No Stupid Questions

Right now, not much can done, but ideas will change over time as the people holding the old ideas eventually die from age.

In my opinion, the current shitshow is actually a sign of old ideas dying. It'll take time, but I don't believe the Project 2025 will be successful. It's happening brutally right now, but it will fail, because it's being done with only very slim support from the population.

You are correct in your noticing Democrats have been the party of decorum - and that's the penultimate refuge of the incompetent before violence. So, now we've established that the two-ply paper-thin veneer of legitimacy has unraveled, what should we do?

There are ways out of this. None of them are easy.

Vote with your wallet, vote in primaries. Go to community board meetings. Speak up, even if you're afraid of what anyone might think. More people will respect you for trying than you'd think, but don't waste the opportunity on something trivial.

Don't do business with anyone with destructive politics to the point where it causes you personal/professional inconvenience and costs your money. Support local communities. Talk to the guy on the street corner you always see but never approached. Maybe they can tell you something. Talk to the guy that makes your sandwiches at the store, your bartender, your barista, your cleaning lady, your laundromat people. Hell talk to your drug dealer/street pharmacist. Talk to your coworkers and don't be scared. If they snitch then you will know indicators better for next time, and trust me - you will survive the mistake. Maybe it's BS, maybe you'll realize there's an angle to help yourself and everyone else. Never do anything unless it helps more people than yourself, and doesn't have an obvious negative externality that you can account for.

Go to rallies, go to meetings. Show support in public for people you believe in, someone standing up next to you when you stick your neck out counts for more than you can possibly understand. Put yourself on the front line facing armed police. Make the point that you won't break, and that they can't scare you. Remain nonviolent until you have no other option, but be prepared when they invent reasons to hurt you withing reason - and remember that they may have thought they never had a choice (even if they did).

This is going to get ugly.

The next time someone annoys or inconveniences you, or says something provocative, ask yourself why, and ask yourself what personal hell they are living in made them do that?

If this sounds a lot like religious nonsense, that's exactly what it is. That stuff was (arguably flawed and wantonly misinterpreted) attempts to give people a map going forwards. We've been putting in an abysmal effort to do better for not only ourselves, but everyone else, and now everyone's hurting. Some people you can't help, they're so stuck into their monomaniacal vision of reality that they don't care who they're hurting, even if it's ultimately themselves through consequence or some other metaphysical mechanism whether you believe in it or not.

Find a community, build a community. Be a leader and set a better example for everyone around you.

It may already be too late but your actions going forwards from here will determine what survives, and whether THAT is worth saving.

And remember - it's not just humans. There are many other living beings on this planet that don't have the technological capacity, legal status or physical ability to make themselves heard, and our status demands at very least the acknowledgement of some form of responsible stewardship.

Good Luck.

To all of us.

Everyone gets off their stupid asses, pays attention, and votes in an informed way.

So, basically, we're probably fucked. People have repeatedly proven to be pretty God damned stupid.

I have no idea, but I think something will have to happen that affects the majority of Americans. Another sustained Depression for example. Republicans will have to crash and burn the country down before their voters will turn on them. They have to experience pain for themselves, for they have no empathy for others. They say they do, but they cannot. They say they are Christian, but turn their back on what they say his teachings are. I'm fed up and scared at the same time. I hit retirement age in less than 10 years. Social security won't be there for me. I did a terrible job of saving, I spent most of my paychecks on frivolous things like bills, rent, and food. I make good money now, but it's not enough. I know I'm yelling into the void, but it feels good to say it.

Try living here. I feel hopeless every time I go online or turn on the TV.

The democrats follow newprecedent to a point but not such that it just breaks the law. Like they would not try to define a sentence in the constitution to invalidate the whole paragraph thus making a paragraph that was written by the founding fathers to nullify itself thus calling the founding fathers brain dead dumb fucks. That being said they did sign off on the patriot act and have not acted to nullify citizens united. I live in the US so I sure as fuck hope we can but its been going on since the 80's with increasing acceleration. One of my biggest concerns is the most recent coming of age generation has no experience with somewhat sane political discourse.

We're in 'if you can't beat them, join them' mode.

Invest every dollar you can spare, because that's the only way to win in any of this. Both ruling parties care far more about your stock portfolio succeeding than they do about you.

The Republicans are much better about using topics they don't care as much about to generate support so they can achieve the ones they do.

The Democrats tend to want to die on every hill, which is ultimately a losing strategy.

War.

Emigration or civil war, I'd wager. My home country will be a fascist state during my lifetime, as I've been saying for about three to four years.

oh brother, you still think we're on a spiral, as in active? dude the spiral is complete, and now the monsters have control of all three branches of us government, they're going to do their damnedest to make sure they change just about everything that could possibly allow the power to be taken from them ever again. should have gotten the young people to vote, but wasn't important, looking a bit more important now, huh. dumbest thing i've ever seen, trump was president, fucked everything up, a million americans died bad from a pandemic due to his ineptitude, then young people stayed home and didn't vote democrat ...... can't make this shit up, the jokes write themselves. and now .... unstoppable destruction, and death.

Join your local advocacy organizations, volunteer and make the difference in your community/local area. It'll have more impact for you than you can ever do via federal level.

I’m still optimistic. While the severity of the current shitshow is unprecedented, the reality is we tend to bounce left and right. One side gets in power and does (or doesn’t) shit, until people get pissed off and elect the other side.

I am more worried about the death of media and rise of streaming. Just like the rise of TV changed who could be elected and how, new media is also changing that. So far new media helps elect people with dark skills, people farther from anyone you’d want governing. It’s not pretty, it’s not good, and it’s getting worse before it gets better. Truth doesn’t matter, echo chambers matter, outrage matters.