Tribune. “Some are worn out, some are on leave because they’ve been doing this for seven months.”
Idaho hospitals are planning to send patients out of state as beds fill up
Idaho has set a record for Covid-19 hospitalizations over the weekend with 259 people currently hospitalized, up from 135 at the beginning of October. The state is also averaging almost twice as many new cases as it was a few weeks ago, meaning more hospitalizations are likely coming.
Hospitals might need to send patients to hospitals in other states as their beds fill up, an enormous logistical challenge for the facilities and an emotional one for families that may be separated from their loved ones by hundreds of miles.
At least one hospital in northern Idaho has already planned for such a contingency. Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene reported at the end of last week that it had reached 99 percent capacity. The health system will send patients to Portland, Oregon, or Seattle, Washington, if its numbers continue to rise, because nearby hospitals are experiencing the same surge and don’t have room to take extra patients.
Another hospital, Saint Luke’s Magic Valley in Twin Falls, has announced it will start transferring children who require hospitalization to hospitals in the state capital of Boise in order to keep more beds available for Covid-19 patients.
The surge in Covid hospitalizations is going to be worse before it gets better
There are more stories like this across the country:
Wisconsin has set up a field hospital on the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee. (Covid-19 hospitalizations in the state have doubled since the start of the month.)
Hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri, are reportedly turning away ambulances because they don’t have any beds available, and urban hospitals warn they may not be able to accept overflow patients from rural areas. (Hospitalizations in Missouri reached a new record last week.)
Oklahoma City hospitals are activating their surge capacity plans to add more beds, call in extra staff, and possibly reduce non-Covid services. (Oklahoma is yet another state to see a record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the last few days.)
With cases rising, hospitalizations will follow and deaths after them. It’s an established pattern. This will get worse before it gets better.
But we can try to lighten the burden for hospitals and their staff. As Vox explained at the beginning of the pandemic, the goal of social distancing is to suppress Covid-19’s spread so that hospitals don’t become overwhelmed. It also buys time for hospitals to put their surge capacity and staffing plans in place.
It won’t be easy. The federal government isn’t going to provide more resources to hospitals for the foreseeable future, with hopes for another Covid-19 relief package before January fading. Some state and local governments continue to resist mask mandates (even in these stressed areas like Idaho) and other social distancing restrictions.
Wearing a mask and keeping our distance is something each of us can do on our own to reduce Covid-19’s spread and slow down on the rapid growth in hospitalizations. There is no time to waste.


vox--2020-10-26--Amazon has created fertile ground for bribery schemes, sellers say

Last month , US federal authorities indicted six e-commerce consultants and former Amazon employees in a $ 100 million bribery scheme in which insiders allegedly accepted payments to help certain Amazon merchants on the platform and hurt others .
In the close-knit world of top Amazon sellers and consultants , this was big news .
But it was not a surprise .
Rumors of such behavior are common in industry circles , and Amazon itself admitted in 2018 that it was investigating employees for reportedly leaking internal marketplace data to outsiders in exchange for cash .
In the weeks since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amazon sellers told Recode that the consultants and former employees indicted should face the legal consequences if they broke the law .
But these same top sellers also argued that the problem is much bigger than a few bad apples and that Amazon deserves scrutiny for creating the fertile ground for bribery schemes to blossom .
The reason ?
Amazon ’ s inability or refusal to consistently offer adequate support to its 1.7 million sellers when they have issues , especially when it comes to suspensions that Amazon hands down with little explanation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of these issues , it ’ s not uncommon for sellers to languish in Amazon purgatory for weeks or months trying to reinstate their business , either on their own or with the help of an ecosystem of consultants — some of whom prey on merchants ’ desperation .
“ With Amazon , you are guilty until proven innocent , ” said Eytan Wiener , the co-founder and chief operating officer of the large Amazon seller Quantum Networks , who was once suspended by Amazon in the UK and has helped other suspended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — that Amazon sellers can have their livelihood snatched from them at any time — can benefit Amazon , too .
The company introduced a premium seller program in 2018 that charges thousands of dollars a month to assign a dedicated Amazon representative that a seller can easily contact .
While these reps do not oversee account suspensions and can ’ t directly reinstate a merchant , some large Amazon sellers pay the fee mainly so they have a person they can get on the phone in the event of a suspension or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the small and mid-sized merchants who help stock the virtual shelves of The Everything Store account for 60 percent of the company ’ s e-commerce sales worldwide .
It has emphasized this as the company ’ s treatment of its sellers has come under scrutiny in the past few years , most recently during Jeff Bezos ’ s congressional testimony in July and in the wake of a House antitrust investigation report that followed .
The tech giant has certainly created an efficient way for small merchants to build global e-commerce businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ways that wouldn ’ t have been possible even 10 years ago .
At the same time , as Amazon has aggressively recruited more sellers to its platform , it has been plagued by complaints about the support it offers them — most notably , the company ’ s penchant for suspending sellers from doing business on the site with no warning and nary an explanation .
This was the situation that Jacqueline Tatelman , the co-founder of the backpack brand State Bags , faced earlier this year .
Her startup brand does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ website but decided to start selling on Amazon earlier this year in order to expand its online presence before the back-to-school shopping season this fall .
The company ’ s plans were delayed when the pandemic hit the US in March and Amazon prioritized essential goods in its warehouses .
Then , as the company prepared to finally start selling on the platform in May , a shocking email from Amazon landed in its inbox : “ We have discovered information that indicates your Amazon seller account has engaged in deceptive , fraudulent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a result , we have closed your Amazon seller account to prevent harm to our customers , other selling partners , and our store.
