LDS Democracy Network - 10/20/2023

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Happy Saturday everyone! One of the links in last week’s edition was broken—the overview of Congressional Republicans’ failures to address immigration is here.

🗓️ Event note: Join or Die, a new documentary by civic activist siblings Pete and Rebecca Davis brings Dr. Robert Putnam’s research on civic engagement to the screen. Putnam, the author of Bowling Alone, advocates for involvement in civic clubs, religious organizations, and any other group of people working on a common goal. The documentary will be publicly screened in Washington DC on November 3 and 4. Robert Putnam and Pete Davis will be hosting a Q&A session after the film. Nathan has tickets to the showing on the 4th so let him know if you plan to attend!

Of good report: standing against hate at home

As we mentioned last week, we’re doing what we can to follow the news in Israel and Gaza. We’re glad there’s more focus on the worsening humanitarian situation and the need for the release of hostages. We appreciate President Biden’s forceful denunciation of antisemitism and Islamophobia Thursday night. (His full Oval Office remarks can be viewed here.)

Over 400 Congressional staff members, including Jewish and Muslim staff members, have signed an open letter that calls on their bosses to support de-escalation. They wrote in part:

While rates of violent crime are falling across the United States, the number of hate crimes is rising. This increase includes crimes against Latter-day Saints, with 30 incidents in 2022 and a string of meetinghouse arsons this summer. Here are some ways people are standing against this rise:

• The Utah-based Community Partners Against Hate released a brochure in July on how to “recognize, respond, and report hate crimes that target any community.” 

• Faith leaders in the Chicago area came together to condemn the murder of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoumi.

• In May, the Biden-Harris administration announced the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which also includes steps to counter hatred and discrimination against Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, and people of other religious traditions. Cities across the country have held interfaith events to support the victims of recent terror, and experts remind us not to let the current war turn into an excuse for religious bigotry.

Context matters: the Latter-day Saint tradition of antitrust advocacy and consumer protection

In the late 1950s, frozen, ready-to-bake pies were all the rage in Salt Lake City. The Utah Pie Company, with a local plant, prospered in this rapidly growing market. National competitors, which had to ship from California, cut their prices only in the Salt Lake City area. Utah Pie responded by cutting their own prices so they could keep gaining market share and they sued the Continental Pie Company for antitrust violations. Although Utah Pie’s market share grew and its company financials improved, the US Supreme Court found that Continental Pie focusing its price cuts on Salt Lake City violated the Clayton Antitrust Act, modified by the Robinson-Patman Anti-Price Discrimination Act.

Consumer protection work was a hallmark of Latter-day Saint politicians from both parties before the 1990s. 

• Esther Peterson, who worked as a paid organizer for the American Federation of Teachers during the Great Depression and became the first woman to lobby on behalf of the AFL-CIO, was President Lyndon Johnson’s Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs and directed the Office of Consumer Affairs in the Carter administration.

• Paula Hawkins, the only woman ever elected to the US Senate from Florida and the first woman elected to a full term without her husband first serving in major public office, focused much of her early career on consumer advocacy, including elected service on Florida’s Public Service Commission.

The US Government is currently involved in two major antitrust cases against two giant technology companies, Google and Amazon. In both instances the Federal Government is arguing that the companies knowingly violated antitrust laws for years and by doing so, stifled competition and harmed consumers.

The FTC is currently suing Google and attempting to demonstrate that Google has an effective monopoly on internet searching and search-related ads. The government argues that Google created a monopoly for its version of internet search by signing exclusivity agreements with Apple, Mozilla, and Android device manufacturers.

A counterargument is that customers can change the default search which is true in some cases but how many of you dear readers could change the default search engine on your internet browser of choice without “googling” for instructions? And if you are a power user, how many hours would you spend on the phone helping everyone you know change from Google as the default search provider if you decided that was important? The FTC is arguing that the fact that Google has penetrated the search market so thoroughly is detrimental to consumers and in Nathan’s opinion, they are right.

The FTC has also filed a lawsuit alleging Amazon is and has been in violation of antitrust laws. In the Yale Law Journal, Lina Khan, the chair of the FTC, presents a compelling argument for how Amazon is using its market share to harm customers. The “Note” in the Yale Law Journal is full of detailed examples of Amazon engaging in predatory business practices. Whether Amazon will be forced to change its practices is uncertain. One thing is clear, the FTC is more willing to go up against corporations than it was in the last administration and Nathan is now an FTC stan.

Out of the best books: an actor on freelance life

Some readers know Jenna Fischer from her role as Pam Beesly in the US version of The Office. Her 2017 book The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide (publisher link) is a combination of memoir and career advice. Fischer is frank about the limits of “work harder” but also provides an insightful look at how pursuing passion and refining skills can lead to opportunities.

