Our Winning Box

You'll see this strategy in action at tonight's presidential debate. Here's how we can use it to stop freelance busting.

I’m a big fan of the old television drama The West Wing. Sometimes, I’ll turn on the reruns at night and let the rat-a-tat dialogue lull me to sleep. A couple nights ago, as I was dozing off, up popped Season 7, Episode 2: “The Mommy Problem.”

One of the scenes made me shoot straight up in bed. It was describing a problem our side has in trying to stop freelance busting—and giving us the playbook to fix it.

The episode takes place during a presidential election year. In this scene, campaign manager Josh Lyman draws three boxes on a whiteboard.

Josh then explains to campaign staffers Otto and Edie that the boxes are about how to win the media narrative and the election. Inside each of the three boxes is the strategy for how their candidate, Santos, can defeat their opponent, Vinick—or vice versa.

OTTO
What are those boxes?

JOSH
People think campaigns are about two competing answers to the same
question. They're not. They're a fight over the question itself. 

Now, Vinick is opening up a big lead on security issues. That's box number one.

EDIE
Okay, so we need to do more military...

JOSH
No, because if the race is about that, we lose. But we're way ahead on most domestic issues. This new economic message could be our ticket. If we keep the conversation in box number two, we win this thing.

He has written "VINICK" over the red box and "SANTOS" over the blue box. He draws a checkmark in the blue box.

OTTO
What's in box number three?

JOSH
Trivia, ephemera, stuff we can't control.

He draws a question mark in box number 3, which is black.

JOSH
From today on, every speech, every public event - box number two.

Josh’s point is that in order for their candidate to win, the national debate needs to be focused on whatever people agree with their candidate about. Those are the issues inside box number two.

In real life, you can see this same strategy playing out in the Biden-Trump battle right now. Watch for it in tonight’s presidential debate. Biden is trying to make the upcoming election about abortion and democracy, while Trump is trying to make it about inflation and immigration.

It’s box number one versus box number two. They’re both trying to control and win the narrative.

Freelance-Busting Boxes

Applying this strategic thinking to the problem of freelance busting, here’s how the boxes for our battle look:

The narrative about the independent-contractor issue—in the media, on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures—almost always centers on box number one. It’s what the opponents of self-employment want everyone thinking about. That’s the box filled with a strategy to defeat us.

We need to shift the narrative to box number two in order to win.

This is how that shift would change news coverage about our issue:

Most People Are Box 2 Fans

We already know that most Americans agree with us about the importance of what’s in box number two.

That belief is certainly true among independent contractors, with study after study showing 70% to 85% of us wish to remain self-employed. In some professions, it’s more than 90%.

We also know this belief holds true among voters across party lines. The biggest test case was in California, where Proposition 22 asked voters to decide whether rideshare and delivery drivers should be classified as independent contractors or employees. Voters sided with independent contractors by a nearly 60-40 margin.

Pew Research looked at this question specific to rideshare drivers nationwide. In that survey, 62% of respondents said independent contractors.

When talking about all types of independent contractors—which is important, given that most of us are not rideshare or delivery drivers—the most recent survey I’m aware of came from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce three months ago. It found:

Just 21% of Illinois voters believe the way independent contracting jobs are currently handled is an issue that needs to be addressed by the government.

And:

Only 38% of voters support reclassifying independent contractors as employees.

And:

Voters who currently work as independent contractors oppose being reclassified as employees the most strongly (63%), and the 40% of voters with previous experience working as independent contractors are also opposed outright (55%).

How Can You Help?

Making this strategy work is simple. Use whatever skills you have to help shift the national conversation from box number one over to box number two.

Draw cartoons.

Create videos.

Write and publish.

Post on social media.

Speak on podcasts.

Paint something.

Chat with a few people at the gym.

Corner your uncle at a barbecue while his mouth is too full of bratwurst to argue.

Stand on a street corner like the dude who holds cardboard signs over his head.

For far too long, box number one has dominated the media and lawmakers’ minds. That’s never going to be our winning box.

Let’s all work together to shift the national conversation into box number two, so we can stop the freelance busting once and for all.