” The email ended by saying that the brand should email Amazon if they thought the decision was an error .
And State Bags did , repeatedly .
The only thing that had changed between the time the company set up its Amazon storefront and when it received the suspension notice was a change of the business credit card on file , which was information Amazon had requested .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ note saying that an internal case had been opened .
Then silence , for months .
No reason given , and no updates , as State Bags inventory with a retail value of $ 60,000 sat unsold in Amazon warehouses , with no guidance from the tech giant on if or how the brand could get the inventory out .
“ It ’ s not ethically okay to do these things to these small brands who are in the middle of the ocean , in a storm , with a tiny boat and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not ethically okay to do these things to these small brands who are in the middle of the ocean , in a storm , with a tiny boat and a broken paddle , ” Tatelman told Recode .
“ That ’ s how small brands feel.
” After Recode notified Amazon of the State Bags suspension , Amazon spokesperson Cecilia Fan said the company would reach out to the brand “ to address their concerns.
” A day later , Amazon granted State Bags access to its storefront for the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story is not a one-off .
Talk to any Amazon seller that does significant business on the site and there ’ s a good chance they have a similar tale or know a peer who does .
Just this August , a LinkedIn post detailing a similar suspension problem that was written by the founder of a car dashboard camera retailer was widely read in the Amazon seller community .
Titled “ Please Help !
An Open Letter to Jeff Bezos , Amazon Leadership , and the Seller Performance Team , ” it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of nowhere and for six months had claimed that the seller forged documentation .
Two days after the president of The Dashcam Store , Andrew Aboudaoud , posted the cautionary tale , Amazon reinstated his selling account with a boilerplate email .
No explanation or apology was given .
“ The way Amazon currently handles their relationships with third-party sellers is fundamentally broken ( in a variety of ways ) , ” Aboudaoud wrote in a message to Recode , “ although it does appear Amazon is slowly taking steps to overhaul @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spokesperson , emailed Recode a statement that read in part : “ Amazon ’ s Selling Partner Support team handled more than 51 million contacts from selling partners in 2019 , and we strive to respond to and resolve every contact expeditiously.
” “ Selling Partner Support responded to more than 90 % of emails in under 12 hours ; answered more than 96 % of phone calls in under 90 seconds ; answered more than 90 % of chats in under 90 seconds ; and fully resolved more than 85 % of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” the statement added .
Using that 85 % figure , if every one of Amazon ’ s 1.7 million sellers has an issue at one point , that still means 255,000 of them — or 15 % — could have to wait more than 24 hours for a resolution .
I ’ ve been interviewing Amazon sellers for years , and it ’ s not uncommon for these cases to remain unresolved for weeks , if not months .
Amazon sellers acknowledge that scaling seller support at Amazon ’ s size @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the seller support experience has gotten modestly better in recent years .
“ They ’ ve done better and are a bit more explanatory , but still have a long way to go ” “ They ’ ve done better and are a bit more explanatory , but still have a long way to go , ” Wiener , of the Amazon seller Quantum Networks , told Recode .
“ But they should get some credit for what they ’ ve done because it ’ s a very hard task.
” Still , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is so big , even a few percentage points of cases that slip through the cracks or are the result of technical errors can wreck many small businesses and the lives of the people who run and work for affected merchants .
Some sellers have turned to the paid seller support program that Amazon offers as a type of insurance against unexpected problems .
Amazon charges a monthly fee of between $ 1,600 and $ 5,000 for the program , depending on the size of the seller ’ s business .
Fan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paid program provides sellers with “ business guidance on topics such as inventory management , merchandising , and global expansion , ” but “ does not provide expedited account resolution ” when Amazon suspends an account or takes other serious action against a merchant .
Sellers who use the program or are familiar with it agreed that the paid internal Amazon reps do not directly resolve suspensions or other major account issues .
But these sellers said many merchants pay the fee simply so they have a specific person they can get on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right direction when something big goes wrong .
“ They ’ ve set up the exact same business model as Tony Soprano : pay us to help protect you ... from us , ” said one Amazon merchant whose business sells more than $ 10 million of goods annually on Amazon .
“ It ’ s messed up.
” This seller doesn ’ t pay for the program today but said he probably would in the near future as he hears more firsthand stories of merchants getting penalized or shut down for reasons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Referencing one claim in the recent indictment of Amazon consultants , which alleged a large cash bribe delivered via an Uber , the seller added : “ If my business got shut down overnight and I could send $ 100,000 in an Uber to fix it , I ’ m probably not going to do it but I ’ m certainly going to consider it.
” Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work .
If you have already contributed , thank you .
If you haven ’ t , please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3 .

Last month, US federal authorities indicted six e-commerce consultants and former Amazon employees in a $100 million bribery scheme in which insiders allegedly accepted payments to help certain Amazon merchants on the platform and hurt others. In the close-knit world of top Amazon sellers and consultants, this was big news. But it was not a surprise. Rumors of such behavior are common in industry circles, and Amazon itself admitted in 2018 that it was investigating employees for reportedly leaking internal marketplace data to outsiders in exchange for cash.
In the weeks since the indictments, a half dozen top-earning Amazon sellers told Recode that the consultants and former employees indicted should face the legal consequences if they broke the law. But these same top sellers also argued that the problem is much bigger than a few bad apples and that Amazon deserves scrutiny for creating the fertile ground for bribery schemes to blossom. The reason? Amazon’s inability or refusal to consistently offer adequate support to its 1.7 million sellers when they have issues, especially when it comes to suspensions that Amazon hands down with little explanation and sometimes no warning. On top of these issues, it’s not uncommon for sellers to languish in Amazon purgatory for weeks or months trying to reinstate their business, either on their own or with the help of an ecosystem of consultants — some of whom prey on merchants’ desperation.
