MerryJaneDoe

Money is not everything, I agree.

Money is a HUGE motivator for many people, though. Enough to put a thumb on the scale and change history.

Aswering the only question on my mind, thanks for getting in early!

Asking the only question on my mind, thanks for getting in early!

Yes, and a cat is much more likely to bite me than a great white shark. Yet I still pet cats and stay the fuck away from great white sharks. Wonder why that is?

It wasn’t poor phrasing, friend. It’s exactly correct.

People absolutely give up. They give up because the truth is depressing and the lies are depressing and it’s exhausting trying to police our politicians’ corruptions and the media is complicit and it all seems hopeless.

It’s easier to just put your head in the sand until trouble knocks on your door. And the sad truth is that people will continue to eat shit until there’s nothing left to eat at all. Only then, when they are hungry and cold and scared, will they finally stand up and be angry.

pull the l, S, or G lever: reverse anthropogenic climate change, create an ethical economic system, sanction genocidal regimes, low chance your ideas win now - maybe later tho; NOTHING CHANGES

You pull the D lever. You get an immediate result.

Besides, compromise doesn’t work this way. Whether you like it or not, you live in a country that has embraced fascism. They are a clear and present danger to the entire globe. But, sure, tell the parents of the dead Iranian schoolgirls that “Hey, I wasn’t about to compromise my values just to save your little girl’s life!”

I don’t mean to be “that” person, but people have been talking about third-party candidates for as long as the U.S. has been a de facto two-party system. They don’t win, and it’s not the problem.

Just gonna leave this here. We are 15 years too late to do anything, and this is why:

The 2010 Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United vs FEC case effectively blocked the ability to enact limits on campaign spending. The Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to the billions of dollars that have since poured into the election system, enabling those with access to concentrated wealth to have vastly more influence over our political system than the average American.

https://americanpromise.net/citizens-united-vs-fec/?

Goes to Vegas.

“I don’t care how dumb you think I am, I’m not playing the game your way. If I don’t get four of a kind on the first deal, then I fold. Take my money, see if I give a fuck, I can always make more. I want fucking four of a kind, goddammit, and I want it on a fresh deal.”

That’s how you sound.

Americans are truly a lost cause if they still think voting will get them out of this.

I think “Americans are truly a lost cause if they think ONLY voting will get them out of this.” is more accurate.

If a citizen has a right to vote, he/she should exercise that right. It’s a good habit to get into. You shouldn’t pick and choose which votes might count and which might be marginalized.

Participation is foundational to civic duty. If you don’t participate, sit the fuck down.

If both parties are equally “bad”, why would this be a problem for just Democrats?

The more obvious answer is that the two “sides” are working class vs. super-wealthy. The wealthy keep control by appealing to voters from every background.

IMHO, the way to solve this issue is to vote for candidates who are willing to say “Tax the rich”. (Or “Tax the Epstein class”, I really like that motto!)

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

Also Bush.

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

Also Bush.

Bush crawled so that Trump could walk.

That’s one way to see it.

But you’ll have a difficult time convincing me that AOC and Fetterman are equally evil. (Yes, I realize that they don’t compete directly with one another in elections.)

Some candidates are worth a vote, simply because they DO truly care.

A far greater proportion of candidates are worth a vote because their opponent is so much worse.

And there’s no law that says you MUST choose a candidate when you think both are unqualified. Most people want to walk into a booth, choose ® or (D) and leave. If that’s not you, then don’t vote for a presidential candidate. Your other votes will still count. Vote in local elections and state elections. Vote in primaries.

STAAAAP!

Yes, the elections are essentially broken. (I’m surprised that nobody has brought up Citizen’s United.)

But that’s the point. Make them work to rig the elections, don’t just give up. The far right has spent billions (trillions?) to cast doubt on the system, to crush the democratic process.

If they are working that hard to undermine it, then there must be at least a shred of integrity left somewhere in that system. Voting in fair and free elections is the only thing that scares MAGA. If they are that frightened, shouldn’t you get your ass out there and vote?

Would it? Is that the only solution?

Why do Yemen and Switzerland have such high ownership and no school shootings?

Don’t get me wrong, less guns would be good for many reasons. And I think we can get there, eventually. But right now, I have zero confidence that our government is fit to enforce any law fairly. Neonazis are openly running the DoD and ICE, this is not the time to dial back the Bill of Rights.

It’s intentional, ofc.

Horace Mann, the father of public education, was a Puritan. An exerpt from a little article about Horace Mann here:

"It’s worth reminding ourselves now about the key characteristics of the industrial era, and how we can see them manifested in the education system that continues to operate across America to this day:

• Schools focus on respecting authority
• Schools focus on punctuality
• Schools focus on measurement
• Schools focus on basic literacy
• Schools focus on basic arithmetic

Notice how these reinforce each other. You enter the system one way, and are crammed through an extended molding process. The result? A “good enough” cog to jam into an industrial machine."

But school isn’t just preparation the “industrial machine”. It also serves as a propaganda machine. The master of Nazi propaganda, Joeseph Goebbels, saw schools as a place to indoctrinate the youth. That’s the purpose of history class in public education. To build the mythos, to encourage loyalty, to tell stories of brave soldiers fighting the ever-present enemies of the state.

I’m wondering what that same test would reveal about the average US household kitchen?

And, yes, I understand that a commercial restaurant should be held to a higher standard than my grandma’s kitchen. I’m curious, though, because I’ve seen a LOT of nasty kitchens in my time…

Men’s clothes sizes are just as likely to be ill-fitted, it’s just that men aren’t held to the same standard of fashion. A lot of men don’t mind wearing something a size too big or cinching their pants up with a belt. Nobody bats an eye.

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode, where they design the “perfect” family vehicle - and it costs too much for a middle class family to afford.

Meanwhile, it’s impossible to find and affordable car with manual transmission, locks and windows.

Equity

In a country where military service is mandatory for everyone over 18, are there really any “civilians”?