Dare mighty things!
April 6, 2024
Due to heavier-than-expected “eclipse” traffic in Texas, I am writing this edition of the newsletter on a bus bumping along the highway halfway between Houston and The Alamo. There is a metaphor (or a country song) embedded in the prior sentence, but I will let readers figure out which best applies.
Speaking of metaphors, I received hundreds of metaphors, similes, aphorisms, poems, essays, and short stories to describe the possible cloud-covered eclipse on Monday. However, reader Jon M. will receive the prized Today’s Edition ballpoint pen for his contribution: “Above the clouds, the sky is always clear.” Jon’s brief statement has the virtue of being true, poignant and a reminder that perspective can help improve any situation—if only we are willing to expand our horizons.
My Managing Editor (a baseball fan) liked Mary V.’s suggestion: “You win a few, you lose a few, and some get rained out. But you dress for every game.” Mary will receive the consolation prize (a Today’s Edition ballpoint pen).
Before turning to the news, I am beginning to hear from readers who are receiving auto-generated emails about renewing their paid subscriptions to Today’s Edition. First, thanks to everyone who is a paying subscriber. Your contribution helps make this daily newsletter possible. I deeply appreciate your support. (If you are not a paying subscriber and would like to become one, there is a link at the bottom of the newsletter for becoming a paying subscriber.)
Second, because I migrated to Substack in April 2021, a large portion of annual subscribers are up for renewal in April. (You will receive an auto reminder to renew your annual subscription.) If your credit card number has changed (or if the expiration date was updated), you will also receive a note asking you to update your credit card (if you want to renew). To do so, you will need to go into your profile to update your payment information. This short, friendly video by my daughter explains how to update your payment information: How to Update Payment Info in Substack (youtube.com).
If you just want written instructions on how to update your credit card information, I include a brief description after “Concluding Thoughts.”
Thanks to everyone who reads this newsletter. I am humbled by your trust, loyalty, feedback, and passion. We are partners in a battle to preserve democracy and I am honored to be by your side in the most important fight of our lives.
Another strong employment report
The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% for March, clocking the 26th straight month of unemployment below 4%--the longest stretch at that level since the late 1960s (per Steve Rattner). The economy added 303,000 jobs in March—beating expectations and driving the stock and bond markets higher. President Biden released a statement, saying
With today’s report of 303,000 new jobs in March, we have passed the milestone of 15 million jobs created since I took office. That’s 15 million more people who have the dignity and respect that comes with a paycheck.
The continued growth in jobs puts the lie to the two year-long media and GOP narrative that a recession “is just around the corner.” Remember when the media and pundits told us Biden and the Democrats were going to lose the November 2022 midterms because the economy was on the brink of collapse?
Not only did disaster not materialize, but Biden’s policies have created a record-breaking amount of new jobs—15 million. Under Trump’s first three years in office (pre-Covid), the economy added only 6.6 million jobs. CNN, How Trump's three year job gains compare to Obama's.
A WSJ poll of consumers found that respondents in every battleground state believe that the economy in their states has improved over the last two years—although they still believe the US economy has declined. That incompatible split in beliefs—my state is “good” but the national economy is “weak”— is a vestige of the disinformation campaign waged by the media and the GOP for two years.
We still have time to dispel that misimpression—and the most recent jobs report will help to do so. Indeed, even the economic experts on Fox News were forced to concede that the report was “very good” and “exceeded expectations.” On Friday, at least, reality intruded into the echo chamber of Fox News.
No Labels national director says he would vote for Biden over Trump
Only a day after No Labels withdrew from the 2024 race, the national director of No Labels told an interviewer that he would vote for President Biden over Trump—ignoring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who was included among the choices in the interviewer’s question. See Mediate, No Labels Director Tells Fox News, ‘I Would Vote for Biden Over Trump’ After Group Fails to Field a Candidate
As noted yesterday, the elimination of the No Labels candidacy is a positive development for President Biden. The termination of the No Labels threat is a good reminder of Ian Fleming’s astute observation, “Worry is a dividend we pay disaster before it is due.”
No Labels was a potential threat, but it never materialized into an actual threat—much less a serious one. Yet, many readers cited No Labels as their biggest worry about the 2024 election.
Worry is understandable, natural, and unavoidable. But irrational or exaggerated worries are unhealthy and counterproductive. We have many reasons to be hopeful but no reason to be complacent. The solution? Convert your anxiety into action!
