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 "Well, give me a few minutes with that one."

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This actually isn't a bad response by Lew. Mostly because when somebody wants to debate you on something you just expressed freely in conversation, it's usually because they have some "intellectual trap" ready to spring on you. A lot of "debate" mostly relies on some person hating what other people think and learning to parrot arguments that are difficult for a person who has reached their conclusion through empathy and compassion and not abstruse legal precedents or distorted historical facts. Bombarding somebody with standard pundit arguments well-learned from propaganda and misinformation isn't meant to engage in fair debate; it's meant to get the person with actual feelings and belief in justice off their footing, hounding them with unanswerable questions because the facts the questions are based on are either lies or purposeful misunderstandings of the topic. Even saying "give me a few minutes" probably makes the other side feel justified that the person, like themselves, is simply parroting some political figure's beliefs.

I learned a long time ago that the only way to win a debate with a jerk that wants to debate is to not debate at all. Thanks, WOPR! Although WOPR didn't teach me the skill of mocking them mercilessly. I learned that on my own.

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 "Oh? What?"

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This is the most insincere follow-up to "There's more to life than wages." "Oh? Really? Please explain some of them so that I can reply, 'And guess what you need to do that? Money and/or security which money provides so just money, I guess!'"

It's like every Twitter conversation with some Devil Advocate loving Libertarian.

"I believe this thing!" somebody who cares about something declares.
    "Oh? Please debate me, right now, on this topic I don't give a shit about because I, being a free thinker, have certainly thought more about the subject than you have, a person who I have only seen declare this belief this one time, a belief you've surely come to by not thinking at all."

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 "Don't know. Too much of the modern economics for me, for there's surely more to life than just wages."

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Oh shit, Nate! Look out! Lew might be one of them artist types and you know how socialist and communistic they can be! Something more to life than wages?! Holy Revelations, Reverend Batman!

Imagine choosing a job based on other criteria than wages? Like whether or not by taking the job you're causing more harm than good? And then imagine taking a job that causes harm in the world, not explicitly done by you because you were, I don't know, filing or something, and being judged by the rest of the world afterward and thinking, "But I was just filing papers for the guy who exterminated six million Jewish people!" Imagine not having a backbone or the sense of justice to refuse to take a job that pays well if the place of business is harmful to the world in some way? Sure, I can see filing for Hitler for a bit, thinking maybe a change is needed, and possibly letting your optimism cloud the reality before you. But to stay in that job the entire time, probably just thinking, "Well, my family and I are safe and we're doing pretty good by Adolf!"

Just imagine that! Now imagine the final sentence of that last sentence but replace "Adolf" with "Donald."

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 "Can't believe you haven't been approached about Pinkerton work, pay over there's almost too good for a man not to sign up."

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Whew. Nate was only smirking slyly because he nabbed Lew and his incredible perception skills before the Pinkertons could. He's simply proud of himself, I guess. I really thought he was going to go on one of those "I'm not racist but . . ." rants.

One time, a bunch of college students from Chicago joined up with other new recruits from all over the place when the Pinkertons needed people to protect a factory in Pittsburgh during the Homestead strike. What Nate says here was definitely true at the time: pay was so good people who didn't have any experience or knowledge of what the Pinkertons did signed up. What they found themselves engaged in was an actual battle where seven people lost their lives. The Pinkertons, being composed of mainly raw recruits and college students, surrendered. Because here's the thing: money can buy you soldiers for the short term but people fighting for rights and ideals will stand for as long as they need to.

The only reason Lew hasn't been approached, and Nate should fucking well know this, is that nobody has the power to simply realize somebody has great observation skills! Except Nate, I guess. Which means Nate should totally well know it even more!

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 Nate's mouth went sly for a second.

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Oh no. A mouth going sly doesn't sound like the kind of way you describe somebody who isn't about to say something racist.

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 "You appear qualified, I should say."

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"I need a guy like you who doesn't have any preconceived notions of justice, concerned with only himself, and who can spot an immigrant in a crowd so we can shake him down!"

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 "No experience with any of that."

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Lew is one of those people who avoid having to care by always saying, "I'm not political." When politics means caring about only certain types of people, you'd better fucking get political real soon. I'd rather not say I'm political either! I'd love to say, "No experience with any of that," when somebody talks about cops killing Black Americans! I just want to play The Temple of Elemental Evil computer role-playing game for the eighth time and not worry about systemic racism and authoritarian movements to entrench the ideas of old white wealthy men! I have enough to worry about! But guess what? I do care about that shit! I care about making the world a better place. And guess what that means? It means change. So if you care about changing the world for the better, you are against conservative and traditional values that want to keep the world the same, with all its advantages for some and disadvantages for others. So fuck saying, "No experience with any of that." That's libertarian speak for "The individual is responsible for themselves and I'm just going to ignore how, in my ideal world, that would mean we're all fighting for survival against anything corporations choose to do for profit, or how systemic racism rooted in the founding of this country still has its tendrils in equality today. If I'm okay and successful and I never got shot by cops, everybody can do it too!"

Now I'm all worked up just because Lew was all, "I keep my head down!"

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 "See, it's not safecrackers, embezzlers, murderers, spouses on the run, none of the dime-novel stuff, put all that out of your head. Here in Chi, this year of our Lord, it's all about the labor unions, or as we like to call them, anarchistic scum," said Nate Privett.

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Here's Nate expressly showing his true colors rather than exposing them through off-hand comments and stacks of pancakes. But a close reader knew this was coming!

What Nate is saying is that regular detective work doesn't pay much. What really pays is infiltrating labor unions for the corporate money-pants elite and causing trouble so that the public sees labor unions as anarchist troublemakers instead of workers fighting for a fair and equitable work environment. Some guy trying to catch his wife cheating is hardly going to be able to pay for all the long hours of surveillance. But some corporate fat cat has plenty of money to throw at you for the simple act of othering labor unions so that the general masses see them as a threat to life and property.

Nothing's fucking changed!