I’m not saying never…but now is really not a good time.

Before Donald Trump came on the scene, I would have described myself as having socialist leanings. I certainly had more socialist leanings than my other friends who were Democrats. But that said, I am subversive in my personal life far more than my voting life. I never, for instance, voted Green Party or voted socialist, or any third party. And I have an admiration for realpolitik–when it helps America, rather than subverts it, of course. But I’ve always believed that feeding and sheltering Americans should be first on the agenda–not something we do if we’re feeling really generous. It should be the baseline.

I think most people would think of food and shelter as the very most important things to sustaining human life.

And yet…they have never been a focus for the Democratic Party. They aren’t even the top priority for Democratic Socialists. The priority is healthcare and education. And it has been for as long as I’ve been alive.

And, hey! Why not? Nobody should be bankrupted for these things, of course! I have very intimate knowledge about how student loans can absolutely destroy your life–they are a major factor in how I stayed poor so long. So, of course I’m for free college! My dad was a vet, and never would have had healthcare without socialized medicine! Of course I’m for socialized medicine.

(I just think it’s a little weird that these are things that require continuous funding and continuous political fighting, but we focus on them over food and shelter, which is a real gain that people can keep and can’t be taken away.)

But then Donald Trump came on the scene. And I stopped being a socialist. Because a Donald Trump being president never seemed like a possibility before. It was not something I could even imagine. I hated George W. Bush, of course–but I never once thought he would, within the span of his terms, end democracy (though he certainly helped pave the way, and we did worry about that then). He was merely someone to endure until we came back into office. And we’d get ’em in the end. In that world, “Democratic Socialism” seemed possible.

But not in a world where Donald Trump can be president. This is the absolute wrong time to centralize power and control in the hands of the government. And aid is power. Aid is control.

A lifetime of being someone who needs help has shown me that this is true on every level. It’s true among family, it’s true among friends, it’s true at work, it’s true in relation to government services: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

But everyone needs help. Everyone needs support. The best you can hope for is that there are limits on the control the hand that feeds you can exercise (whether a government or the business that employs you), and that the people who are wielding power are doing so with your best interests, and were chosen by you.

That’s the best we can hope for. But we also have to prepare for the worst.

When the government is enjoying extraordinary power and authoritarian control, and when the authoritarian president keeps saying he won’t leave in 2028, and when he believes in eugenics and is a white supremacist, it is not the time to nationalize healthcare.

Because sometimes, but not all the time, what is “free-to-use” becomes compulsory, in different ways.

Like, if your employment requires a physical, and there’s no excuse not to get one–it’s free, after all!–that in effect means you need the government to sign off on your fitness before you are allowed to make money.

(Or, for those of you in places that aren’t so fancy as to require a physical, think of how your employer likely mandates that you be on social media in some form or fashion. It’s free, and therefore, compulsory).

But if the government is not fit to determine your fitness, but does have an agenda that involves creating an entirely white nation where men are men and women are girls in accordance with theological definitions, then you have a horrifying problem.

And with that….I am so sorry….I am SO sorry….but…

We need to talk about the trans movement. Again…sorry.

I am specifically NOT here to debate what makes a woman a woman, or the nature of being, or biology vs a transcendent soul. Honestly, I believe ALL of those arguments are distractions. They are philosophical wormholes that lead you into arguments where there is no right answer, but everything offends everyone’s core beliefs, and the fighting never stops.

And yes, if you are someone who is trying to sow chaos in the United States, it would be a very clever device, to make these arguments the focal point of politics. But I actually think it’s worse than simply sowing chaos, and again, I’m getting distracted…

I would instead like to focus on what we ALL agree is true, and go from there accordingly.

Trans people are vulnerable. Trans people are at risk for suicide.

