Chuck Darwin<p>♦️Edgar Uihlein Jr.’s second child, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Dick" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dick</span></a>, born in 1945, grew up in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Bluff and got the same sort of blue-blood education <br>(Phillips Andover, Stanford) <br>as his father (Hotchkiss, Princeton). </p><p>Amid the social upheavals of the ’60s, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Dick" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dick</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Uihlein" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Uihlein</span></a> didn’t waver: <br>He married Liz before graduating from college in 1967, <br>joined the family business and immersed himself in conservative politics. </p><p>He worked on the 1969 Illinois congressional campaign of Phil Crane, who won a crowded Republican primary in an upset on a hardline anti-tax and anti-communist platform.</p><p>In one of the only interviews he’s ever given, Dick Uihlein told National Review in 2018 that he got his politics from his father, <br>who often went by Ed. </p><p>At the family breakfast table growing up, Uihlein recalled, <br>“My father would talk about the importance of capitalism and the evils of socialism.” </p><p>Dick said that same year that <br>“my father shared many of the same values that I have, conservative values.”</p><p>Dick and Liz Uihlein continue to revere Edgar Jr., who died in 2005. </p><p>Dick Uihlein named the family foundation after his father, and it now sends♦️ tens of millions of dollars to right-wing institutions. </p><p>Among the recipients of the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation’s grants are the <br>♦️ <a href="https://c.im/tags/Federalist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Federalist</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Society" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Society</span></a> and think tanks that have pushed misleading claims about the 2020 election, such as the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Conservative" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Conservative</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Partnership" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Partnership</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Institute" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Institute</span></a> <br>and the<br> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Foundation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Foundation</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/for" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>for</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Government" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Government</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Accountability" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Accountability</span></a>, <br>as the Daily Beast reported.</p><p>Tucked in toward the back of the Uline catalog released this summer, <br>sent out to millions of homes and businesses, <br>was a long tribute to the “wise” Edgar Uihlein Jr.</p><p>“Father Uihlein, the head of the family, had a towering presence, and we respected his values,” wrote Liz Uihlein under a picture of her husband and father-in-law, <br>recalling “frequent dinners at his house, where business, issues of the day, fishing muskies and, always, politics were discussed.”</p><p>She ended on a note of nostalgia tinged with bitterness: </p><p>“Living your life and raising your kids were easier in an easier time. <br>There was no legalized marijuana, defund the police or social media. </p><p>We, like so many families, were raised with a sharp moral compass. </p><p>The rules were the rules, but it was OK.”</p><p>The Uihleins’ political giving reflects these longings for a bygone era. </p><p>Dick Uihlein is a major funder of the <a href="https://c.im/tags/American" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>American</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Principles" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Principles</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Project" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Project</span></a>, <br>which runs ads attacking what it calls “<a href="https://c.im/tags/transgender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>transgender</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/ideology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ideology</span></a>,” <a href="https://c.im/tags/abortion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>abortion</span></a> and the teaching of “<a href="https://c.im/tags/critical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>critical</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/race" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>race</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/theory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>theory</span></a>.”</p><p>Last year, Uihlein weighed in on ♦️recalling four school board members in a small town north of Milwaukee because of their support for COVID-19 <a href="https://c.im/tags/safety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>safety</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/protocols" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>protocols</span></a> and “<a href="https://c.im/tags/equity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>equity</span></a>” training for teachers. </p><p>More recently, in his home state of Illinois, Uihlein has spent more than♦️ $50 million to back the Republican gubernatorial candidate <a href="https://c.im/tags/Darren" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Darren</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bailey" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bailey</span></a>, who has drawn criticism for saying the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Holocaust" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Holocaust</span></a> “doesn’t even compare” to the toll of abortions and for accusing Democrats of “putting <a href="https://c.im/tags/perversion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>perversion</span></a> into our schools” for adopting a sex ed bill that includes information about gender identity and same-sex couples.</p><p>The Uihleins were huge beneficiaries of a tax provision promoted by Sen. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ron" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ron</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Johnson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Johnson</span></a>, R-Wisc., that was included in the Trump tax overhaul and are continuing to support the Wisconsin senator and fund attack ads against his opponent.</p><p>For all the Uihleins’ dismay at the disorder they see consuming the country, there is one domain where they can exert near total control. </p><p>Former employees of Uline told ProPublica the couple’s traditionalist politics govern the smallest details of how the company is run.</p><p>For new staffers, it begins with the <a href="https://c.im/tags/dress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>dress</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/code" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>code</span></a> in the employee handbook: <br>Women are not permitted to wear pants except as part of a pantsuit or on Fridays; <br>hose or stockings must be worn except during the warmer months; <br>dresses “that are too short” and corduroy of any kind are strictly prohibited.</p><p>The handbook defines “tardy” as one minute past an employee’s scheduled start time. </p><p>Just four personal items are allowed on employees’ desks, <br>with maximum dimensions of 5 inches by 7 inches. </p><p>One former staffer at Uline’s headquarters recalled a coworker who was forced to remove several drawings done by his young child. </p><p>“Liz would walk up and down the aisles, and if your desk looked off, you’d be written up,” he recalled.<br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Uline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Uline</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Dick" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dick</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Liz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Liz</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Uihlein" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Uihlein</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Doug" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Doug</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Mastriano" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Mastriano</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Jim" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Jim</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Marchant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Marchant</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/election" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>election</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/falsehoods" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>falsehoods</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/antisemitic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>antisemitic</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/speech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>speech</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Edgar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Edgar</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/John" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>John</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Birch" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Birch</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Society" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Society</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/fluoridation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fluoridation</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/segregation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>segregation</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Edwin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Edwin</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Walker" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Walker</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/George" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>George</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Wallace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Wallace</span></a></p>