Hi There. We Exist.
When it comes to independent contractors, GOP adviser Oren Cass has the same blind spot that has hurt Democrats at every turn.
The think tank American Compass dropped a podcast a few days ago featuring founder and Chief Economist Oren Cass. He talks with President Biden’s outgoing Federal Trade Commission chairwoman, Lina Khan.
Now, Cass and Khan make for an interesting pair. He’s running a self-described conservative think tank, and she’s been accused of “waging war on American business.” Conservatives and anti-business regulators, generally speaking, tend to be about as like-minded as outside dogs and indoor cats. Sharpened claws and bloody fangs tend to play a prominent role in their “discussions” on Capitol Hill.
And yet, that is not the case with Cass and Khan in this delightfully wonky podcast (I write that as a total geek, with love).
About 35 minutes in, Cass brings up what he describes as the “very large and powerful unions” that existed in America in the mid-20th century—unions that, according to Cass’ book The Once and Future Worker, he thinks of favorably and differently from today’s unpopular unions that need reform. Cass asks Khan if she thinks about the unions of the past century, and if she considers labor organizing in the context of competition issues that come before the Federal Trade Commission.
Khan responds by discussing the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, and her belief that it’s wrong to use antitrust law in a way that prevents workers from organizing to improve their workplace conditions and exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
Far from all of this being a historical discussion, Khan then brings up modern-day independent contractors. She tells Cass:
“We have seen at various points over the last couple of decades the law again being used against workers, specifically independent contractors who were looking to organize, say, with certain types of rideshare companies, so I’ve made clear during my tenure that I don’t believe that’s the kind of proper purpose of the antitrust laws.”
Cass nods along with Khan as she speaks, as if it’s a given that when talking about independent contractors, the most appropriate description is a rideshare driver who is being denied the right to join a union.
Neither of them bring up a few facts that I would suggest are quite relevant to their conversation, and that, when omitted, do a real disservice to anyone listening:
More than 90% of today’s independent contractors have nothing to do with rideshare driving at all;
Most of today’s rideshare drivers, along with most Americans, do not believe that their work is the same thing as a traditional, unionizable job;
Most of today’s app-based workers do this type of work less than 10 hours a week to make extra cash, and say they wish to remain independent contractors;
Nobody is being denied the right to seek out or accept a traditional, unionizable job. As Khan alluded to on the podcast, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 protects everyone’s right to do exactly that;
The data on rideshare drivers is in line with data about all kinds of other independent contractors, 80% of whom prefer to be self-employed, often for reasons of better health, wellbeing and family caregiving;
All the recent efforts by union leaders and Democrats to try and strip us of our freedom to be our own bosses—a very different reality from Khan’s spin about independent contractors wanting to unionize—has resulted not only in the destruction of people’s income and careers, but also in widespread grassroots opposition among voters of all ages, genders, races and political leanings.
If you’re nodding along with me as I lay out all of those bullet points, then you understand at least part of the reason why I was so frustrated after listening to this podcast that yet again promoted the false stereotype of independent contractors being Uber drivers who want unions.
That same kind of stereotype is in Cass’ book, which I just finished reading. It felt eerily like reading The Fissured Workplace by academic David Weil, the philosopher king of Democratic Party freelance busting who helped to lead that party down a horribly misguided policy path that hurt countless people and galvanized significant nationwide opposition.
Weil, in his 424-page book about the increasing number of independent contractors in the United States, couldn’t find a single legitimate or happy independent contractor to discuss or interview. He instead idolizes the unionized companies of the 1950s and makes clear that today’s independent contractors should be reclassified as unionizable employees, period and end of story.
Similarly and equally frustrating, in all 250 pages of Cass’ book about the future of work in America, I could find only a half dozen paragraphs about independent contractors—and none of them were good. Cass is far less rosy than Weil about today’s unions being pure sunlight and salvation, but he shares the same blind spot about who today’s independent contractors are.
One paragraph in Cass’ book juxtaposed our increasing share of the workforce with a paragraph about the “devastating collapse of social health.”
