Sauerkraut

Cutting down the trees was out next biggest mistake. For example, the Europeans who colonized the US cut down 93% of the trees they found. They clear cut forests of giant oaks and blackwalnut trees. And we replaced all of that natural beauty with asphalt and endless urban sprawl.

But it seems when a company does the importing it doesn't count for some reason?

If lobbying is legal in your country then political representation is literally for sale which allows the rich buy to special privileges.

Old appliances broke, but they were made to be easy to fix so our grandparents could just swap out the broken parts. I helped my dad replace the compressor on an older fridge as a kid and the heating elements on my grandma's toaster. I remember my dad taking me to some locally owned mom and pop hardware store where we could buy replacement parts for old appliances off the shelf. My parents still have the toaster, but that store closed down and new stuff isn't made to be fixable anymore (most likely due to planned obsolescence thanks to late-stage-capitalism).

On a tangent, when you think about it, throwing an entire toaster away because one heating coil burned out or throwing awag an entire fridge just because the compressor gave out is not rational. But if you tell people we should have the freedom to buy repairable appliances then they look at you like you are crazy. To me, it is the other way around. Sustainability isn't political or a luxury, it is an inevitabe, unstoppable force of equilibrium.

A recent Factually! Podcast with Adam Conover interviewed a Political Science professor about why US politicians are so old and it came down to wealth. The boomer generation has more wealth and you need a shit load of wealth to jumpstart a political career so the US is stuck with older politicians because we are far closer to being an oligarchy or plutocracy than an actual democracy

I just want to point out that the idea that "questioning your party helps the enemy" is an authoritarian mentality. If we aren't free to demand that the left-of-fascism party stop supporting (funding) genocide, then perhaps the US has already fallen to authoritarianism.

Voting isn't a love letter, it's a chess move

The difference is you can win a game of chess. There is no winning with our two party oligarchy. Which candidate will give us universal healthcare? Which candidate will give us economic democracy by converting capitalist companies into worker co-ops or nationalizing critical industries? Which candidate will give us free college and the freedom to unionize without fearing for our careers? Neither of them? Cool. So either we vote for liberal corporate oligarchy or the fascist oligarchs will make us pay dearly for it. Either way we lose, but one is worse than the other. Our "democracy" is like holding a gun to someone's head and telling them they are voting to get shot if they don't vote to drop their pants and bend over. I'll do it, but only because the alternative is worse.

I knew all these single issue fake leftists were full of shit when it was revealed that Trump has been sabotaging peace talks and they weren't immediately outraged by that revelation.

Sorry, but if people aren't free to critique their party funding genocide and aren't free to protest genocide without " helping the enemy", then our system has already fallen to authoritarianism.

Don't get me wrong, I am voting for Harris. But our two party system is a fucking farce. It makes a mockery of every ideal that democracy is supposed to represent. Authority is supposed to be given from the consent of the people. But most Americans agree that our two party system is broken and yet our politicians have made it impossible for us to fix or replace our broken system because they benefit from it. A system forced on us by a minority for their benefit against the will of the majority is the complete opposite of a democracy.

Trump is 100x worse. Liberals might be in bed with conservatives on 90% of issues, but fascists actually want to use the military against us.

I upset people when I reject the idea that we are voting to save democracy because I believe the US's two party system is an insult to every ideal that democracy stands for, but I am still voting for Harris. Vote to save our country from fascism. Vote to keep your friends and family from being rounded up for supporting Healthcare for all.

Is it truly democracy if your only choice is between far right fascism and slightly less evil far right pro-genocide liberalism?

I hate fascism, but calling our two party system a democracy feels like a lie.

For now. But the whole world consumes US media which is allowing fascism to spread like a malignant cancer

Fellow millennial here and I'd say the common culture of the past that made us feel stupid for not knowing certain famous people is mostly dead. Society is so splintered in what media we consume that even my friends with very similar interests consume different games, movies, books, music, etc.

Many of us are involved in politics outside of voting. I write my congresscritters regularly, usually on matters of foreign affairs, for all the good it does. I donate when I can.

I hate to be a bad news bear, but calling and writing congress does effectively nothing. When it comes to actual policy (and not empty lip service), politicians only serve donors and lobbyists.

If we want real change then we will need to replace our broken and corrupt two party system with a modern multiparty democracy