It's time Amazon played by the same rules as everyone else [video]

This video isn’t an attempt to get elected, since he’s six months into a term.

It’s an attempt to build political support for passing a specific piece of legislation. It’s not “vaguely defined”, it refers to a specific bill that he wants to pass that has legislative text available on the internet.

Part of the problem is that sometimes the subcontractors are small enough to play by different rules. Or they don't have the means to support the staff when things go sideways. Or sometimes they're independent drivers, in which case the drivers themselves are responsible for the vehicle and any accidents, etc.

The subcontractors can just fold as well, leaving drivers in the lurch.

However, Amazon gets to dictate everything else about the job. The subcontractors have no authority or autonomy, but are made responsible for the heavier costs of the process.

Amazon wants to have an employer-relationship when it comes to dictating terms, but a contractor-relationship when it comes time to giving benefits or resolving disputes.

Great question.

If we presume that we will always exist in systems of people, and that there will always be potential bad actors seeking leverage and opportunity to grift through power, we need strong effort by the electorate to elect “good candidates” for lack of a better term. Sometimes we love the wrong people, sometimes we trust the wrong people. Our governance systems should be designed to accelerate good people, and impair bad people until they can be recalled or replaced through elections.

As always, think in systems. If our systems are suboptimal for the target outcome, we must decompose and understand the system, and improve the components that are leading to the suboptimal outcome. I would encourage you to run for office as well. The solution is straightforward: get good people who give a shit into positions of leverage and power, and get out of their way. "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." —- Plato

Because you can’t attempt to win if you don’t buy the lottery ticket. Just like a founder who spends years of their life grinding for a startup that will most likely fail, I’m just throwing some money into the ring to attempt to encourage a successful outcome. Success is never assured.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

You may ask: "Why are these lottery tickets and wins important at this point on the timeline?" That is a very important question.

Democratic socialists top MAGA candidates among voters in CNBC’s All-America poll - https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/17/democratic-socialists-top-ma... - July 17, 2026

> The results indicate that even with a number of self-described democratic socialists on the ballot, Democrats will have the upper hand heading into November’s midterm election, which is widely viewed as a referendum on Trump. It also suggests voters are warming to the idea of a more muscular federal government that provides additional services in exchange for higher taxes. The poll found that 32% of registered voters would be more likely to vote for a candidate if they describe themselves as a democratic socialist, while 50% would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. Twenty-nine percent of voters would be more likely to vote for a candidate with Trump’s endorsement, while 52% would be less likely. A candidate who describes themself as a supporter of the MAGA movement does even worse, with only 27% of voters saying that would make them more likely to vote for them and 57% saying it would make their vote less likely. Capitalism remains more popular than socialism in the U.S., the poll found, but has declined in public sentiment in recent years as socialism has gained. Twenty-eight percent of registered voters polled viewed socialism positively, a leap up from 18% in 2024. Fifty percent of registered voters viewed capitalism positively, little changed from 51% in 2024. Forty-eight percent of voters viewed socialism negatively, while 27% viewed capitalism negatively in the poll released Friday. Voters aged 18-34 preferred socialism by a margin of 18% points, while older age demographics preferred capitalism. That could reshape the electorate in the future. Or today’s younger voters could evolve their preferences as they age.

> “If these current attitudes were to persist over time, and the 18-49 year-olds of today were going to keep those types of attitudes, we’re going to have a seismic shift in terms of the national conversation and economic policy prescriptions that we see coming out of Congress and different places over time,” said Micah Roberts, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican pollster for the survey. “The attitudes of 18-34 year-olds today are the reality of our country in 20 years.” [My note: Draw your attention here, it is the most important fact when thinking in the context of this system.]

> Voters polled did not believe some form of socialism would be a good idea for the country, but by an extremely narrow margin. Forty-four percent of voters polled said some form of socialism would be a bad thing, while 40% said it would be a good thing — winnowing the gap by half from the last time it was polled. In a 2019 Gallup poll, 43% of adults viewed socialism as a good thing and 51% viewed it as a bad thing. [My note: extremely narrow margins on ideas can potentially be changed rapidly with some effort]

TLDR We are at a political tipping point due to demographics in the electorate, and if Democratic Socialists win and show they can deliver (as Mamdani is doing in NYC), it will lock in a positive uptake trajectory for them for at least 1-2 decades ahead. ~2M voters 55+ age out every year, and they are the ones with strong positive beliefs about capitalism (because they were lucky and had a positive experience within the golden age of US economics that will never repeat). 70+ age cohort owns 1/3rd of wealth. Progress occurs one funeral at a time (Max Planck). Young people may not be wealthy, and will likely never be wealthy, but they all get their vote.

https://www.apolloacademy.com/31-percent-of-wealth-owned-by-...

Amazon has already consolidated that power. They’ve just done it in a way where they are able to shirk some liability and maintenance costs onto their employees.

They’ve problem is that most of these are not really small businesses, in the same way that most Uber drivers aren’t really a small business.

They don’t drive a generic truck, they drive an Amazon branded truck, often an Amazon financed truck, often a vehicle specific to Amazon deliveries.

Can they use the Amazon-truck they financed from Amazon for non-Amazon deliveries?