“With Amazon, you are guilty until proven innocent,” said Eytan Wiener, the co-founder and chief operating officer of a large Amazon seller, whose firm was once suspended by Amazon in the UK and who has helped other suspended sellers in the US.
This reality — that Amazon sellers can have their livelihood snatched from them at any time — can benefit Amazon, too. The company introduced a premium seller program in 2018 that charges thousands of dollars a month to assign a dedicated Amazon representative that a seller can easily contact. While these reps do not oversee account suspensions and can’t directly reinstate a merchant, some large Amazon sellers pay the fee mainly so they have a person they can get on the phone in the event of a suspension or other severe penalty.
Amazon often boasts that the small and mid-sized merchants who help stock the virtual shelves of The Everything Store account for 60 percent of the company’s e-commerce sales worldwide. It has emphasized this as the company’s treatment of its sellers has come under scrutiny in the past few years, most recently during Jeff Bezos’s congressional testimony in July and in the wake of a House antitrust investigation report that followed. The tech giant has certainly created an efficient way for small merchants to build global e-commerce businesses with small teams and little overhead in ways that wouldn’t have been possible even 10 years ago. At the same time, as Amazon has aggressively recruited more sellers to its platform, it has been plagued by complaints about the support it offers them — most notably, the company’s penchant for suspending sellers from doing business on the site with no warning and nary an explanation.
Are you a current or former Amazon employee and have thoughts on this topic? Please email Jason Del Rey at jason@recode.net or jasondelrey@protonmail.com. His phone number and Signal number are available upon request by email.
This was the situation that Jacqueline Tatelman, the co-founder of the backpack brand State Bags, faced earlier this year. Her startup brand does most of its business through its own website but decided to start selling on Amazon earlier this year in order to expand its online presence before the back-to-school shopping season this fall. The company’s plans were delayed when the pandemic hit the US in March and Amazon prioritized essential goods in its warehouses. Then, as the company prepared to finally start selling on the platform in May, a shocking email from Amazon landed in its inbox:
“We have discovered information that indicates your Amazon seller account has engaged in deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity. ... As a result, we have closed your Amazon seller account to prevent harm to our customers, other selling partners, and our store.”
The email ended by saying that the brand should email Amazon if they thought the decision was an error. And State Bags did, repeatedly. The only thing that had changed between the time the company set up its Amazon storefront and when it received the suspension notice was a change of the business credit card on file, which was information Amazon had requested.
Amazon responded once more with a generic note saying that an internal case had been opened. Then silence, for months. No reason given, and no updates, as State Bags inventory with a retail value of $60,000 sat unsold in Amazon warehouses, with no guidance from the tech giant on if or how the brand could get the inventory out.
“It’s not ethically okay to do these things to these small brands who are in the middle of the ocean, in a storm, with a tiny boat and a broken paddle”
“It’s not ethically okay to do these things to these small brands who are in the middle of the ocean, in a storm, with a tiny boat and a broken paddle,” Tatelman told Recode. “That’s how small brands feel.”
After Recode notified Amazon of the State Bags suspension, Amazon spokesperson Cecilia Fan said the company would reach out to the brand “to address their concerns.” A day later, Amazon granted State Bags access to its storefront for the first time since May.
And the State Bags story is not a one-off. Talk to any Amazon seller that does significant business on the site and there’s a good chance they have a similar tale or know a peer who does. Just this August, a LinkedIn post detailing a similar suspension problem that was written by the founder of a car dashboard camera retailer was widely read in the Amazon seller community. Titled “Please Help! An Open Letter to Jeff Bezos, Amazon Leadership, and the Seller Performance Team,” it described how Amazon had suspended the seller out of nowhere and for six months had claimed that the seller forged documentation. Two days after the president of The Dashcam Store, Andrew Aboudaoud, posted the cautionary tale, Amazon reinstated his selling account with a boilerplate email. No explanation or apology was given.
“The way Amazon currently handles their relationships with third-party sellers is fundamentally broken (in a variety of ways),” Aboudaoud wrote in a message to Recode, “although it does appear Amazon is slowly taking steps to overhaul this system.”
Fan, the Amazon spokesperson, emailed Recode a statement that read in part: “Amazon’s Selling Partner Support team handled more than 51 million contacts from selling partners in 2019, and we strive to respond to and resolve every contact expeditiously.”
“Selling Partner Support responded to more than 90% of emails in under 12 hours; answered more than 96% of phone calls in under 90 seconds; answered more than 90% of chats in under 90 seconds; and fully resolved more than 85% of all seller issues in under 24 hours,” the statement added. Using that 85% figure, if every one of Amazon’s 1.7 million sellers has an issue at one point, that still means 255,000 of them — or 15% — could have to wait more than 24 hours for a resolution. I’ve been interviewing Amazon sellers for years, and it’s not uncommon for these cases to remain unresolved for weeks, if not months.
Amazon sellers acknowledge that scaling seller support at Amazon’s size is a challenge, and some say the seller support experience has gotten modestly better in recent years.
“They’ve done better and are a bit more explanatory, but still have a long way to go”
“They’ve done better and are a bit more explanatory, but still have a long way to go,” Wiener, the co-founder of a large Amazon seller, told Recode. “But they should get some credit for what they’ve done because it’s a very hard task.”