It doesn’t matter if you believe that they are who they identify as or not. Anyone seeking to permanently alter their body is doing so because they are desperate to save their own lives. That’s true of someone who needs a leg amputated, that’s true of a Hollywood actress who is afraid of losing her livelihood, it’s true a person wanting to embody a different gender: To them, they believe it’s a matter of life and death. That is the argument the movement makes about themselves.

When you are desperate to save your own life, you are in despair, and despairing people are easy targets. A depressed brain doesn’t trust itself. They need a drug, a product, a knowing figure, someone bigger, better and outside themselves to transform them and their situation.

Someone like a doctor, or a scientist, if you’re on the left. If you’re on the right, you might choose a religious leader or the military to transform you.

And some of those people may be a genuine help. But snake oil salesmen abound. ABOUND.

We know that the pharmaceutical industry (and healthcare generally) is profit-seeking and predatory. We know from what they did to Americans with painkillers that they are more than happy and willing to destroy people by pushing drugs on them that they don’t need, and that are detrimental to them in the long run.

The damage they wrought with opiates was ENORMOUS. There was no moral bottom. Why are we expecting them to suddenly be altruistic when it comes to the extremely vulnerable trans population? Why would they be–when despairing people are the perfect customers for drug companies?

Yes, we should be making sure that steps are taken to prevent drugs and procedures from being pushed on people who do not need them–because we absolutely know that this happens, and rampantly, in many different arenas. Our lives are dominated by advertisers and propagandists and scammers. We need to protect the most vulnerable populations from them.

Socialized medicine seems like the answer, doesn’t it? Because it would remove the profit motive, right?

I feel like, when people are imagining socialized medicine, they are imagining Bernie Sanders–smiling, waving, balloons–like he is the president, and he is everything he said he was.

But he’s not the president. And he’s not ever going to be the president. He is a senator.

So what does it mean if the Senate delivers socialized (nationalized) medicine to a white christian nationalist authoritarian leader who never leaves office, and who directs all of the money, wealth and authority to himself, and his posse, at the center? What does it mean when tech, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education and media all are under his control? What does it mean if the Senate can never seem to stop authoritarians from subverting the system, or from wrenching control from congress, and can never succeed in putting ciminals in jail, but somehow does succeed in delivering social services–like healthcare, and the like–to all?

It means we’ll keep rooting for them because they are delivering things we need, in spite of how they fail at fortifying democracy.

It means the things they celebrate as wins for the left, are actually wins for the authoritarians in the MAGA party.

What do you think being trans will look like when healthcare is free, compulsory, and under the leadership of people with very rigid aesthetic rules about what makes a man a man and what makes a woman a woman (and by that, I mean white Christian nationalists)? What will it mean to have a doctor affirm that you are trans, and that you need a medical solution (or anything–personality disorders and autism spectrum as well–anything that was once chalked up to personality) by an educated, enlightened scientist, when you’re in a nationalized healthcare system with a MAGA White Christian Nationalist at the top, who is somehow now in control of funding and has a White Christian Nationalist agenda (because the Senate just couldn’t seem to stop him from taking control, garsh, and shucks!)?

It looks like white Christian nationalist techno fascists deciding for the population how to embody the genders they assign them, and enforcing it with drugs and surgery. Because all of the mechanisms were put in place by well meaning people who just wanted trans people to be as free as anyone else, who wanted to be good people, and who were sold the wrong solutions.

Sometimes, when I look at the left, I don’t know what world they think we’re living in. I don’t know how they can advocate for the things they advocate for and at the same time acknowledge that this is a fascist state.

I think perhaps it’s difficult to imagine that this Trump thing is anything more than a blip. The old people are dying, they think, and then we’ll be on our way!

But the authoritarians are in positions of power at every level and in every arena in our country. We CANNOT have nice things until we decentralize power.

I will not say that it is impossible to have a healthcare system that takes care of everyone, that is easy to use, that is fair. But we cannot do ANYTHING until our democracy is fortified and unbreakable. It shouldn’t even be on the table right now.

