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Comment by labster | Hacker News Reader

We’re not going to get to vote again. There is no future, America’s dreaming.

What do you mean? There are several special elections happening April 1. New Jersey and Virginia have governor elections this November. Mid-terms in every state next November. These elections, like all elections, are run by states, not the federal government. Which ones do you think are not going to happen?

they're talking about federal elections 2 & 4 years. Trump is working to wreck the current independent FBI/NSA/SS and put in toadies loyal to him. They will effectively ignore any malfeasance that red states do at the polls to make sure Trump and republicans win all the races or at least a large enough majority to stay in power indefinitely. So he can call up and say "find me enough votes". It's likely the primary purpose the Project 2025 as first stage and re-enactment of "night of the long knives" in Germany, 1934. Just a bit less bloody and take place over the next year or so.

Hopelessness is their tool, not ours.

Apathy and nihilism are unproductive, even if current outcomes are bad. Without hope, there is no motivation for change. Act. Do. Vote. Volunteer.

Already did that. Studied climate change, volunteered and served as an officer in the local Democratic Party for years. Did lots of precinct walking, wrote postcards, helped fundraisers, organized protests. Things have only ever gotten worse, and we’re barreling towards +6°C by 2100.

Honestly if people actually voted for Trump after the last time, how could they ever be convinced to change? Maybe we deserve what we get.

Possibly. But difficulty fixing large problems doesn’t exclude incremental progress in other ways. Changing national policy is hard. But stuff in your city? State? A lot easier to make tangible change.

In the last decade I’ve seen big improvements in housing policy and zoning laws in my municipality. There are ongoing efforts to shift more of the local energy grid to renewables. This won’t make a big difference in the grand scheme of things, but it does improve things locally and chips away at the larger issues.

It’s easy to lose hope with all the huge problems we see, but no one person can fix climate change, economic inequality, the cost of food, etc. It’s good to hear folks like you were fighting the good fight, just remember you aren’t alone and it’s not up to just you. Keep the hope and optimism alive if you can, we need it more as things get harder.

There will be election... But how?

- how many free media? - will the queues be longer in some places? - will Trump have money from all the big companies? - Will some people have accidents?

Even Russia, Cuba and North Korea celebrate elections

We sure as shit are or there will be civil conflict. Period.

They’ll try to do elections Putin-style where the votes magically all end up being in favor of the incumbent and the opposition party becomes increasingly criminalized.

Elections are run by states, not the federal government. “They” will not be able to control them in this way.

The federal government can do a lot to support state actions to disenfranchise people, especially when the courts go along with it. And then there’s the threat of state legislatures to override the popular vote in national elections on the basis of “fraud”.

Man it's American exceptionalism all the way till the end. Do you see all the other countries that have gone through the exact same transformation without and such civil unrest? What exactly makes the US different from them? Name absolutely anything.

All this bluster and wishful thinking is exactly why we're here today.

"you should admit your situation there would be more dignity in it"

~120 firearms for every 100 citizens?

https://www.ncja.org/crimeandjusticenews/nearly-half-the-wor...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/world/us-gun-culture-world-co...

> Nearly Half The World's Civilian Guns Are In The U.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ihrGNGesfI

And guess which team is itching to use those guns the most?

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