So are we just ignoring the take that this looks very much like extortion or is that just so obvious it’s not worth talking about

I think it’s the 18 that’ll turn away some

A group designed to raise money for a candidate is not allowed. Anyone who uses that money forfeits their campaign.

I thought I covered that

The best a PAC could do would be to flood the common coffer. Which means every candidate benefits up to the maximum allowable.

The numbers I gave were purely for example sake. I’m thinking total maximum as a function of the place to be governed overs median salary or gdp. Idk. Something tied to the areas economic and social health to incentivise improving the average person’s lot in life instead of the richest few

Easy step we can do. No contributions to individuals running for an office. Any money goes to a common fund that is distributed amongst the candidates. Equally. With a maximum amount per person correlated to the number of parties involved in the election.

Example: mayoral race with 2 parties and a fund of $500,000. Each person receives 250,000 for their campaign.

Same race but with $1,000,000 in the fund? That’s right. Each member gets 300,000 to use.

3 parties involved with that 1M fund? 333,000 per person but goes to 500,000 when the funds available allow for it

Catch: all donations go to this fund and all money used from this fund must be accounted for. Anyone found to be using their own money or any donations that did not come from the fund constitutes an automatic forfeiture of their campaign and any unspent money of their allotted amount gets returned to the funds.

Said returned funds do not get distributed to the other campaigns.

Any unused money of the fund at the end of the election is used by civil services budgets.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

John 2:15 - And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

Basically: when young, God and Jesus loves you. As I get older, I’m not above whipping and flipping tables at people who continue to use the religion as an excuse to hurt and subjugate others.

Growing up, I was always told to remember John 3:16. As I get older, I become more and more partial to John 2:15.

Nz was a thought but we’re looking at Canada. Our skill sets make it a smoother process for entry and it’s not as much of a logistics issue

Oh, don’t get me wrong, even with all that said and in the works, I still have to think of my immediate family and am working on plans to get the hell out of this specific hellscape. I currently live in one of the states that is completely governed by sycophants of the regime so every day I have to worry about my wife and daughters futures and see their rights erode away despite my best efforts.

The process is not fast and we’ve only just gotten to the point of seriously looking at where we’re going and gathering documentation so until we actually do the move, I’ll be doing what I can to change the cultural narrative.

See, your point might have some merit if you assume that’s all that is done which, you may have missed due to some personal perception filter, I explicitly did not say.

Like, I’m not sure what alternative you think is realistically possible. Overthrow the entire system 1776 style and start fresh? Burn it all to the ground and replace the power vacuum with… Nothing?

Nihilism and anarchism are great and all. No, really. I do adore them and spent a lot of time with them. I wish I could spend more time with them but if I want to have any kind of change, I have to focus on things with a layer of realism.

Realistically, the overall population of the US, due to decades upon decades of propaganda and selective teachings of history, does not realize how shitty the system is and how much is either completely broken or otherwise stacked against the common person.

This means that real meaningful change will either take radical shifts to the government and people with outside intervention the likes of which haven’t been experienced in the west since around 1940 (there are other examples that may be better but it’s readily available in my head) or gradual shifts of the populous starting at the local levels.

I hate the system in the US. It’s built on slave labor and when that was removed legally, they just changed the name and worked around the issue.

It’s built on stolen land and the destruction of entire peoples histories. There is an entire side of my family’s history that we can’t trace because the records were destroyed and it wasn’t passed down orally.

It is still designed to fuck over the poor and improve the lives of the richest people despite its supposed calling of equality.

These are all things that I know about the system. I can’t change the past but I can affect the future. I can encourage people to be proactive with improving things starting at the most immediate local levels and up. Co-ops, local markets, actual evidence based educational programs, a community for the community. But these shifts are cultural at this point. We’re still dealing with idiots who fell for the red scare and don’t know any better (see previous comments about propaganda based education). It’s difficult to affect culture in ways that it’s predisposed to actively not go. Not impossible but requires enough effort to actually change that most people give up and say “nah, it’s a lost cause. Just give up and forget about trying to improve the system from within”

So, in summary, I choose not to give up. I probably won’t make a meaningful impact but if I can at least nudge it in the right direction so others have even the smallest chance of fixing things, I’ll do what I can. I choose to plant trees that I’ll never be able to enjoy the shade of.

Pretty sure we can do both things. Like, it’s not an either or situation. We can combat the failures of the system with the rules laid out in that system while also championing local level improvements

And that only matters if it is enforced.

For me, I’d love to see the monoculture farms go away. Reduced meat eating would go a long way to that end.

It doesn’t require completely abstaining but even a 10% reduction in the need for feed and other processed items would free up land that could be used in more sustainable ways.

To that end, I’m also a fan of alternative farming methods such as vertical farms and promoting even small balcony boxes that may only produce pretty flowers or herbs.

Every variety of greenery in as many places as possible would combat the poison we’ve pumped into the world over the past few centuries.

Bees are literally the worst example of humans exploiting an animal. The bees choose to live in the beekeepers boxes. They can and do leave if they decide they are not treated well by the keepers.

They overproduce honey when in a keepers box. They do not use it all and any competent keeper does not take all the produced honey at once.

Similar to how we harvest cinnamon, we take enough to use but not enough to cause detriment to the source.

Bees are not like chickens or other livestock where they’re forced into small areas and kept only as long as useful then slaughtered. The biggest thing that threatens bees is not the keepers but anyone nearby who uses pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides… Which isn’t usually the keepers.

She’s been a beaten wife for a while now who puts on a thick layer of makeup to save face but these last few years there have been cracks in her mask. Glimmers of being fed up with the shit that the current leadership has been forcing down our throat. False optimism does not help but optimism as a way to fortify enough to follow through with ousting the current regime and start repairing the damage caused does.

The fact that a supposed safe district was so thoroughly flipped is a hint towards even more in less safe areas.

Being a current resident of said state, I’d prefer not being in the bomb path but would understand it

Nothing he brags about has any basis in reality so why would this

At this point, I think I’d even be ok with other countries bringing democracy like we’ve brought democracy to other countries over the past few decades. Sure, it could get worse but, it’s already a low bar

What I believe they mean is that the same people who’d use it as a demeaning slur and something to avoid are the same who would never touch a book after not being required to do so … And likewise vote for people who’s entire platform is fear mongering and hate towards the “other”.

Unmanaged switches are cheap and useful. Managed are better but not everyone has the need for them

Is it bad that I’m partly hoping the US pokes the Canada polar bear and they go full Geneva checklist on the administration? Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve burned the white house