Because everything we do before that point, only gives more power to fascists. And, like, particularly fucking crazy fascists. Fascists who openly explore ways to insert computers into our bodies. Fascists who spy on us and kidnap us. Fascists with zap gloves, reminiscent of the cattle prods in Handmaid’s Tale. Fascists who want to spur on Armageddon. Fascists who believe they own EVERYONE’s bodies. Fascists who have bunkers because they are actively trying to kill everyone. Fascists who sell our information to foreign enemies. Fascists who pump people full of opiates for profit. Fascists who are experimenting on us every single day.

What does it look like to merge the fascist government with the very fascist corporations we rail against for all of their crimes? What does it look like to call that justice? Call that “helping the working man”? (Because that’s what socialism amounts to: A merger of business and government. ) What does it mean to have a split mind where on the one hand you say the government is fascist and on the other hand make fun of people who don’t trust the government to take care of us?

What does it look like when the one who is oppressing you is the one feeding you? Giving you healthcare? And giving you no other choice? When the same entity doling out the pay also owns your house?

We cannot socialize medicine right now. Is that a real bummer, because we don’t seem to have other solutions to the very real problem of access to affordable healthcare? Yeah. It is. But it should also be an inspiration to anyone out there who thinks they don’t have a purpose: Find the answer to this problem. Because nationalizing healthcare is not it.

Democratic Socialists make sure to put the “Democratic” first in their name, but they need to put it first on their agenda. And if they did, they would know that many other steps would have to be taken before socializing medicine is possible. Their first priority would be fortifying democracy well enough that socializing services does not help authoritarians. They wouldn’t be taking such a major gamble, continuing with their agenda, uncertain if they will remain in control of it, knowing that if they don’t apply their (supposed) good intentions to it, that the right will apply their openly hostile intentions to it.

They would focus first on home ownership for every American. On preserving an individual’s right to take care of themselves as best they can, when the government no longer cares for them–when the government hurts them. They would focus on giving the people something that cannot be taken away without the people actively defending it–like land. They would prioritize putting corporate criminals in prison –not going into business with them and giving them the power of the government.

And it is suspicious that they don’t. If they are who they say they are, and working towards the ends they say they are working towards, and if they are as smart and aware as they claim, why are they not accounting for the very obvious problems that their timing presents? Why are they not careful and precious about not letting authoritarian hands on their projects, when the year is 2026, and we know fascism is a true and real threat?

They are either too dumb to lead, or they are part of the same mechanism subverting the American system. Because it is impossible to ignore that for as long as MAGA exists, and a movement for authoritarian control exists, that all centralization of power is a win for the authoritarian movement. Now is not the time.

We have to innovate new approaches.

Because the problems we face are real. The despair a trans person feels is real. The despair of chronic pain sufferers is real. The despair of being socially outcast is real. The despair of not having access to college and healthcare is real. The corporations fucking us is real. The government lying to us is real. The insane pedophile rings are real. There has been a massive movement to dismantle the idea that “We’re all in it together.” But WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER.

But our differences are being advertised to, 24/7. We keep yelling at each other in the vain hope that it will change hearts and minds: It won’t. Advertisers know this. Advertisers know that what prompts action is agreeing with your target’s conception of self–and then offering them a solution that will help them transcend their obstacles.

“Maybe girls don’t like you. But we know what you know: That you’re a hell of a guy that women should feel lucky to drool over. But we discovered something in our top secret lab: You just need to overcome a woman’s autonomy. That’s why we developed the Soft Raping Method: A Seduction technique so smooth, even she won’t be sure if it’s really rape! Buy our rape course, and women will affirm your identity as something special, something awe-inspiring, something superior: A Man Who Must Be Obeyed. Because remember, if you can’t control something as weak as a woman, we agree with your worst feelings: you should probably kill yourself.”