Another described the independent-contractor business model as a way for “employers to avoid various regulatory burdens.”
Two paragraphs described the “gig economy” and—you guessed it—Uber in less-than-favorable ways.
None of it sounded anything like the reality that most of us are experiencing as financial advisers and real-estate agents and translators and freelance writers and all kinds of other professions, with millions of us earning at least $100,000 a year.
Study after study shows that for many of us, our health and wellbeing improve when we are self-employed; that quite a lot of us find self-employment empowering in all kinds of ways; and that 60% of us so deeply prefer being our own bosses that no amount of money would convince us to take a traditional job.
For the most part, we are neither being exploited nor clamoring to join unions—a fact that conservatives have helped us to amplify significantly in recent years. From state legislatures to Congress and the White House, the vast majority of Republicans have had our backs and fought to protect us from Democrats who have been leading the charge to undermine or destroy our business relationships and livelihoods. From Rep. Elise Stefanik in New York to Rep. Kevin Kiley in California and everywhere in between, the Republicans have stood on the side of our freedom to earn a living.
To be fair, I can understand how a self-described conservative like Cass and an appointed Democrat like Khan can agree on the idea that unions today just ain’t what they used to be. The evidence on that is clear.
But it’s unfathomable to me that after everything we’ve all endured in recent years, and how loudly we have raised our voices in self-defense, they continue to share such a big blind spot about who independent contractors actually are.
Strong Families, Strong Communities
Cass’ book The Once and Future Worker is about the need to change public policy that affects how Americans work. His big idea is that instead of focusing on numbers like gross domestic product as a key metric of successful policymaking, we should instead be focusing on whether families and communities are stronger. Generally speaking, his idea is that good work is the basis of strong families, and strong families are the basis of resilient communities.
I don’t know many people who would disagree with that general notion. Certainly, if you’re able to put food on the table and a stash a few bucks in a savings account, then your family is in a better position, you tend to feel less stressed, you can make time for kids and relatives, and you can be a more engaged member of your community.
What I do disagree with is Cass’ apparent belief that it’s not possible to achieve these goals as an independent contractor—something that Weil also falsely believes, even though millions of us prove it’s quite possible, and even preferable, every single day.
While I have zero problem with lawmakers who want to strengthen American families and communities, we need to disabuse lawmakers of the notion that supporting independent contractors means the opposite of achieving those goals.
I actually wrote an entire article back in 2021 about why family caregivers, in particular, want to keep the status of independent contractors protected. One of the people quoted in that story told me about her efforts to educate rank-and-file union members about government attempts to restrict self-employment:
“We’re very much a union family, and we come from a very blue-collar area with a lot of carpenters, operators, laborers, pipe fitters—we know tons of these kinds of people. When I tell them about this, they say, ‘I don’t support that.’ They're all like, ‘A union is as American as apple pie—but so is entrepreneurship. Shouldn’t we all be in this together?’"
Indeed.
And historically, we have been.
In recent years, though, we have been living through some horribly warped thinking at the highest levels, with policymakers insisting that being an independent contractor conflicts with having stronger families and communities.
This deeply misguided belief became a foundational element of Democratic Party policymaking, written right into the national platform. It wrecked people’s livelihoods and ultimately turned all kinds of independent contractors against those lawmakers in the voting booth. It turned a lot of former allies against union leaders, too.
There is simply no reason for the rising faction of the GOP that Cass is aligned with to make this same, easily avoided mistake as it tries to create a conservative labor movement based at least in part on his ideas.
Cass’ book was originally published in 2018, but it has new significance thanks to its cover blurb from JD Vance, who, before becoming our nation’s Vice President-elect, called it “brilliant” and “among the most important I’ve ever read.”
Cass also has the ear of several people being given significant power by the incoming Trump-Vance administration, such as Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio (who also provided a book blurb) and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri who is reportedly working with the Teamsters union on a new version of the anti-independent contractor PRO Act.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien—whose union has relentlessly and remorselessly pushed for freelance busting in California, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.—also appears to have had influence in President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Labor Secretary. That’s Lori Chavez-DeRemer, one of precious few Republicans in Congress who supported the anti-independent contractor PRO Act, in her role as a representative from Oregon.
