“Who’s your political inspiration?”

“Henry George,” answers Adam Ash, wearing a sharp black fedora and wool overcoat.

A second-year from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ash is advocating for the repeal of the 1958 Onion Futures Act, a congressional law passed in response to a robust monopoly and significant manipulation of the onion crop market.

Ash and a supporting coalition, a group of twelve students that calls themselves “The Council of Concerned Citizens for Our Futures,” assembled the group For Our Futures, a political advocacy organization unaffiliated with the University of Chicago fighting to overturn the Act. According to their website, the onion is the only vegetable without a futures market. Futures markets allow buyers and sellers to enter into contracts to trade commodities at a set price on a future date. The lack of such a market for onions means farmers cannot hedge against price volatility.

“Every law, to some extent, restricts someone’s liberty, in some vague way, some minor way, maybe. And I find this abhorrent,” says Ash. “There’s a law on the books that is no longer relevant today…The whole point is that in any financial transaction, you take risks. And I think we ought to be able to encourage the American to assess things for himself.”

Don’t be fooled by Ash’s anachronistic charm; this is far from a bit. The group has spent more than seven hours canvassing on the UChicago and Northwestern campuses and amassed 230 signatories. Bloomberg’s Matt Levine reported on their efforts. They’ve attracted the attention of Illinois Congressman Sean Casten, former Chicago Mercantile Exchange Board Member Jeff Carter, and Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. They’ve inspired established Substack bloggers to take up the issue. At Northwestern, a Daily reporter captured their cross-campus canvassing endeavor, resulting in over 400,000 views, 4,000 likes, and 70 replies.

One’s first thought after hearing about this movement is likely, they’re kidding, right? However, if you assumed this was merely a fun gag to provide Maroons with some good-natured Friday entertainment, you’d be mistaken. The group first campaigned on the Quad on April 17, passing out 100 raw onions and collecting 131 signatures. This weekend, For Our Futures burst out of the Hyde Park bubble to distant Evanston. The Phoenix had the privilege of traveling up to Northwestern to see the second onion distribution, pulling back the curtain on the group’s dynamic.

Before embarking on our eighty-minute Uber, we were regaled with a full history of the Onion Futures Act. While we did not expect to be enthralled by the intricacies of seventy-year-old agricultural policies, Ash’s passionate narration made the story resonant. The rest of the car ride consisted of political discussions, such as whether Congress would be more effective if debates took place in a Roman-style bathhouse, and game planning for the coming distribution. 

Despite our constant bickering about Nobel Prize winners, campus architecture (having now seen it, it’s actually close), and U.S. News rankings, both UChicago and Northwestern students were united in seeking the repeal of the Onion Futures Act. One hundred Northwestern students learned about the Act, signed For Our Futures’ petition, and departed with their complimentary onion.

The group’s mission is clear: “We want this act to be repealed,” says Ash. To do this, he would like to expand the group’s awareness efforts, revealing the significance of fighting this peripheral economic policy. “I’d like to bring speakers to campus, [and] I’d like to bring different thinkers, because the policy for which we are advocating is a part of a broader discussion of what is the role of government? I think this could be part of a greater debate on that topic.”

For Our Futures is, ultimately, a hopeful group. It is a reminder that America remains a democracy, and it is proof that we have not floated too far adrift from the tenets of a representative democracy, where bootstrap grit and good-old-fashioned impassioned persuasion can make a political difference.

One “Concerned Citizen” cites the words of anthropologist Margaret Mead, who once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” He goes on, “It feels like, to me, in the time in which we are, that may not be true anymore. And we want to prove to ourselves and to you that we still live in a representative democracy where a small, concerned group of citizens can, in fact, change the world.”

“This is a one-paragraph wrong of a previous generation; it only hurts people, repealing it would only make people better off, and my sense is that if we can’t do this, then what can we do?”

As their movement gains traction, the group has begun to shift the tone of their online presence from absurd to actual. “For Our Futures was founded at the University of Chicago by a group of students united by the conviction that certain laws are unjust and should be repealed,” their About page reads. Their appeal ends with a call to Americans to defend “what it is to be an American,” followed by a passage from The Brothers Karamazov.

“This is postmodern politics—not only do people need to be a little unsure about whether it’s a bit or it’s serious, but rather the two need to converge. It has to be both for anyone to care,” says Jacob Neplokh, a third-year and an observer. “Matt Levine ended his [Bloomberg] report with: ‘Maybe a joke?’ That’s the mark of seriousness.”