Here’s the thing about propaganda: If someone is openly disagreeing with you, it isn’t propaganda. Because there’s nothing to be gained from those interactions. It’s why open hostility makes a terrible lobbying/advocacy/sales/activism tactic. Because open disagreement does not convert into sales, into followers, into anything. But it does have the virtue of usually coming from an honest place–unless it is performative for the real target.

(When social movements started moving away from peace, love and forgiveness, and started moving towards “Petty AF”–that is when they gave up all of their power to affect change, and ensured that we would be lost in endless fighting).

Look at Donald Trump. We categorize him as openly antagonistic, but that is from the left’s perspective. The reason his base loves him is that he sympathizes with them and agrees with their darkest, most shameful fantasies and convictions.

I was a phone sex dominatrix. I know how powerful that bond is. The acceptance of people’s most shameful parts is probably the closest thing to a formula for inducing feelings of love.

And he told his “forgotten” Americans that they don’t need to be ashamed–in fact, they’d always been right. “Remember that time you were called out for racism, and you felt ashamed? Well, the shame is really the problem that needs to be corrected–it feels bad, doesn’t it? Why should YOU feel bad? How are you the oppressor, when you’re the one who feels bad? But I’m the solution to your shame. I, and I alone can stand up to the feminists, immigrants, and black people who have caused you so much shame. And remember, if you don’t vote for me, you should probably kill yourself yourself and everyone around you.”

His open hostility towards the libs validates the hurt feelings of his base. He is a salesman. He will (pretend to) agree with anyone to profit from them. And he doesn’t care who he is pretending to agree with.

This tactic is not just for the “stupid” right. It can be applied to anyone.

It’s, for instance, the tactic Bernie Sanders uses when he is talking to the left OR the right. Seemingly different platform. Same ability to convert followers. That’s because the tactic is the winner, not the platform.

There have been many videos essentially making the claim that Democratic Socialism is such a good thing, that it will convert Trump followers–if only they know about it. They show Bernie making new converts, and changing people’s minds.

Kind of like a faith healer getting someone to walk.

But what he is doing is just simply employing the same sales tactic any salesman uses: He’s agreeing with them, asking leading questions, getting them practiced saying yes to him, and then offering them a solution to their problem. It’s the same thing an advertiser does, the same thing a salesman does, the same thing a politician does, and the same thing a hypnotist does. It’s just simple mind-fucking: Make a bond, dangle a danger, position yourself as their savior with the solution, and right on time. What they are selling is irrelevant. What they are proving is only that you can sell anyone anything with this technique.

If there is one thing I know for sure as a starving artist moving mostly in middle class, liberal and progressive circles (where starving artists tend to be more readily accepted–which is good), it is this: It is important to their sense of identity that they be thought of as good people. First and foremost. It’s a great quality, and why they are my posse. Because almost all of them are willing to do the work, and wanting to be seen as good is far preferable to wanting to be seen as superior.

But how easy is it to use this tactic to get them to do the work in the wrong direction, and to make them do it with the passion of a zealot?

Every bit as easy as it is to use this tactic to convince a Republican that he loves Putin. Or to convert a libertarian to socialism. Or to convince people who claim to love freedom that it’s pro-democracy to allow an armed force to kidnap people and not give them due process.

Why did the Republicans go crazy? Because someone looked at their shame–the source of their greatest fears, as shame always is–and relieved them of that burden. He validated them and even they told them to lean into the parts of themselves that give them shame. It was liberating, and transcendent for them. And when their actions made the world cry “shame!” at them, he was there to alleviate that shame once again. He was there every time, alleviating the thing that hurt.

And generating the thing that hurt.

In an endless, mind-fucking cycle.

Just exactly like what the pharmaceutical industry did with opiates.

Like what the tobacco industry did with nicotine.

In this light, is affirmative healthcare a good idea? Or does agreeing with the patient as the starting line actually take away the patient’s autonomy?