Still, sellers argue that Amazon’s platform is so big, even a few percentage points of cases that slip through the cracks or are the result of technical errors can wreck many small businesses and the lives of the people who run and work for affected merchants.
Some sellers have turned to the paid seller support program that Amazon offers as a type of insurance against unexpected problems. Amazon charges a monthly fee of between $1,600 and $5,000 for the program, depending on the size of the seller’s business. Fan, the Amazon spokesperson, said the optional paid program provides sellers with “business guidance on topics such as inventory management, merchandising, and global expansion,” but “does not provide expedited account resolution” when Amazon suspends an account or takes other serious action against a merchant.
Sellers who use the program or are familiar with it agreed that the paid internal Amazon reps do not directly resolve suspensions or other major account issues. But these sellers said many merchants pay the fee simply so they have a specific person they can get on the phone to point them in the right direction when something big goes wrong.
“They’ve set up the exact same business model as Tony Soprano: pay us to help protect you ... from us,” said one Amazon merchant whose business sells more than $10 million of goods annually on Amazon. “It’s messed up.”
This seller doesn’t pay for the program today but said he probably would in the near future as he hears more firsthand stories of merchants getting penalized or shut down for reasons they say are unfair or unclear. Referencing one claim in the recent indictment of Amazon consultants, which alleged a large cash bribe delivered via an Uber, the seller added:
“If my business got shut down overnight and I could send $100,000 in an Uber to fix it, I’m probably not going to do it but I’m certainly going to consider it.”


vox--2020-10-26--Sorry, you probably can’t wear a Biden shirt or MAGA hat when you vote

With Election Day approaching , voters are heading to the polls in record numbers in states where in-person early voting has begun .
Millions have already cast their mail-in ballots , and experts are surmising that if voter energy holds steady through November 3 , this election cycle could have the highest turnout rate since 1908 .
To cast a ballot before or on Election Day , citizens generally need to be registered to vote in their state ahead of time , although 21 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws that allow for same-day registration .
Elections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governments and operate under a decentralized system , while adhering to various local , state , and federal laws .
Since Election Day isn ’ t a federal holiday , employees aren ’ t federally mandated to have time off from work to vote , although each state has established its own set of laws .
According to Ballotpedia , 28 states for the 2020 election cycle are requiring employers to give employees some time off to vote .
In the remaining 22 states — most of which don ’ t offer universal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this .
This highlights how election-related rules aren ’ t always consistent from one state to the next , and can be highly confusing for people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the voting process .
Here are some things to keep in mind as you head to the polls .
Leave all apparel and accessories that feature a candidate ’ s name , slogan , or any ballot issue at home .
Most states have laws that prohibit “ electioneering , ” or engaging in activities that support a political candidate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , wearing a political shirt is interpreted as a political act , and could prevent you from casting your ballot that day .
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures , most states have restrictions on whether people can display signs , hand out campaign literature , or solicit votes within a specific distance of a voting station .
In Michigan , it ’ s against the law to wear anything that “ directly or indirectly makes reference to an election , a candidate , or a ballot question.
” Some states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ displaying support for a candidate or their logo .
California , however , has sought to differentiate between political slogans and electioneering attempts , the Los Angeles Times reported .
California voters can wear gear with broad political slogans , so long as they don ’ t make any specific reference to a candidate .
“ Examples of campaign slogans or political movement slogans include but are not limited to : Make America Great Again ( MAGA ) , Black Lives Matter ( BLM ) , Keep America Great ( KAG ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Better , ” according to the September 28 guidelines from California ’ s elections division chief .
The Washington Post reported that some voters in Georgia and Tennessee have been challenged by poll workers for wearing Black Lives Matter apparel to vote early .
One Georgia voter who was challenged acknowledged that some people could view the Black Lives Matter slogan and movement as political , which he disagreed with .
“ People ’ s lives are not political , ” he told the Post .
And while poll workers are expected to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to what counts as “ political ” among these volunteers , who only receive brief training .
Since Black Lives Matter does not reflect a specific party or candidate , apparel in support of the slogan or movement is permissible , according to a county election commissioner in Tennessee .
However , T-shirts showcasing the Biden-Harris logo or “ Make America Great Again ” would be considered political , so leave those at home .
You should probably save the photos for later Some states have enacted laws against taking photos inside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polling place , which means in-line selfies or images of a voter ’ s marked ballot aren ’ t allowed .
These laws aren ’ t often enforced , although you can technically be fined , given jail time , or have your vote disqualified for violating these rules .
It is entirely legal , though , to snap photos of an “ I Voted ” sticker or a sealed ballot , so long as you ’ re not inside a polling precinct or voting booth .
In Georgia and Illinois , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at voting centers , and some have bans on cameras or electronic recording devices .
Other states are more lax on cellphone and camera use , like Arkansas , so long as a person isn ’ t snapping photos of marked ballots or being generally disruptive .
If you ’ re curious about your state ’ s “ ballot selfie ” law , CNN published a handy in-depth guide on the nuances of each state .
If the long lines at some early voting precincts are any indication of what Election Day will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these considerations in mind so that you ’ ll be able to cast your vote as smoothly as possible .
Voting in America , even in the most progressive states , can be a long and arduous process .
Don ’ t let a T-shirt or a random photo prevent you from exercising that right .
Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
But our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work .
If you have already contributed , thank you .
