Azal

If you've read Orwell, then you know we have.

There's a weird moment where it's "Fuck, here we go aga... wait... it's not our fault this time?"

Pretty much.

I mean... there's a good side. We don't have the manufacturing for heavy equipment and we're pissing off the world so it might take a couple years before we actually have the heavy equipment to strip mine our national parks.

I live in a red state. We have a method of voting individual bills into our constitution as a majority process.

We have voted in a reform to get big money out of our politics. The Republican majority in the state forced another vote with the most obfuscated language to get the state to overturn it. We have voted time and time again against Right to Work which is an anti-union bill. The Republicans have constantly tried to get it to happen. St Louis managed to get its police out from under State control, leaving Kansas City the only state in the nation with the state controlling the cities police... until the Republican ran state forced St. Louis back under its control.

We voted in a higher minimum wage and guarantees for sick leave. We also voted in protections for abortions overturning the harshest ban in the state. These were overwhelming majorities. We as a state also overwhelmingly voted Republicans in, who have just overturned the min wage and sick leave bill, and are trying to figure out how to overturn the abortion protections.

So if we had a COMPLETELY free and fair election. I guarantee you, at least the portion of the country I'm in, would still vote for anything with an (R) next to their name.

and you’re lucky to have the NPS to make all of it so accessible.

Give it a couple years...

I will not be going back there until shit calms down.

Don't expect it for a long time. You talk about the Erasmus to teach people they're just like everyone else to prevent an internal war.

Here in the states, I honest to god cannot see how our two sides can come to a peaceful resolution and that terrifies me.

Instead, the anger will be pointed at minorities.

For a time. How long until "Democrats" are the ones that are taking their jobs and food.

And I don't mean the politicians.

I'm usually also following up on States Rights stuff. It's good to do that even with the illusion because when you live in the south, you're in the minority if you don't believe in states rights being the reason for secession.

I'm stuck here with you, living in a red state.

I spent years trying to convince people to vote. Not just presidential elections, the yearly local shit too. It's become one of the big things I've been doing a lot.

When I had people I respected proudly tell me they didn't vote either way, I lost hope for this damn country that if one this fucking important couldn't get them to bother, nothing will.

I can't blame people for leaving after that, I'm not sure I have the energy in me to keep beating the drum if I'm completely surrounded by people who are in far more danger than I am giving far less shits than I do.

I remember a post where people were asking millennials what their retirement plans were.

Vast majority of it was either suicide or hoping work would let them clock out before they dropped dead.