When you go to the doctor and say, “Doc, there’s something wrong with me.” And they say, automatically, “I agree. There’s something wrong with you. And I alone have the key to fix it,” what choice do you have but to do as the doctor says? After all, they did see the same problem you saw. You trust they are of sound mind because you are of the same mind. They are as concerned as you are, so you know you are not an alarmist–you have a REAL problem, and so solving that problem takes on even greater urgency. And they are wearing a white coat. And they went to school for a long time. And they have an answer. And you don’t. You are going to do as they say.

This is the gamble we all have to take all of the time when getting services we need and cannot generate ourselves, and there is no getting around it. When you have a choice of doctors, though, and they are all individuals in competition with each other, you have a chance to find one that is not a snake oil salesman. You have more autonomy. You have more of a chance.

But what happens if we have affirmative, single-payer healthcare in an authoritarian state? What happens when you combine Bernie Sanders with Donald Trump? (and remember, there are bad actors all the way down).

What happens when you combine Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump?

Affirmative healthcare sounds like kindness, and the left is very concerned with being good people–and also, vainly (and everyone is vain) about being perceived as good people.

And we all know what it’s like when doctors dismiss our problems. Not long ago at all I was livid, because I went an hour and a half to see the doctor, because I thought I was having a heart attack. But the doctor wouldn’t even talk to me about it, because my heart rate, when he took it, was fine. In fact, my blood pressure and cholesterol and basic shit were ALL fine. But DAMMIT, I FELT IT! And I started thinking about ALL of the times I went to the doctor and was dismissed, and how mad it made me. Because,dammit, what am I supposed to do? Something was wrong with my heart! I was there, I felt it, and it deserves more exploration! But something occurred to me the other day:

I’m still alive, and I’m healthy. The doctors were right. I didn’t have a medical problem. At least not anything serious. I needed to eat something. I needed to not worry so much. I didn’t need medicine. And what are they to do? Affirm to me that I have a heart condition I don’t have, just because I THINK my heart is beating out of my chest? They didn’t see it. It is dangerous to fuck with someone’s heart if it’s not broken. And they have real problems to deal with.

Of course, if i’d gone home and had a heart attack and died, as people sometimes do after being dismissed by a doctor, I suppose I’d feel differently, but, at the very least:

There is absolutely no profit to be made from dismissing my concerns. But there is profit to be made from affirming them. I can trust, even though it PISSED ME OFF, that these dismissive doctors were at least honest. Dismissing me didn’t make them richer or better thought of or give them leverage. I can’t vouch for them being competent, as I didn’t get the chance to know–but they were at least honest.

The Devil Needs an Advocate.

There has been a smear campaign against the devil’s advocate for quite a long time. He’s an annoying little bitch that rains on all of our parades. I get it.

But when everyone is declaring themselves savior, and declaring everyone else the devil, the devil must have an advocate.

It’s the most American concept in the world. (Which is a good thing).

“How DARE you even QUESTION!–The Questioning is abuse!” must be a thing that is done away with. It must be done away with when Trump does it, and it must be done away with when social movements do it. Questioning should be something we become well practiced in doing and in taking. It should be a part of how we present new ideas.

And, perhaps, we can develop some decorum around it so people aren’t routinely pummeled beyond what they can take. But we can do this. We used to be able to argue with joy. I remember. I was there.

But every way we are going about getting a more fair, more equal society is wrong. The way we are communicating is wrong. And all of it–ALL OF IT–helps the authoritarians destroying the United States.

The longer I am alive, the less I believe in a single politics, and more believe that there is a time and place for different political measures. In times when things are more decentralized–when each town has it’s own kings who pull all the wealth–it makes sense to tax those kings and create programs and assistance for the whole community, and the for the whole nation. Because it makes it possible for new kings to arise and supplant those who are unfit. People have the freedom to move places with different methods of distribution. There is choice. There is competition of ideas. It helps democracy.