If you haven ’ t , please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world : Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

With Election Day approaching, voters are heading to the polls in record numbers in states where in-person early voting has begun. Millions have already cast their mail-in ballots, and experts are surmising that if voter energy holds steady through November 3, this election cycle could have the highest turnout rate since 1908.
To cast a ballot before or on Election Day, citizens generally need to be registered to vote in their state ahead of time, although 21 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws that allow for same-day registration. Elections in the US are overseen by local governments and operate under a decentralized system, while adhering to various local, state, and federal laws.
Since Election Day isn’t a federal holiday, employees aren’t federally mandated to have time off from work to vote, although each state has established its own set of laws. According to Ballotpedia, 28 states for the 2020 election cycle are requiring employers to give employees some time off to vote. In the remaining 22 states — most of which don’t offer universal vote-by-mail — there are no laws mandating this.
This highlights how election-related rules aren’t always consistent from one state to the next, and can be highly confusing for people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the voting process. Here are some things to keep in mind as you head to the polls.
Don’t wear explicitly political apparel
You should probably leave all apparel and accessories that feature a candidate’s name, slogan, or any ballot issue at home. Most states have laws that prohibit “electioneering,” or engaging in activities that support a political candidate or party near polling places. Thus, wearing a political shirt is interpreted as a political act, and could prevent you from casting your ballot that day.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, most states have restrictions on whether people can display signs, hand out campaign literature, or solicit votes within a specific distance of a voting station. In Michigan, it’s against the law to wear anything that “directly or indirectly makes reference to an election, a candidate, or a ballot question.” Some states have likeness clauses when it comes to displaying support for a candidate or their logo.
There are some exceptions: Arizona passed a law in 2012 that allows voters to wear political t-shirts, buttons, earrings, and other apparel with a candidate or party logo to the polls. California, too, has sought to differentiate between political slogans and electioneering attempts, the Los Angeles Times reported. California voters can wear gear with broad political slogans, so long as they don’t make any specific reference to a candidate.
“Examples of campaign slogans or political movement slogans include but are not limited to: Make America Great Again (MAGA), Black Lives Matter (BLM), Keep America Great (KAG), Vote for Science, and Build Back Better,” according to the September 28 guidelines from California’s elections division chief.
The Washington Post reported that some voters in Georgia and Tennessee have been challenged by poll workers for wearing Black Lives Matter apparel to vote early. One Georgia voter who was challenged acknowledged that some people could view the Black Lives Matter slogan and movement as political, which he disagreed with. “People’s lives are not political,” he told the Post. And while poll workers are expected to be nonpartisan, there could be inconsistencies as to what counts as “political” among these volunteers, who only receive brief training.
Since Black Lives Matter does not reflect a specific party or candidate, apparel in support of the slogan or movement is permissible, according to a county election commissioner in Tennessee. However, T-shirts showcasing the Biden-Harris logo or “Make America Great Again” would be considered political, so leave those at home.
You should probably save the photos for later
Some states have enacted laws against taking photos inside or within a certain distance of a polling place, which means in-line selfies or images of a voter’s marked ballot aren’t allowed. These laws aren’t often enforced, although you can technically be fined, given jail time, or have your vote disqualified for violating these rules. It is entirely legal, though, to snap photos of an “I Voted” sticker or a sealed ballot, so long as you’re not inside a polling precinct or voting booth.
In Georgia and Illinois, for example, photography isn’t allowed at voting centers, and some have bans on cameras or electronic recording devices. Other states are more lax on cellphone and camera use, like Arkansas, so long as a person isn’t snapping photos of marked ballots or being generally disruptive. If you’re curious about your state’s “ballot selfie” law, Vox published a handy in-depth guide on the nuances of each state.
If the long lines at some early voting precincts are any indication of what Election Day will be like, be sure to keep these considerations in mind so that you’ll be able to cast your vote as smoothly as possible. Voting in America, even in the most progressive states, can be a long and arduous process. Don’t let a T-shirt or a random photo prevent you from exercising that right.
Update: October 27, 2020, 10:30 am: The story has been updated to include a 2012 Arizona law that allows voters to wear explicitly political merchandise at the polls.
ntribute today from as little as $3.


vox--2020-10-27--The absurd controversy over Joe Biden’s “transition away from the oil industry”

At the second and final 2020 presidential debate on Thursday , when asked by President Donald Trump if he would “ close down the oil industry , ” former Vice President Joe Biden said that he intends to “ transition away from the oil industry , yes.
” Republicans are working furiously to make this supposed admission into a scandal , hoping it will get Biden in hot water with oil-state Dems and swing voters and sow division in the party .
The right sees energy as a key wedge issue as the election approaches .
Trump himself put it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last debate , Republicans hoped Biden ’ s refusal to ban fracking would get him in trouble with the climate left .
That didn ’ t go anywhere , and my guess is that this gambit won ’ t either .
So far , a few oil-state Dems have distanced themselves , oil companies have expressed “ concern , not alarm , ” and most everyone else seems distracted by a virus that is setting new case records and infecting White House staff .
However the politics play out in this instance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the underlying dynamic of these recent energy disputes .
It ’ s an extremely familiar dynamic that finally seems , in fits and starts , to be working in Democrats ’ favor .
Americans want reform as long as it doesn ’ t negatively affect them Social science suggests that most people , even most politically active people , don ’ t have particularly well-considered or coherent views on public policy issues .
They vote based on identities and social affinities .
Their opinions on issues are easily swayed by elite cues or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my experience , the one rule that reliably governs public issue polling is that the public likes things that sound good and doesn ’ t like things that sound bad .
