The Thought Police Are Watching the Taproom
There was once a useful boundary between public conduct and private conviction. You could buy bread, order coffee, or enjoy a pint without first demanding a political confession from the person behind the counter. That boundary is rapidly disappearing, particularly when activists can search public records, identify a business owner’s political contributions, and organize economic punishment without pausing to consider what the person actually supported.
Today’s Plausibly Live begins at a Tacoma brewery whose owners contributed to a Washington ballot initiative campaign. Their money was specifically intended to help repeal the state’s capital gains tax, but political nuance proved inconvenient once activists discovered that the organization also supported another initiative involving transgender participation in women’s sports. The resulting controversy raises a question extending far beyond beer, taxes, or any single ballot measure: Can citizens still petition their government without placing their livelihoods before a self-appointed tribunal?
From there, the show heads to Thailand, where two sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln managed to turn an ordinary night of liberty into an international headline. The official account describes a “drunken brawl.” Anyone who has served aboard ship may recognize something considerably less extraordinary: young sailors, a foreign port, an argument, and shore patrol arriving before matters became genuinely memorable. Dave draws upon his own Navy experience to explain how quickly “us versus them” can change after somebody insults the ship.
Finally, a conversation about Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas wanders into dangerous cultural territory: tattoos. One lyric from the film has remained lodged in Dave’s memory for decades, and he is prepared to defend its wisdom despite knowing perfectly well what the response will be.
Political surveillance, sailors ashore, craft beer, Dolly Parton, and an opinion almost guaranteed to generate angry email. It is exactly the sort of Friday journey one should expect from The Dave Bowman Show.
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