For healthcare, researchers estimate the Affordable Care Act has saved tens of thousands of lives.
Income inequality is undeniable and I won’t pretend to have much to offer there, though it’s my loose understanding that, depending on the exact analysis, real inflation-adjusted wages haven’t necessarily been as stagnant as some flashier reports describe. There have also been massive failures in things like housing and education policy that have led to some costs disproportionately exploding.
Regardless though, my point is just that, even if it’s been slower than anyone might like, progress has genuinely been happening. It’s not been fairly distributed, and god knows we still have problems, but I think it’s important to not lose sight of that fact that we have come a long way too. That’s to say nothing about a lot of very obvious progress that has been made on some social matters like LGBT rights.
I’m still paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance I’m too afraid of bankruptcy to use, I will never be able to afford to send my kids to college, we’re still on track for a catastrophic 2°C of temperature rise, and there’s still ultra-rich assholes with too much goddamn money.
My vague understanding is that global warming is expected to peak - if current rates of progress continue - at 1.5 C, which is still quite bad, but not as harmful as 2 C.
To be clear, I’m very much not saying that everything is perfect. But at the least, for instance, that insurance isn’t barring you for pre-existing conditions and doesn’t come with a lifetime cap. And again, there are thousands of people who are alive and not dead. That’s probably not much personal solace, but it is still real progress.
But if this is the sort of progress I should expect from the Democrats, it’s no wonder they don’t get people excited to vote for them.
What I’m taking from this discussion is I should drastically lower my expectations of what’s possible. Maybe if I vote for another 20 years my kids will get a $10 credit on the $100k worth of student loans they’re going to have to take out to get an education.
I mean, realistically, yes. Political change is extremely hard and very slow. When you have a good third of the country in abject denial of basic reality and political structures that give them a disproportionate amount of power and that are designed to make change difficult, yeah, progress is slow.
The fight for women’s suffrage, for instance, started in 1847, while the 19th Amendment wasn’t passed until 1920, a good 70 years later. The Stonewall riots were in 1969, and it took nearly fifty years for marriage equality to arrive. This stuff is hard. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth fighting for.
For what it’s worth, the average student debt burden is around 37k right now, and for students of public universities, more like 27k. The difference in lifetime earnings that come with a Bachelor’s degree more than make up the cost, by a very significant amount. It should be cheaper, and I won’t deny that, but it’s still nearly always a good financial decision. Many states also offer free community college that can massively reduce that cost.
I know you’re probably just expressing a general frustration than anything else, and that’s valid, and I know this probably isn’t really that helpful and is more annoying than anything else. But it’s not all bad news, and I think it’s important to keep sight of that.
The fight for women’s suffrage, for instance, started in 1847, while the 19th Amendment wasn’t passed until 1920, a good 70 years later. The Stonewall riots were in 1969, and it took nearly fifty years for marriage equality to arrive. This stuff is hard. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth fighting for.
Worth noting that those rights were not won by merely voting, let alone merely voting for milquetoast candidates…
They were won by rather more extreme measures, precisely because merely voting didn’t accomplish the goals.
Genuinely curious, what issues are those?
Climate change, education, health care, and income inequality
For climate, American emissions peaked about 20 years ago and have been trending in the right direction
For education, both high school and college graduation rates have significantly [increased] over the last 20 years. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/184260/educational-attainment-in-the-us/)
For healthcare, researchers estimate the Affordable Care Act has saved tens of thousands of lives.
Income inequality is undeniable and I won’t pretend to have much to offer there, though it’s my loose understanding that, depending on the exact analysis, real inflation-adjusted wages haven’t necessarily been as stagnant as some flashier reports describe. There have also been massive failures in things like housing and education policy that have led to some costs disproportionately exploding.
Regardless though, my point is just that, even if it’s been slower than anyone might like, progress has genuinely been happening. It’s not been fairly distributed, and god knows we still have problems, but I think it’s important to not lose sight of that fact that we have come a long way too. That’s to say nothing about a lot of very obvious progress that has been made on some social matters like LGBT rights.
I’m still paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance I’m too afraid of bankruptcy to use, I will never be able to afford to send my kids to college, we’re still on track for a catastrophic 2°C of temperature rise, and there’s still ultra-rich assholes with too much goddamn money.
Yay progress.
My vague understanding is that global warming is expected to peak - if current rates of progress continue - at 1.5 C, which is still quite bad, but not as harmful as 2 C.
To be clear, I’m very much not saying that everything is perfect. But at the least, for instance, that insurance isn’t barring you for pre-existing conditions and doesn’t come with a lifetime cap. And again, there are thousands of people who are alive and not dead. That’s probably not much personal solace, but it is still real progress.
The latest research indicates we have a 50/50 chance of hitting 2C. I guess it’s better than 100%?
But if this is the sort of progress I should expect from the Democrats, it’s no wonder they don’t get people excited to vote for them.
What I’m taking from this discussion is I should drastically lower my expectations of what’s possible. Maybe if I vote for another 20 years my kids will get a $10 credit on the $100k worth of student loans they’re going to have to take out to get an education.
I mean, realistically, yes. Political change is extremely hard and very slow. When you have a good third of the country in abject denial of basic reality and political structures that give them a disproportionate amount of power and that are designed to make change difficult, yeah, progress is slow.
The fight for women’s suffrage, for instance, started in 1847, while the 19th Amendment wasn’t passed until 1920, a good 70 years later. The Stonewall riots were in 1969, and it took nearly fifty years for marriage equality to arrive. This stuff is hard. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth fighting for.
For what it’s worth, the average student debt burden is around 37k right now, and for students of public universities, more like 27k. The difference in lifetime earnings that come with a Bachelor’s degree more than make up the cost, by a very significant amount. It should be cheaper, and I won’t deny that, but it’s still nearly always a good financial decision. Many states also offer free community college that can massively reduce that cost.
I know you’re probably just expressing a general frustration than anything else, and that’s valid, and I know this probably isn’t really that helpful and is more annoying than anything else. But it’s not all bad news, and I think it’s important to keep sight of that.
Worth noting that those rights were not won by merely voting, let alone merely voting for milquetoast candidates…
They were won by rather more extreme measures, precisely because merely voting didn’t accomplish the goals.
Stonewall was a riot. Women were beaten and arrested for trying to vote.
I may take someone else’s advice and firebomb a coal power plant because it’s more fun and effective than voting.
I’m just so goddamn tired of it all. I may just block every politics community because all it does is give me heartburn.
But I’m still going to vote just to show that our system of government is crap.