Skip to content

Nerdfighteria's Resident Comptroller?

2015-10-20 · letter vlog · John, Daniel Biss · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: fundraising ask, civic or action cta, guest or collab

John argues that his friend Daniel Biss, the channel's former resident mathematician and now an effective, non-ideological Illinois state senator, should become Illinois Comptroller, and announces a fundraiser for his campaign.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; Daniel Biss, the channel's 2007 resident mathematician: John's friend since 2003, a University of Chicago math professor who decided to run for the Illinois House

  • ★★ John recalls that in 2007 the brothers' YouTube channel had a resident mathematician, Daniel Biss. — 00:00:01 · Daniel Biss, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John says he and Daniel became friends in 2003, just after Daniel got his PhD from MIT. — 00:00:11 · Daniel Biss
  • ★★ John says that when they met Daniel was a University of Chicago math professor who didn't have to teach or publish, only think about math. — 00:00:22 · Daniel Biss
  • ★★ John was surprised when Daniel gave up his tenure-track professorship to seek a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives. — 00:00:33 · Daniel Biss
  • ★ John says Daniel, though charming, funny and intelligent, did not strike him as a politician, least of all an Illinois politician. (playful) — 00:00:44 · Daniel Biss

00:00:51 — Illinois governors' corruption record; Daniel's belief in public service; the 2008 loss Nerdfighteria funded, 2010 win, 2012 State Senate; bipartisan respect

  • ★★ John says most people who served as Governor of Illinois between 1961 and 2013 were later imprisoned for corruption: 'not a couple, not some, most'. (playful) — 00:00:51
    • check: most — doubtful
  • ★★★ John says Daniel believed government service was noble; in 2008 Nerdfighteria helped raise money for his campaign and he lost, but he won in 2010 and was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 2012. — 00:01:03 · Daniel Biss, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says Daniel is a Democrat but widely respected; a Republican member of the Illinois House once called him one of the smartest people (in cruder words) he had met. — 00:01:16 · Daniel Biss, Republican Party

00:01:30 — Daniel's record (retirement savings, conversion-therapy ban, drone warrants) and how this practical non-ideologue made John believe in politics again

  • ★★★ John says Daniel turned out to be an effective politician: he passed a retirement savings bill, a ban on conversion therapy for LGBT youth, and a bill requiring warrants for police surveillance drones. — 00:01:30 · Daniel Biss
  • ★★★ John says Daniel has kind of made him believe in politics again: in an age of American ideologues he is practical and sensible, wants to make lives suck less, and avoids inflammatory rhetoric. (hedged) — 00:01:43 · Daniel Biss

00:01:55 — Illinois careening toward disaster: pension debt, poor credit rating, no budget, the closed-but-paid State Museum, no serious reform

  • ★★★ John says Illinois has over $100 billion in pension debt, unique in the country, a poor credit rating, and is operating without a budget. — 00:02:01

  • ★★ Daniel Biss (quoted): Daniel, quoted by John, calls the effects of Illinois operating without a budget 'an insane patchwork quilt of incomprehensible nonsense'. — 00:02:05 · Daniel Biss

    “An insane patchwork quilt of incomprehensible nonsense.”

  • ★★ John says the Illinois State Museum has closed because of budget cuts, yet all its employees still go to work and get paid. — 00:02:15

  • ★★★ John says neither Illinois's Republican governor nor the Democratic legislative leaders are serious about the reform needed to end decades of fiscal mismanagement. — 00:02:24 · Republican Party

00:02:35 — Clip: Daniel on frustration, not getting to be Emperor, and why people of goodwill must accept the slowness of the process

  • ★★★ Daniel Biss: In a clip, Daniel says that when frustrated he asks whether something is broken and corrupt or he just doesn't get to be Emperor; when it's the latter, that's good, because it means no Mussolini. — 00:02:35
  • ★★★ Daniel Biss: Daniel says people of goodwill must accept the slowness of the political process, or it gets taken over by people deliberately trying to steal from it. — 00:02:44

00:03:00 — Daniel runs for Illinois Comptroller; why John wants him to win; politics run by money, a comptroller race costs millions

  • ★★★ John announces Daniel is now running for Illinois Comptroller, which John explains is basically the state's chief financial officer. — 00:03:00 · Daniel Biss
  • ★★★ John wants Daniel to win not because he's a friend but because he's a smart, independent voice and very good at math, useful for a comptroller. — 00:03:07 · Daniel Biss
  • ★★★ John says politics, especially local politics, are in some ways run by money; the cost of a state comptroller race shows what's wrong with American politics. (hedged) — 00:03:14
  • ★★ John says running for Illinois state comptroller costs millions of dollars. — 00:03:19

00:03:32 — John's November fundraiser for Daniel (last public appearance before VidCon, $40 tickets, signed An Abundance of Katherines); donate at danielbiss.com; get involved in politics; sign-off

  • ★★★ John will hold a fundraiser for Daniel next month (November 2015), his last public appearance before VidCon; tickets are $40 and every attendee gets An Abundance of Katherines signed by both. — 00:03:32 · Daniel Biss, VidCon, An Abundance of Katherines
  • ★★★ John hopes to see some viewers at the fundraiser and says they can also donate to Daniel's campaign directly at danielbiss.com. — 00:03:42 · Daniel Biss
  • ★★★ John encourages viewers, whatever their political beliefs, who live in a country where their voice matters, to get involved in the political process. — 00:03:43
  • ★★★ John says one thing he has learned from Daniel is that good, honest people in politics really can make a difference. — 00:03:53 · Daniel Biss

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description gives the fundraiser details: John and Daniel will talk government and politics on Saturday, November 21st at Ravinia Festival's Bennett Gordon Hall, Highland Park, Illinois. — video description · Daniel Biss
  • ★★ The fundraiser adds a special reception at 6:00pm in the Freehling Room next to the hall; main-event tickets cost $40 and include a signed copy of An Abundance of Katherines. — video description · Daniel Biss, An Abundance of Katherines

Humor (significant)

  • John recalls the halcyon days of 2007, when he was young and clean-shaven. — 00:00:05

    “and the state of Illinois had a budget”

  • Daniel became John's friend just after getting his PhD from MIT; John then apologises to friends and family for the joke. — 00:00:11

    “that's a lot of letters for a numbers guy.”

  • A Republican legislator called Daniel one of the smartest people he'd met, only he said a curse word instead of 'people'. — 00:01:26

    “Daniel is also one of the smartest curse words I've ever met”

  • Right after praising Daniel for avoiding inflammatory rhetoric, John says Illinois is careening toward disaster. — 00:01:59

    “See, I know how to use inflammatory rhetoric.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Daniel Biss · Illinois · Illinois Comptroller

Also: People: Benito Mussolini · Bruce Rauner

Projects: VidCon

Works: An Abundance of Katherines

Organizations: Democratic Party · Illinois House of Representatives · Illinois Senate · Illinois State Museum · Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Republican Party · University of Chicago

Concepts: campaign finance · conversion therapy · credit rating · ideology · political corruption · privacy

Events: Illinois budget impasse

fact: Illinois pension debt

Only in the description or credits: Highland Park, Illinois · Ravinia Festival

← Previous: Post-NerdCon Haze · Next → Benghazi: Explained