Screen acting is an unusual occupation in the US because it is highly contingent and has strong union protections. Actors can go months, if not years, between paying gigs. They often employ a small team of agents, managers, and coaches to get work. They also volunteer their time to each other to improve their craft.

The SAG-AFTRA strike is currently in its fourth month. This is the first strike by actors in film and television since 1980. The key disputes are over the use of artificial intelligence, the lack of transparency from streaming services on viewership data, and the studios’ failure to maintain residual payments as shows move from broadcast and syndication to streaming.

Younger generations across industries have found they have to switch jobs every 1-3 years and sometimes change careers multiple times to achieve professional growth. McKinsey recently found that 36% of American workers are freelancers. Whether you fall into that category, you want to better understand friends, family, and ward members who do, or you want context for why union protections are so important to screen actors, we recommend The Actor’s Life.

(The audiobook also includes fun cameos.)

Ward newsletter: diversity and understanding

As the MAGA hard right condemns anything having to do with diversity, a new book edited by Richard Eyre brings together essays from a range of Latter-day Saint authors exploring how diversity and unity work hand-in-hand at the ward level.

Over 3,500 people attended the recent “Restore” gathering sponsored by Faith Matters. Peggy Fletcher Stack provides a synopsis of the event here.

Sister Eme Martin, one of the new members of the Relief Society’s General Advisory Council, has an interesting day job - she’s the lead Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer at Zero to Three, a national nonprofit focused on early childhood.

This week’s Mormonland podcast features an in-depth interview with BYU-Idaho professor Sahar Qumsiyeh, who grew up in a Palestinian Christian family outside of Bethlehem and joined the Church while studying at BYU. She is the author of Peace for a Palestinian: One Woman’s Story of Faith Amidst War in the Holy Land.

Of our own free will: parties and consensus

Congressional Republicans still haven’t elected a Speaker of the House. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) spent much of this past week as Speaker-designate but fell short of the required 217 votes in the first round of voting and lost ground from there, including losing a secret ballot vote on Friday to remain Speaker-designate after being opposed on the floor by an ideologically diverse group of his fellow Republicans.

The fracas in the US House and other recent political developments, including philosopher-turned-presidential candidate Cornel West breaking with the Green Party and defending his donation from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow have Rob reflecting on the role and benefit of political parties.

Political parties are part of having a government; because we have the Electoral College and first-past-the-post voting, the US will be dominated by two major parties. When third parties or protest candidacies do arise, they either become popular or they do not. Popular ideas and movements are then co-opted by one, if not both, parties.

A “unity ticket” has only succeeded once in US history, with disastrous consequences. In 1864, in the midst of the U.S. Civil War, the Republican Party re-branded their national ticket as the National Union Party, nominating Lincoln for re-election and selecting War Democrat Andrew Johnson—the only Democratic Senator from the South not to side with the confederate rebellion—as vice president. After Lincoln’s assassination a month into his second term, Johnson ascended to the presidency. Johnson immediately set out to undercut Reconstruction, including vetoing the Civil Rights Act of 1866 because it recognized African Americans as citizens.

Political parties are annoying but they have a purpose. Party infrastructure helps candidates who wouldn’t otherwise be able to run for office successfully. Party meetings are an avenue for getting to know neighbors you wouldn’t have otherwise met. By bringing together people with similar values but different priorities, they can be an avenue for reaching consensus.

Americans think of parties as ideologically uniform, but that masks more than it reveals. As Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, recently put it, it’s okay for Democrats to disagree with each other, that’s what it means to be democratic. Many of our Utah readers are well aware of the disputes between Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee on what it means to be a Republican—a feud on which McKay Coppins’ new book sheds even more light.

The secret ballot is a glorious thing. While many states make public whether you vote, including which party’s primary ballot you take, how you vote is private.

Being part of a party, even temporarily, is a chance to learn. During the 2020 election, Rob had many conversations with lifelong Republicans who were worried they would be ostracized or canceled by Democrats if they crossed the aisle and voted for Joe Biden. Exaggerated stories of college leftists aside, party members who want to win elections are delighted to have the support of new people. They might not be willing to turn the keys to the bus over right away, but listening and volunteering your time and skills, especially to local candidates and committees, builds trust and influence over time. (Seriously: we tend to be good at knocking on doors and striking up conversations with strangers! These are valuable skills!)

Latter-day Saints in Idaho are stepping up to curb the abuses of party politics. The Idaho chapter of Mormon Women for Ethical Government is collecting signatures to move the state to a top-four, all-party primary with an instant-runoff general election. Read more:

One more praiseworthy thing

The Inflation Reduction Act included new IRS funding to step up enforcement against super-wealthy tax cheats instead of focusing on the working poor, who are cheaper and easier to audit. That program appears to be working: in the past month, the IRS has collected $122 million from people with incomes over $1 million/year and over $250,000 in back taxes.

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