I know many of you transitioned directly from worrying about No Labels to worrying about RFK Jr. Kennedy is a flawed candidate who will not stand up to scrutiny—and who will not get the “free pass” that Trump gets among his followers as he mimics the worst of Trump's policies and adds a layer of conspiracy about vaccines. For the weekend, at least, set aside the premature worries and let the positive development of the No Labels collapse sink in. It was a good development. Very good.
“Houston, we have a problem.”
With that apocryphal statement, the Commander of the Apollo 13 mission informed mission control that the spacecraft had suffered a devastating malfunction. The phrase is invoked when a mission-critical problem is discovered. Well, friends, democracy has a problem: uncontested races.
Ballotpedia updated its report on uncontested races for 2024—and the problem is getting worse. In March, 77% of the electoral races tracked by Ballotpedia were uncontested. Please go back and re-read the prior sentence. It is not a mistake. See Ballotpedia, Analysis of uncontested elections, 2024.
Per Ballotpedia,
Ballotpedia covered 6,984 elections in 26 states in March. Of that total, 5,364 (77%) were uncontested and 1,620 (23%) were contested.
There are many problems with uncontested elections, but the most pernicious is that Americans may believe they do not live in a representative democracy. Such a feeling is understandable. If you show up to vote for your congressional representative and there is only one candidate on the ballot, why is that functionally different than what occurs in dictatorships like Russia?
Ballotpedia does not provide a breakdown by party, but by looking at the accompanying map, many—maybe most—of the uncontested elections are in southern states. That would suggest that Democrats are not mounting challenges to entrenched Republican officeholders.
But whatever the ratio of missing Democratic to Republican blanks on the ballot, it is simply not healthy for democracy to have “one-party” control in large swaths of the country. I wrote about this issue in a newsletter last week—specifically the efforts by Every State Blue, Blue Missouri, and Jess Piper to combat the problem. See Today’s Edition, Keeping the flame alive - by Robert B. Hubbell (substack.com).
I don’t have any easy answers. But I know we have a problem. Everyone does. The Democratic Party cannot ignore the problem any longer. But we don’t have to wait for the party to address it. If you have been thinking about running and live in an uncontested district, don’t wait for a formal invitation. Be the change you want to see.
Concluding Thoughts
My wife and I toured the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday. There is much to recommend the tour, but nothing can match the display of the Saturn V Rocket—which was the launch vehicle used to blast men to the moon. The scale is breathtaking and tear-inducing. It cannot be described, and pictures do not do it justice. I could not fit the entire rocket in my camera viewfinder with my widest lens, so I include four pictures below. In the first photo, note the tiny people at the far end of the rocket to get a sense of scale.
The Saturn V Rocket is not a metaphor. It is a physical manifestation of the daring, courage, and unbounded imagination of a nation united in pursuit of a common goal. But at the very moment that America was hurling men toward the moon who were sitting atop the equivalent of an atom bomb, the streets were filled with protesters demanding cessation of the Vietnam War, civil rights for Black Americans, reproductive freedom and equality for women, and dignity for LGBTQ people. The decade that brought us to the moon was punctuated with the sickening regularity of assassinations of our leaders—JFK, RFK, and MLK, chief among them.
But despite the turmoil and trauma, America dared mighty things—and succeeded because of the unyielding dedication of a small group of people who carried the burden for all us. We can do so again. And in that sense, the Saturn V rocket is a metaphor—for the hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers who are demonstrating unyielding dedication in the defense of democracy. Everyone involved in that effort should be proud of what they are attempting to do. Dare mighty things!
Talk to you on Monday!
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Pictures of Saturn V Rocket at Johnson Space Center. For additional photos and video, see Houston Space Center: April 2024 (everydaywithjill.com)
My wife and I were in Houston (we live in Los Angeles) two weeks ago and saw the Saturn V. It was the highlight of the trip there and was awesome. Just to be in the presence of this magnificent vehicle was surreal. It brought back such memories of the 60s, JFK, LBJ and the beautiful promise of what America can do, and did.
I live in NC where in previous years there were a minimum of 44 uncontested counties not represented by a Democrat of the 100 counties in the state. What changed was a change in new younger leadership of the Democratic Party at the state level working hard to get viable candidates. Many of these races will not be won but a few will and Republicans will have to spend campaign monies to compete. This is critical because the Republicans do not have a lot of money to spend. What is also interesting is many of the ads for local candidates stress their support for Trump which I believe provides Democrats with a huge opportunity.