[jvanderbot]

Yes of course.

The problem is what can be done? The usual arrangement of letter writing or donating and voting is just more of the same cycle.

I'm not by any means in favor of what's going on, but some steam has to be let out of the system. And the real problem is trust in our institutions. What can be done about that?

[adamtaylor_13]

My thoughts exactly. I certainly have throes of people on Facebook complaining about this, but what shall I, the individual, do about this?

I have my causes to which I devote great time and personal effort, but if I stopped my life for every minor disaster I would spend my life shaking my fist at my computer.

I quite like my life and I don’t intend to spend it getting rage baited by never-ending news cycles.

Give me an action to take, not an emotion to feel.

[davidw]

I'm nearly 50 and have watched politics swing back and forth all my life.

That's not what is currently happening. It's not a minor disaster. It's something we'll take generations to recover from, if ever.

We can't do much, individually. Find people in your community working on stuff you care about and get out there and pitch in. Get involved. Make sure your local school district isn't banning books or being cruel to trans kids. Make sure you have good city councilors.

A friend of mine made this in the area where I live: https://deschutesgrassroots.com/

[BenFranklin100]

How old are you? What is happening now at the NSF and NIH will knock the US off its technological perch in less than 15 to 20 years. We are already fighting to maintain an edge as it is.

What this means to you personally and other tech workers is that many of the well-paying tech jobs will be going elsewhere.

[harimau777]

At this point I'm not sure that's a bad thing. It would be kind of great to be able to get a decent job somewhere that isn't a dystopia.

[saulpw]

It's not a bad thing...for those other countries. As an American you're not going to be able to get those jobs. You think a Chinese company is going to want to hire a remote American worker, who is 10 time zones away, doesn't speak the language, doesn't know the culture, and who wants to work only 40 hours a week? Maybe not even if you're willing to work for $20/hour.

[intended]

Why would there be decent jobs? And what makes you think there wont be only more dystopia if this descent isn’t arrested?

Like, it can ALWAYS be worse.

[BenFranklin100]

Whatever buddy.

[MaysonL]

Call and write your Congresspeople. Picket a Tesla dealer. Get vaccinated.

[trhway]

In addition i'd also suggest looking at deep roots of why half the country is cheering it up. They don't want their country to go down the drain. Then why? It was pretty illustrative how MAGA was cheering the stopping of condoms money to Kenya in the Trump's speech. It looked like a caricature example of the government waste. Well, condoms there is one of the most effective ways to slow down HIV spreading. I'd bet MAGA wouldn't want more people there to get HIV. I'd bet MAGA just didn't know it. To me the "[not]know" is the root keyword in all that destruction happening now.

[intended]

You cannot win an information war, when you dont know you are part of it.

Then you can’t win an information war, when it’s free speech, and counter speech is too complicated.

On the other hand - you sure as hell can convert the blitz into trench warfare, and gum up the war machine.

[brookst]

> I'd bet MAGA wouldn't want more people there to get HIV

That is incredibly charitable. Kudos, I guess, but not at all in line with what I’ve seen.

[jvanderbot]

If it were free, I guarantee every single maga republican I know would be ok with it.

It's an issue of tradeoffs, and the tradeoffs were never clearly articulated even to me the most staunch supporter of foreign aid. We've just accepted it and all such programs because we can see, because we trust, that the analysis was done and is valid.

Government does not currently have that level of trust with half the country, and worse has active distrust.

[20after4]

I think you drastically underestimate people's hatred. MAGA do indeed want for more people in Kenya to get AIDS.

[ifyoubuildit]

You can't be serious, right? How does someone come to believe nonsense like this?

[veleek]

I think it’s less that they “WANT” more people to get HIV but instead they do know that doing this type of thing will cause more cases and they’re fine with it because “gods will” and a bigger plan and all that.

[harimau777]

At this point, I'm not sure it matters that much. You can't convince people who want to be ignorant.

[fallingknife]

The institutions have lost trust by sneaking political decisions through under the guise of science. Science can tell you what will happen if you make a certain decision, but it can't tell you what decision to make because that is a fundamentally non scientific question. They can regain trust by acting in a trustworthy manner.

[jvanderbot]

Yeah I agree with this. If these tradeoffs were articulated and then everyone was allowed to personally buy "foreign aid bonds" then people could put their money to work in what mattered to them.

Instead the whole country funds programs that half of them don't trust, regardless of who is in charge.

[ModernMech]

Chain yourself to a Tesla dealership. I'm serious. Getting Elon Musk to cry about how unfair he's being treated on TV amidst the damage he's doing will do more to hasten his departure than any letter or check you can write.

[johntitorjr]

Mass protests and non-violent civil disobedience. I hope that we don't reach a point where going beyond that is required.

[yesdocs]

Yes, civil disobedience. Get into ‘Good trouble’

[hayst4ck]

Hope is not a strategy.