Cass’ framing and language about families and communities can also be seen in language that O’Brien used just a few days ago, when he posted this about President Trump appearing to side with union members in a dispute that threatens to cause a strike at East Coast ports:
It’s interesting to me that Cass’ think tank dropped its podcast promoting Lina Khan just a few days ago, too—right after President Trump announced his intent to replace her in the job of Federal Trade Commission chair. Maybe it’s a mere coincidence, but at the same time that Trump is championing these union workers at the ports, he’s also showing Khan the door at the FTC—suggesting more complex thinking about these labor issues that should be good for independent contractors.
Khan has proudly used her FTC role to help make the Biden-Harris administration the most aggressive freelance-busting government force in American history. Time and time again, these Democrats have told us point blank that they are putting the wishes of union organizers not alongside the wishes of independent contractors, but instead over us, including when it was clearly against our will:
All of this activity by the Democrats in recent years has directly contradicted how President Trump protected us during his first term, and how Republicans have continued to try and protect us in recent years. I took it as a hopeful sign that Khan’s incoming replacement at the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, dissented against some of her actions targeting rideshare companies like Lyft. Ferguson’s writings were not about reclassification, per se, but they made clear that he believes the same thing a lot of us independent contractors believe about ourselves: that ambition, skill and effort epitomize “the sort of can-do spirit by which millions and millions of people have achieved the American dream.”
This is a much different view of self-employed Americans than the stereotype that Weil, Khan and Cass continue to promote, of exploited independent contractors being denied the ability to join a union.
We need to completely junk this Orwellian, DEI-type narrative that wrongheaded policymakers have been using to try and restrict our freedom to earn a living while claiming that they are protecting us.
It’s nonsense, and it needs to stop. If some people want traditional union jobs, they can go get them. If other people want to be independent contractors, that’s fine too. If one person wants a little bit of both, then good for him. Enjoy. Live and let live. Freedom. This is how America has always rolled.
There’s a reason so many frustrated independent contractors voted for Republicans in the recent election. We see ourselves as natural small-business allies, not as a societal problem to be solved.
Having a Voice Matters
Some 62% of Americans say they would prefer to be their own boss, while only 35% would prefer to work as an employee for someone else.
Put another way, most Americans want what a lot of us independent contractors have achieved. They want the freedom that we have been fighting to keep in the face of all the recent government attempts to take that freedom away.
I do think President Trump understands this part of the American spirit, given his past actions to protect our freedom to be independent contractors. I also think most Republicans understand this, given how hard so many of them have fought to protect our freedom in recent years.
Heck, the need to protect self-employed Americans is even written into Project 2025, on pages 590 and 591. In fact, Project 2025—which Cass reportedly helped to write—calls on Congress to act and protect self-employment, explaining it like this:
“The value of flexibility extends beyond ride-sharing and other platform work; more than half of people who did independent work in 2021 said they cannot work a traditional job because of personal or family circumstances such as their health or caring for a child or family member.”
In other words, all kinds of independent contractors exist outside of Uber and Lyft, and quite a lot of us are choosing to earn income this way so we can have stronger families and communities.
That’s the reality, and it’s why Republicans need to continue to give people who understand independent contractors a meaningful voice. Appointees such as Harmeet Dhillon, who is President Trump’s choice for a role at the U.S. Department of Justice, are a great step in that direction. Dhillon posted this in 2022 about the horrible freelance-busting law Assembly Bill 5 in California, amplifying a tweet from Congressman Kiley about the Biden Labor Department’s actions:
Our government is also in desperate need of real representation among actual independent contractors—people who have walked the walk of earning a good and happy living that includes self-employment, and who represent the majority of self-employed Americans.
As Cass himself has written:
“We believe that workers share more fully in our nation’s prosperity when they have a seat at the table.”
He’s right about that. And it should apply to successful, happy independent contractors too. That’s why people like me are raising our hands high and offering to help.
If only to keep reminding everybody that we truly do exist.