Nate Craig - Political Writing

05/01/2024

My letter in today's Inquirer:
In the past few months, while Joe Biden has lagged in the polls (and enjoyed damp, soggy approval ratings) he has sent dozens of emails trying to remind us how bad Donald Trump was and urging progressives (the mailing list I'm on) to donate. His reasoning: “C’mon.” He began his prior campaign in Philly at a Comcast fundraiser that was $5,000 a plate. If he's relying on me for a $10 contribution while I'm living paycheck to paycheck, we're screwed. It's encouraging that he's finally found a work-around to forgive student loans. His nonresponse to the Palestinian deaths in the war in Gaza has been abhorrent. Trying to get us to jump on the Biden train because Trump would be worse is why Democrats lose. “Blue no matter who” will not win a general election. “I’m not as bad as Trump” is not going to rally enough support to defeat the man who wants to suspend the Constitution if reelected. Biden needs a better campaign, now.

Nate Craig, Portland, [email protected]

10/24/2022

My most recent letter to the editor (after a long hiatus):

Concessions are a part of normal politics. Continuing the work that one's predecessor started, when the idea was morally responsible and successful, makes good political sense. This week, however, President Biden's Customs and Border Patrol confirmed that they have resumed construction on Trump's border wall. For our President -who campaigned as the one who would redeem the "soul of America," to resume a morally misguided project like this is wrong. The wall embodies the racist "America First" mantra. That mantra divides us from our neighbors below our southern border. That racism corrodes any sort of "American soul" that Biden is meant to be saving. Further, to allocate billions of dollars to a wall during a housing crisis is a bad choice. Millions of Americans are fighting off evictions, foreclosures, and skyrocketing rents. This is an immoral political choice. President Biden, this cannot be what you meant by "Build Back Better."

- Nate Craig - Phoenixville, PA

03/04/2021

Here's a link to my letter to the editor. It was published in Tuesday's Inquirer:
"Illinois ended cash bail last week. Cash bail is a tool used to keep poor people incarcerated while people of means wait for their lawyers to get their sentences reduced."

https://sidenate.medium.com/cash-bail-reform-inquirer-letter-3-2-8b4eabff6881?sk=0cae3fb030a05844e7c8e99e1b1006b2

Illinois ended cash bail last week. Cash bail is a tool used to keep poor people incarcerated while people of means wait for their lawyers…

01/29/2021

The news isn't all good, but this is a major move towards criminal justice reform. Private prisons in the US have lobbied for harsher penalties, mandatory minimum sentences. Communities of color have borne the brunt of these disastrous policies.

Overall I am still leaning towards optimism with the new administration: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/executive-order-reforming-our-incarceration-system-to-eliminate-the-use-of-privately-operated-criminal-detention-facilities/

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. More than two million people are currently incarcerated in the United States, including a disproportionate number of people of color. There...

01/29/2021

Who funded the insurrectionists? https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/follow-money-behind-capitol-riot

Super PACs contributed to the officials who objected to certifying the 2020 election results, writes Brennan Center Fellow Ciara Torres-Spelliscy.

01/21/2021

I'm about to check the news, and I'm not wincing! I'd kinda forgotten what this feels like.

01/21/2021

I've been worried he would start out timidly, but I am glad to be proven wrong. 100 more days like this, please!

"With the stroke of a pen, Biden ordered a halt to the construction of Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall, ended the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, declared his intent to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization and revoked the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, aides said."

"But Biden’s blitz of executive actions went beyond the pandemic. He targeted Trump’s environmental record, calling for a review of all regulations and executive actions that are deemed damaging to the environment or public health, aides said Tuesday as they previewed the moves."

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/executive-actions-joe-biden-climate-pandemic-20210120.html

“There’s no time to start like today," Joe Biden said in his first comments to reporters as president.

01/21/2021

President Biden. It feels so much better to say than I thought it would.