This depends on your framing - most of my detractors believe the Penguin gimmick itself to be moving away from honesty - many people have told me if I believe what I said I should have the courage to stand up and be myself and say it. I think that being myself and saying it negates the message in a world where decisions are made about a person prima facie. So the Penguin is here to stay.

Medium has monetised engagement, which is entirely fine - but I think of it like calories. You can get the same number of calories from many junk food, or you can get the same calories from a home cooked meal. Medium hasn't worked out a way to differentiate between the two. It presumes what is popular is what is good. They are trying to mitigate against that a little bit with human boosting - but the boosters themselves are prone to ignore more controversial pieces, which is a shame - because if you do them right they promote the most discussion.

You and I will fundamentally disagree on how much socialism is too much. I don't think there's enough in the US and your country is becoming more dangerous as a result of the psychological pressure exerted on those lower down in the economic pyramid. This has a knock on effect in every subsequent generation and the US gets more unstable - and more expensive to run in the long run. I think socialism saves money in the long run by reducing future problems - today's funded and free youth club is tomorrow's empty high-cost prison space, that's the argument I'd use with Conservative voters. It hits them right in the capitalism. ;o)