If you poll a health care system that covers everything , with no copays and free choice of doctors , it does well .
If you poll tax increases to pay for other people ’ s health care , it does poorly .
If you poll cleaner energy or less pollution , it does well .
If you poll gasoline prices rising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it does poorly .
When polled on individual progressive policy goals , Americans tend to respond positively .
Universal health care and clean energy sound good .
When polled on ideological abstractions like “ taxes ” and “ big government , ” they tend to respond negatively .
Giving up money to some distant bureaucracy sounds bad .
This is why there ’ s an unending argument over whether America is or isn ’ t a “ center-right nation ” — it depends on how you ask America .
More or less everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but not at their own expense .
Depending on how they are phrased , these kinds of questions don ’ t so much uncover preexisting opinions as they guide and shape opinion formation .
Trigger thoughts of things getting better , you ’ ll get good poll results ; trigger thoughts of sacrifice , privation , or unfair burdens , you ’ ll get bad poll results .
Democratic politics isn ’ t much different .
Reformers pushing for change guide attention to the collective good that will come of it .
Reactionaries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risks and dangers .
These are not , unfortunately , parallel endeavors .
Asking people to imagine an alternative future calls upon their thinking and imagination — their frontal cortex .
Asking people to fear change calls upon something much deeper and older , their brainstem sense that it ’ s a dangerous world , they ’ re lucky to have what they have , and any disruption threatens it .
The latter , when invoked , tends to drown out the former .
That ’ s why progressive change is so difficult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But that ’ s the game in a democracy : changes that can improve collective circumstances versus the fear of personal loss .
This brings us back to Biden and energy .
The core Republican approach , which they understand at a gut level even if there is no particular strategic intelligence at work in the Trump era , is to make change seem scary .
They need to make Biden ’ s climate plan seem abrupt , alien , and threatening .
That ’ s why they have resolutely ignored all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New Deal and instead made it a boogeyman , a repository for every conservative fear .
They ’ re going to take your hamburgers and your SUV !
That ’ s why Republicans are so delighted to make a fracking ban — a policy that no president can pass and no Congress would pass — the center of discussion .
And that ’ s why they are delighted when Biden says he will transition away from oil .
These changes sound sudden and disruptive ; they draw attention to what will be lost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place .
They define a playing field favorable to Republicans .
There ’ s an element of play-acting to all this .
For all the hue and cry about his gaffes , Biden ’ s climate policies are articulated quite clearly on his website .
( No manned outpost on the moon , sadly . )
He plans to ramp up clean energy and electrification while ensuring that affected communities , including fossil fuel communities , are taken care of through investments in infrastructure , clean energy projects , education , job transition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Over time , clean energy will come to dominate the electricity sector ( where Biden has targeted 100 percent net-zero by 2035 ) and from there it will expand to the rest of the economy ( where Biden has targeted 100 percent net-zero by 2050 ) .
By 2035 , coal will disappear , and by 2050 , the US oil and gas sector will radically shrink .
It ’ s just carbon math .
Some fossil fuels may survive at the margins to fill in the gaps in large electricity systems , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or for some industrial applications or plastics .
And it may be that some oil and gas companies are successful at pivoting away from their core products to clean energy ( ahem , geothermal ) .
But the oil and gas industry as Americans know it , as a major source of jobs and profits , is going away in coming decades .
It has to — it produces lots of carbon and carbon is frying the planet .
Many oil and gas companies , especially in Europe , have acknowledged this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So when Biden says his plan will have the US “ transition away from the oil industry , ” he ’ s not saying something radical , unexpected , or mysterious .
Any serious climate plan must do the same .
It wouldn ’ t be a climate plan if it didn ’ t ( no matter how many trees it planted ) .
But Biden was also being entirely accurate when he said to reporters later , “ we ’ re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ when he said that he will not ban fracking .
These are not contradictory comments .
The latter are not “ walking back ” the former , despite what reporters ( goosed on by Republicans ) project onto them .
It ’ s not that hard to understand : Biden ’ s plan will gradually transition the US economy to clean energy , and while it ’ s happening , ensure that those who are negatively impacted receive assistance and new employment opportunities .
Justice — for fossil fuel workers and other vulnerable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the new Democratic consensus on climate policy .
When speaking to the left , Biden emphasizes the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy , and the environmental benefits ; when speaking to audiences that contain persuadable voters in swing states ( some of whom work in , or have family members who work in , fossil fuels ) , he emphasizes the gradual , carefully staged nature of the transition , and the economic/jobs benefits .
But in all cases , he ’ s referring to the same plan — which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his website .
As usual , the media is playing along with Republican efforts to sow confusion about this , playing on Biden ’ s penchant for garbling his messaging , as with this CNN “ fact-check ” that pretends Biden ’ s written plan carries no more weight than one infelicitous phrase in a debate .
Republicans will lie about Biden ’ s plan and the mainstream media will search for something they can ding Biden for , to “ balance ” all the negative coverage Trump attracts — but Democrats would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of distancing themselves , oil-state Democrats could take the opportunity to defend the massive infrastructure and job investments contained in the plan , targeted at rural , poor , and fossil fuel communities .
They could tell their constituents the truth about the long-term viability of fossil fuels , unlike Republicans in Appalachia and Wyoming , who have lied to their constituents about it until their economies have run headlong into disaster .
As for the left , as usual , Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking the smart line : She is positioning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fracking , a signal to moderates that Biden has not been “ captured by the left , ” but she ’ s also emphasizing the need to get him elected , a signal to the left that it ’ s important to get on board .
