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19 Year Old DOGE Staffer Known as 'Big Balls' Reportedly the Grandkid of a KGB Spy (gizmodo.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/usa@midwest.social
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[–] 37 points 2 years ago (7 children)

I can’t believe I actually miss the days when government at least felt like serious business.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    All I wanted was to stop having to worry about what was happening in government. I wanted it to go back to boring bureaucracy. I wanted the news to stop being about whatever bullshit came out of Trumps mouth. Or Elon's.

    I just wanted it to go back to normal when it was rare to actually hear what the president said. That their speeches were a special event.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    All I want to do is to sink into the same oblivious disengagement that got us here.

    No sympathy.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That's a poor take. I'm exhausted after the last 15 years or so of being very engaged. Politics and the news media has changed. The way things are reported on is different. What is happening is different and what is being reported is different.

    I want politics to be about the bureaucracy again and not about power grabs and how to protect ourselves from fascists literally destroying it.

    I want to discuss actual bills and how we use the government to better our society. How we structure our laws and society. How we regulate and manage corporations. How we allocate our taxes to mundane and boring agencies and projects. I want to worry about the infrastructure and how we are paying for our roads and rebuilding the bridges. I fucking LIKE that stuff.

    I don't want to get into a ego fight and try and decipher some inane ramblings of a fragile president. I want a president who acts presidential with honor and respect. I want a president I can be proud of, even if I disagree with him.

    I want to go back to having political discussions where I may vehemently disagree with someone else but where the stakes weren't literally life and death. I want to have the kind of engagement where those disagreements didn't end is name calling and dismissing what the other side felt or their experiences. When we worked towards a compromise that advanced this nation towards a better future and took ideas and concerns from everyone.

    And quite frankly. I hate that I am afraid of what this government is doing and what this government is becoming. I hate that they are making me feel that way. I hate that this is probably the very same feeling the right has had that allowed these fucks to be in power in the first place.

    I fucking can't stand how divided we've gotten and your "no sympathy" response doesn't fucking help. I fucking hate how we write off "the other side" just because of what team they are on. If we don't actually hear what they are mad and upset about they'll go into their echo chamber with people who do and vote for the fuck that campaigned on destroying the system that wasn't listening to them.

    So don't think that I want oblivious disengagement. I just don't want to be in fucking fear for my life, the lives of those I love, and the lives of my community.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    What is happening is different and what is being reported is different.

    That's just the thing. It's different for you.

    I want to go back to having political discussions where I may vehemently disagree with someone else but where the stakes weren’t literally life and death

    The stakes are always literally life and death. You'll be hard pressed to come up with any kind of important legislation that ultimately doesn't save or kill people. Gay marriage is a life or death issue. Vehicle efficiency is a life of death issue. The environment is definitely a life or death issue.

    I fucking can’t stand how divided we’ve gotten

    The divides have always been there. Some people just weren't being heard. The problem isn't that we are divided, the problem is that it's no longer below the surface. It's not just the fascists and other Republicans (if there any other Republicans anymore), it's the comfortable suburbs that were satisfied to ignore rural and urban issues and act like we had all the time in the world to solve them.

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