But when all of the wealth is centralized in just a few hands, and those few control the government, we cannot voluntarily centralize authority more by asking the central authority to provide for us. We have to decentralize power, wealth, authority, or there is DEFINITELY no such thing as “Democratic” socialism. I’m sorry, and it’s unfortunate, because when are we gonna get ours? Believe me, I know–but we will be signing a death sentence for democracy if we nationalize industries while the Trump Regime still lives and thrives. I mean, are we fucking nuts?

We cannot know who is right, and who is wrong, so long as we are desperate, and communicating through an advertiser’s medium. We are all mindfucked.

We have to stop being desperate. We have to stop being mindfucked.

The first thing we need is a home for every American that they own, and which cannot be taken away. When I say own, I mean “Own.” Free. As a starting line. I promise you, it is more possible than creating healthcare system that works in 2026 America.

We remove the economic pressure that makes so many people despair, that makes so many people need help to begin with, that makes people targets for those who would take advantage for their own aims, and we give the people autonomy. Free homes, for keeps. Not “if you behave.”

And then we will know who is truly in despair. Who was simply missing the freedom to operate and live and thrive in the way best suited to them, in accordance with their own pursuit of happiness–and who truly needs help. Who truly needs help functioning at all–as opposed to “Who needs help functioning in THIS oppressive system?”

And THEN we can build systems that truly work. But not while under fascist control. Not when it results in serving someone else’s philosophy of how we should act and who we should be.

The people must be free to make their own choices. And we cannot be free so long as we are shielded from offending points of view–which is to say, “choice.” We can’t when everything is centralized under a fascist regime.

Democratic socialists believe in ushering in socialism democratically. But is anything democratic when it is pitched to you through algorithmic propaganda, and affirmative sales techniques? Does it matter if it was ushered in democratically if it does not stay democratic? What guarantee, in 2026 could we possibly have that our efforts will not be taken over by authoritarians on the right in the near future–if not within the same maneuver? What makes the left think we are immune to subversion?

The answer is always to act locally.

The good news is, we don’t have to elect a socialist to the white house or anywhere else to redistribute wealth where it’s needed, get people the healthcare they need, let people live their lives as they see fit, be well fed, be well educated, or have a home.

We only have to get very seriously and actively involved in our communities and try so solve some of these problems ourselves for the people where we live. We don’t have to work out the problem of how to solve healthcare nationwide. We can come up with new systems for our town that gets people where we live the healthcare we need–and use it as a test run to see if it even works. We can use non-profits to try and get land and homes for the people. We can collectively pressure local employers to come together to get group healthcare for their employees. We can fill local government with people working to solve these problems. We can build local economies that support us.

We can be decentralized, and still help each other, still share, still make a more fair system. Not only is it possible on a local level, but the only way to make social programs work democratically is in such a decentralized manner.

The people are in pain, and they want something that will help them in one fell swoop. And when you start trying to change things in your community, you realize just how hard it is to change anything at all. You realize that it is constant, lifelong work to make a community that works.

And we need to take on that work. Because it is unfortunately the only way. When we say that we have to give up the idea that anyone is coming to save us, it doesn’t mean we have to become subversives or assassins or a militia. It means we have to build our own democracy from the ground up, right where we are. It means we have to devote ourselves to the cause of democracy and a society that works. Our problems will NOT be solved top down.

Our. Problems. Will. NOT. Be. Solved. Top. Down.

We have to get out of our houses and talk to one another, work with one another, and make a physical reality at home that everyone can live in. We cannot solve our problems with online movements–EVERYTHING you see online is ultimately for the benefit of the tech lords. Politicians who get a lot of play online ultimately benefit the tech lords. There are no options presented in the online space that will actually help us save democracy and alleviate economic woe and exploitation.