AOC understands what are , to my mind , the two lessons progressive climate reformers can draw from this episode .
The broad lesson is that making change is often less about convincing people that good goals are good — Americans are already convinced that fighting climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — than it is about convincing them that change won ’ t leave them behind , that they have a place and a stake in it .
In practical terms , that might mean less talk about the Earth and children and more about industrial policy and what it can do to foster specific industries that will employ specific people in specific regions of the country .
It means talking about how a transition to clean energy will create well-paying jobs in every US zip code and save every US homeowner between $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It means less talk about things that will be banned or taken away and more about things that will be created or improved .
The Green New Deal was conceived , in part , to push just such a shift in emphasis , to envision climate policy as a generative , not merely oppositional , project .
Climate reformers have the wind at their back .
There ’ s never been a broader consensus that climate change is dangerous and action is needed .
What remains is painting a richer picture of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the meantime , the more specific lesson for climate advocates is that , in the home stretch of this election , Biden needs room to maneuver .
His election depends on the whims of a few marginal voters in a few swing states , some of them living in places where fossil fuel production has unusually high salience .
He needs votes from union households that do some of the very work he ’ s talking about phasing out .
He needs to reassure them that the clean energy transition will not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be banned or shut down overnight .
It will unfold gradually , and as it does , new investments will reach their communities and new industries will rise to make use of their skills .
The transition will not come at their expense or leave them behind .
They have a place in it .
This inclusiveness is a foundational part of Biden ’ s plan and , more broadly , core to the spirit of the Green New Deal and the recent Democratic alignment on climate policy .
It would immeasurably aid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vision of a managed , inclusive transition and fewer nitpicked Biden ’ s latest attempt to articulate it .
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At the second and final 2020 presidential debate on Thursday, when asked by President Donald Trump if he would “close down the oil industry,” former Vice President Joe Biden said that he intends to “transition away from the oil industry, yes.” Republicans are working furiously to make this supposed admission into a scandal, hoping it will get Biden in hot water with oil-state Dems and swing voters and sow division in the party. The right sees energy as a key wedge issue as the election approaches.
Trump himself put it in the most dramatic terms:
Last week, Joe Biden made perhaps the most shocking admission ever uttered in the history of presidential debates. On live television, Joe Biden confirmed his plan to ABOLISH the entire U.S. Oil Industry—that means NO fracking, NO jobs, and NO energy for Pennsylvania Families! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2020
After the last debate, Republicans hoped Biden’s refusal to ban fracking would get him in trouble with the climate left. That didn’t go anywhere, and my guess is that this gambit won’t either. So far, a few oil-state Dems have distanced themselves, oil companies have expressed “concern, not alarm,” and most everyone else seems distracted by a virus that is setting new case records and infecting White House staff.
However the politics play out in this instance, it’s important to consider the underlying dynamic of these recent energy disputes. It’s an extremely familiar dynamic that finally seems, in fits and starts, to be working in Democrats’ favor.
Let’s begin with a little armchair political science.
Americans want reform as long as it doesn’t negatively affect them
Social science suggests that most people, even most politically active people, don’t have particularly well-considered or coherent views on public policy issues. They vote based on identities and social affinities. Their opinions on issues are easily swayed by elite cues or the phrasing of poll questions.
In my experience, the one rule that reliably governs public issue polling is that the public likes things that sound good and doesn’t like things that sound bad.
If you poll a health care system that covers everything, with no copays and free choice of doctors, it does well. If you poll tax increases to pay for other people’s health care, it does poorly.
If you poll cleaner energy or less pollution, it does well. If you poll gasoline prices rising and fossil fuel workers losing jobs, it does poorly.
When polled on individual progressive policy goals, Americans tend to respond positively. Universal health care and clean energy sound good. When polled on ideological abstractions like “taxes” and “big government,” they tend to respond negatively. Giving up money to some distant bureaucracy sounds bad.
This is why there’s an unending argument over whether America is or isn’t a “center-right nation” — it depends on how you ask America. More or less everyone wants to improve the collective welfare, but not at their own expense. Depending on how they are phrased, these kinds of questions don’t so much uncover preexisting opinions as they guide and shape opinion formation. Trigger thoughts of things getting better, you’ll get good poll results; trigger thoughts of sacrifice, privation, or unfair burdens, you’ll get bad poll results.
Democratic politics isn’t much different. Reformers pushing for change guide attention to the collective good that will come of it. Reactionaries pushing against change guide attention to the risks and dangers.
These are not, unfortunately, parallel endeavors. Asking people to imagine an alternative future calls upon their thinking and imagination — their frontal cortex. Asking people to fear change calls upon something much deeper and older, their brainstem sense that it’s a dangerous world, they’re lucky to have what they have, and any disruption threatens it. The latter, when invoked, tends to drown out the former. That’s why progressive change is so difficult to muster and so easy to reverse.
But that’s the game in a democracy: changes that can improve collective circumstances versus the fear of personal loss.
Making the clean energy transition seem scary
This brings us back to Biden and energy. The core Republican approach, which they understand at a gut level even if there is no particular strategic intelligence at work in the Trump era, is to make change seem scary. They need to make Biden’s climate plan seem abrupt, alien, and threatening. That’s why they have resolutely ignored all the actual policies involved in the Green New Deal and instead made it a boogeyman, a repository for every conservative fear. They’re going to take your hamburgers and your SUV!
