I’m almost certain that the US is about to Balkanize. The federal government has done a terrible job of responding to people’s actual needs for a long time now, and often even runs directly counter to those needs. They’re starting to fuck with blocks of states and we’re seeing more and more states that are aligning with each other against the federal government on issues. Dumbass is stuffing all of the departments that could do anything about it (the alphabet boys, the DOD, etc) with incompetent stooges and firing the actual competent people that believe in the national mythology and had the connections to foster what interagency cooperation there was. I expect that we haven’t seen the last of these folks. It’s a complicated thing we can talk more about, but generally, I think US balkanization is probably a good thing for everyone but the billionaires, so I hope they enjoy their footguns.
As such, I wouldn’t recommend paying too much attention to federal stuff; skim the headlines and make sure you and yours aren’t in danger, but it’s clear enough there’s not much we can do to affect federal policy unless we’re billionaires. Instead, start meeting other people and working on making the world you want to see locally. City council meetings are a great place to start networking towards that goal. Get to know your neighbors and (crucially) owe them a favor or gift them stuff (eggs from backyard chickens, cookies you baked, whatever). People are hardwired to form bonds to those whom owe us or we owe, and it’s very, very common in many non-capitalist society to consider an equal payment to be offensive (because you’re saying “I want nothing else to do with you”). Got a garage sale coming up? Plan with your neighbors to do a big sale together and get more people to show up. See someone working on something? Ask them “how can I help?” instead of “can I help?”. One of the biggest problems with the US is the lack of community bonds and (therefore) networking, and it’s easier than you think to change it. It’s very cheap and takes less time than you think. I’m begging you to just give it a try, and if you really hate it, then you’re off the proverbial hook.
I’m almost certain that the US is about to Balkanize. The federal government has done a terrible job of responding to people’s actual needs for a long time now, and often even runs directly counter to those needs. They’re starting to fuck with blocks of states and we’re seeing more and more states that are aligning with each other against the federal government on issues. Dumbass is stuffing all of the departments that could do anything about it (the alphabet boys, the DOD, etc) with incompetent stooges and firing the actual competent people that believe in the national mythology and had the connections to foster what interagency cooperation there was. I expect that we haven’t seen the last of these folks. It’s a complicated thing we can talk more about, but generally, I think US balkanization is probably a good thing for everyone but the billionaires, so I hope they enjoy their footguns.
As such, I wouldn’t recommend paying too much attention to federal stuff; skim the headlines and make sure you and yours aren’t in danger, but it’s clear enough there’s not much we can do to affect federal policy unless we’re billionaires. Instead, start meeting other people and working on making the world you want to see locally. City council meetings are a great place to start networking towards that goal. Get to know your neighbors and (crucially) owe them a favor or gift them stuff (eggs from backyard chickens, cookies you baked, whatever). People are hardwired to form bonds to those whom owe us or we owe, and it’s very, very common in many non-capitalist society to consider an equal payment to be offensive (because you’re saying “I want nothing else to do with you”). Got a garage sale coming up? Plan with your neighbors to do a big sale together and get more people to show up. See someone working on something? Ask them “how can I help?” instead of “can I help?”. One of the biggest problems with the US is the lack of community bonds and (therefore) networking, and it’s easier than you think to change it. It’s very cheap and takes less time than you think. I’m begging you to just give it a try, and if you really hate it, then you’re off the proverbial hook.