Or they just use the gig to grift. Seems like there would be a lot of opportunities to take bribes in a position like that.

< looks around at Western countries with militarized police forces, brutal suppression of protest, and high incarceration rates >

“This is fine. Tankies are authoritarian.”

Believe me, I’m with you. But a complication to this is that insurance companies employ millions of people. Nationalizing them needs to take all those livelihoods into account, and would be nearly impossible without going full on socialist (which I am completely for, I don’t think it’s feasible to continue a capitalist system when it is clearly breaking down and killing the planet while doing so.)

You’re preaching to the choir here, friend. I’ve been trying to shake people on the shoulders and get them to understand this for a while now.

The slightest bit of material analysis exposes the whole thing, but the minute you add “Marxist” to that sentence everyone shuts their brain off because of over a century of red scare nonsense. As designed.

When eating chicken wing flats, if you pry the bones apart you can slip them out and you’re left with a single piece of meat you can eat whole. You don’t have leftover bits in the middle of the two bones.

Also, keep nitrile gloves in your glove box or purse and use them when eating messy things like wings and ribs and cake.

Yes. The elites want to keep us on the edge of sustainability and at each other’s throats in order to keep us from seeing what’s right in front of our eyes. They build their empires on our backs. They exploit us and take the fruits of our labor and sell them back to us at unaffordable prices. You resorting to thought terminating cliches, insinuating I’m a Russian bot or troll is playing right into that.

I’m not your enemy. I’m a person who has a different perspective than you. I think you’re a potential ally in the coming struggle, and I don’t hate you for not sharing my ideology.

“What should I do that’s different?”

First, arm yourself and train. Second, educate yourself. Third organize.

This system is collapsing, and that collapse is accelerating. It would be in your interest to prepare for that.

You should read political and economic philosophy. If you can’t articulate why someone would be attracted to Trump without resorting to insults you could probably use a little exposure to things outside your comfort zone. I’d recommend reading “A people’s history of the United States” by Howard Zinn to see how the elites in this country have employed propaganda and force to suppress movements that dare to threaten the ruling class (and the atrocities we commit overseas in order to prop up our empire.) After that, the classics of the left have some pretty good ideas for how to organize a society.

Organize. Join or form a union. Participate in mutual aid networks. Learn what prefiguration is and try your best to help prepare for what comes after. Build networks both on and offline and share ideas, challenge each other.

Question your own beliefs and ideology. Try to look at them with fresh eyes. Follow them to their logical conclusions.

“If anyone is playing into anybody’s hands to undermine democracy”

Friend, democracy was undermined in this country before it ever had a chance to get off the ground. It was founded to pursue the interests of white land and slave owning rich men and hasn’t changed much in the intervening time.

The “good” thing is that capitalism is unsustainable and will collapse under its own weight - we just have to hope it does so before it kills us all and that we still have a chance to salvage the planet.

You can hardly blame them. It’s a 24/7 onslaught of propaganda and it’s incredibly difficult to break out.

And even when I initially woke up out of it I frequently questioned my sanity. Is this real? Is this actually what’s happening? How can nobody else see this?

And then I wanted to go back to not knowing because of the incredible weight that knowledge puts on your shoulders, but it’s impossible. There’s no going back, at least for me.

I didn’t tell you not to participate. It’s pointless at the federal level, but you knock yourself out, chief.

When nothing changes and we’re back here again in four years this will be in your head and maybe you’ll think about doing something different. My job is done.

I’m not your enemy. The oligarchs want us divided and you’re playing into their hands.

Let me ask you a question, what’s keeping you from running and winning the presidency?

I mean, outside of political experience.

I’ll answer for you: you don’t have the backing of billionaires to fund your campaign.

You don’t get to be a viable candidate for president in the US if you don’t promise to kowtow to the oligarchy. Everything else is window dressing.

Yes, some are worse than others. But the bottom line is that all of them prioritize the interests of the oligarchs over the interests of the people.

It’s not just the news. It’s TV shows, movies, books, periodicals, commercials - even music. The oligarchs have massive influence over all of it and can manipulate the public at will.

There are six companies that control a very large percentage of the media consumed by Americans. They are all mega corporations. The media Americans consume is mostly corporate propaganda, and it’s invisible to us. It’s the water we swim in.

Whatever opinions the oligarchs want us to have are dictated to us.

It is not a coincidence that all our national political races come down to a wire, that we are divided almost 50/50. We are being intentionally divided so that we don’t unite and challenge the oligarchy.