That’s why Republicans are so delighted to make a fracking ban — a policy that no president can pass and no Congress would pass — the center of discussion. And that’s why they are delighted when Biden says he will transition away from oil. These changes sound sudden and disruptive; they draw attention to what will be lost, not to what will take its place. They define a playing field favorable to Republicans.
There’s an element of play-acting to all this. For all the hue and cry about his gaffes, Biden’s climate policies are articulated quite clearly on his website. (No manned outpost on the moon, sadly.) He plans to ramp up clean energy and electrification while ensuring that affected communities, including fossil fuel communities, are taken care of through investments in infrastructure, clean energy projects, education, job transition, and other kinds of assistance.
Over time, clean energy will come to dominate the electricity sector (where Biden has targeted 100 percent net-zero by 2035) and from there it will expand to the rest of the economy (where Biden has targeted 100 percent net-zero by 2050). By 2035, coal will disappear, and by 2050, the US oil and gas sector will radically shrink. It’s just carbon math.
Some fossil fuels may survive at the margins to fill in the gaps in large electricity systems, attached to carbon capture and storage systems, or for some industrial applications or plastics. And it may be that some oil and gas companies are successful at pivoting away from their core products to clean energy (ahem, geothermal).
But the oil and gas industry as Americans know it, as a major source of jobs and profits, is going away in coming decades. It has to — it produces lots of carbon and carbon is frying the planet. Many oil and gas companies, especially in Europe, have acknowledged this inescapable reality and begun to transform themselves.
So when Biden says his plan will have the US “transition away from the oil industry,” he’s not saying something radical, unexpected, or mysterious. Any serious climate plan must do the same. It wouldn’t be a climate plan if it didn’t (no matter how many trees it planted).
But Biden was also being entirely accurate when he said to reporters later, “we’re not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.” And he was being entirely accurate when he said that he will not ban fracking.
These are not contradictory comments. The latter are not “walking back” the former, despite what reporters (goosed on by Republicans) project onto them. It’s not that hard to understand: Biden’s plan will gradually transition the US economy to clean energy, and while it’s happening, ensure that those who are negatively impacted receive assistance and new employment opportunities. Justice — for fossil fuel workers and other vulnerable communities — is at the heart of the new Democratic consensus on climate policy.
Biden needs room to maneuver
When speaking to the left, Biden emphasizes the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy, and the environmental benefits; when speaking to audiences that contain persuadable voters in swing states (some of whom work in, or have family members who work in, fossil fuels), he emphasizes the gradual, carefully staged nature of the transition, and the economic/jobs benefits.
But in all cases, he’s referring to the same plan — which is, again, right there on his website.
As usual, the media is playing along with Republican efforts to sow confusion about this, playing on Biden’s penchant for garbling his messaging, as with this CNN “fact-check” that pretends Biden’s written plan carries no more weight than one infelicitous phrase in a debate.
Republicans will lie about Biden’s plan and the mainstream media will search for something they can ding Biden for, to “balance” all the negative coverage Trump attracts — but Democrats would be goofy to play along.
Instead of distancing themselves, oil-state Democrats could take the opportunity to defend the massive infrastructure and job investments contained in the plan, targeted at rural, poor, and fossil fuel communities. They could tell their constituents the truth about the long-term viability of fossil fuels, unlike Republicans in Appalachia and Wyoming, who have lied to their constituents about it until their economies have run headlong into disaster.
As for the left, as usual, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking the smart line:
AOC disagrees with Biden on fracking & says, "it would be a privilege to lobby him should we win the White House, but we need to focus on winning the White House first." Why is AOC the only sensible human left. https://t.co/B9Cdvg9vNU — David Roberts (@drvox) October 25, 2020
She is positioning herself to the left of Biden on fracking, a signal to moderates that Biden has not been “captured by the left,” but she’s also emphasizing the need to get him elected, a signal to the left that it’s important to get on board.
AOC understands what are, to my mind, the two lessons progressive climate reformers can draw from this episode.
The broad lesson is that making change is often less about convincing people that good goals are good — Americans are already convinced that fighting climate change and expanding clean energy are good — than it is about convincing them that change won’t leave them behind, that they have a place and a stake in it.
In practical terms, that might mean less talk about the Earth and children and more about industrial policy and what it can do to foster specific industries that will employ specific people in specific regions of the country. It means talking about how a transition to clean energy will create well-paying jobs in every US zip code and save every US homeowner between $1,000 and $2,000 a year. It means less talk about things that will be banned or taken away and more about things that will be created or improved. The Green New Deal was conceived, in part, to push just such a shift in emphasis, to envision climate policy as a generative, not merely oppositional, project.
Climate reformers have the wind at their back. There’s never been a broader consensus that climate change is dangerous and action is needed. What remains is painting a richer picture of the world that action can help create.
In the meantime, the more specific lesson for climate advocates is that, in the home stretch of this election, Biden needs room to maneuver. His election depends on the whims of a few marginal voters in a few swing states, some of them living in places where fossil fuel production has unusually high salience. He needs votes from union households that do some of the very work he’s talking about phasing out.
He needs to reassure them that the clean energy transition will not be abrupt and destructive; nothing will be banned or shut down overnight. It will unfold gradually, and as it does, new investments will reach their communities and new industries will rise to make use of their skills.
The transition will not come at their expense or leave them behind. They have a place in it.
This inclusiveness is a foundational part of Biden’s plan and, more broadly, core to the spirit of the Green New Deal and the recent Democratic alignment on climate policy. It would immeasurably aid public understanding if more people explained that vision of a managed, inclusive transition and fewer nitpicked Biden’s latest attempt to articulate it.