What we need are homes. That we own. And corporate criminals in prison. If we don’t have that, it doesn’t matter what system we have: It is undemocratic. Because the people have no leverage and must submit to authority.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: America is not suffering from too much capitalism. It is not suffering from too much choice, too much private ownership, too much competition. It is suffering from a lack of those things. This is not “late stage capitalism.” This is capitalism subverted into socialism. That is where we already are.

Because the military is also socialism. The police force is also socialism. Government merged with business is socialism. And Donald Trump is a red commie bastard.

Democratic socialists have presented themselves as the only alternative to Trump–echoing his own words when he said that he, alone, could save his MAGA base.

MAGA and The Democratic Socialists (good band name) did not open up the two party system to alternate ways of thinking: They supplanted it with two parties that both stand for authoritarianism.

But where is the party that stands for individual rights? Where is the party that stands for home ownership? Where is the party that stands for the rule of law, and putting corporate, treasonous criminals in prison?

If they don’t stand for those things, they do NOT stand for the working class, they do not stand for democracy, and they do not stand for your autonomy as a citizen.

And if you think that redistributing land, or relieving building fees and lifting unnecessary building and zoning regulations, is harder than creating a singular healthcare system that works well, is innovative, accommodates everyone and gets everyone paid? You are absolutely insane. And I don’t know what world you are living in.

The people need land, and they need to get it locally.

As for me, I’m in the beginning phases of my own work towards this end. I am starting a non-profit theatre company with a mission to develop and support new generations of performing artists. This year, the goal is to fund the work. Next year, the goal is try and fund the people putting in the hours to make the work happen. But the end goal is a “Home Fund” for our associate artists. It’s inspired by the “Write-A-House” program in Detroit many years ago. Because for the arts to continue, artists cannot be destitute or housing insecure.

I don’t know what will happen, but I know what I am driving at, and I know that doing the work inside of the domain I operate in will yield better results than trying to get everyone in the whole world to agree with my vision for the future. If I get ten artists homes that they own, then that is a lifetime of artists being able be artists for the benefit of my town. That’s ten people who will not end up on the street, and who can build a stable life.

And if other non-profits see the effect, and follow suit, then we’re onto something. If other theatre companies across the nation start to do the same, then we are getting somewhere.

But when you are decentralized, and the help you give is permanent and can’t be taken away, then every gain is a true gain–it is not just a symbol in the political theatre playing out before us–like healthcare, which is something that will either come to fruition because it helps fascists, or is something that will have to be squashed by fascists and rebuilt by socialists every few years–which is to say, will never truly take shape.

The physical community where you live deserves the passion and fervor you bring to national causes online. Become the leader you envision, and choose leaders to follow who are local enough that you can see their work up close, and know if it truly makes your community better. Test your ideas locally, and see if others want to copy your model–do not force. Let the work speak for itself.

Trump can’t save you. Bernie can’t save you. AOC can’t save you. But YOU can strengthen democracy and quality of life where you live.

The truth is, we can’t even be certain the elections will have anything to do with reality.

In 2016, Russia began subverting the American people and haven’t stopped.

In 2020, there was an insurrection that left many people confused about who won.

In 2024, the Democratic candidate was replaced undemocratically, without the people’s input, at the last minute.

In 2028, Trump has said repeatedly that he will not leave office.

It may be some time until our elections are truly trustworthy. But they will start being more trustworthy when the people are not in despair–which breeds confusion and bad choices, and opens the door to snake oil salesmen.

YOU are the president of your small sphere of influence. Don’t abdicate the responsibility. Don’t be like our shitty politicians and think that the work of politics is all rhetoric and arguing. Put your ideas to the test in your own community. Spring into action–in the realm that is appropriate to you.

And get the FUCK offline. What is viral is propaganda. What is popular is propaganda. Anything that finds its way to your algorithm is propaganda, and whether you are left or right, it is all meant to lead you to one place:

Centralized, authoritarian rule.

And always, always, ALWAYS remember the Undisputed Truth: