I’d diagnose the problem similarly to the person you replied to and I don’t think I’d feel compelled to offer a specific remedy either.

People have been experimenting with economies and societies for thousands of years and we are in a relatively new money/power/control stuck spot right now. I’m sure there’s been a system in history that would work much better than what we’ve got, but I just read recreationally so I dunno what it is and just because something worked 1000 years ago in North America doesn’t mean it’ll work here today. I wouldn’t mind giving something new a shot though, what we have is not working for most people.

It’s odd to me that the reasoning given here and in the article for this problem for the Democrats is that they aren’t acting Republican enough and they are too leftist. It is so clear that the Democrats have managed to do very few of the things they say, and what they do accomplish is either just what Republicans would do, or hamstrung by the Republicans and media blitzed. That’s why they lose ground. Becoming Republican will also lose them different ground. It doesn’t feel like the data should need an explanation in the first paragraph like that, it skews the interpretation of what is pitched as objective.

I think all these economic and business interests are just desperate for the old Republican party back and are trying to sculpt the Democrats into it because they were close enough already. Probably successfully. It’s pretty bleak all around.

Also I’m sorry I can’t leave it, but are you saying that the BLM “cohort” prefer trump in there? I’m not going to say that anyone is enthusiastic about Biden, but Trump encouraged beat downs across the country and threatened to march the military on these folks. (Would have done it too if it weren’t for the woke liberal adjenda of General Mark Milley).

Or Jay Inslee from Washington State who isn’t running for reelection, or maybe JB Pritzker from Illinois, or (god forbid) another Democrat that doesn’t fit the white guy in government mold.

The only reason it feels like there’s no alternatives to Biden is that all the alternatives to Biden don’t want to spoil the election, there’s plenty of good and better choices out there. It’s very frustrating.

Caususes are a way some state political parties choose to pick out their favorite party candidate for the November election.

In most states they have a primary which is just a normal election by US standards. In a few, including Iowa, they gather in a physical room and move from location to location to physically show who they support.

That means if I’m “caucusing for Bernie” I’d go stand next to the Bernie crowd. This ends when a certain candidate has a majority (I don’t remember the exact amount). So people move from candidate to candidate as they see theirs isn’t winning or as they are persuaded by others there.

Every state has their primary or caucus on a specific day, so yesterday was Iowa’s day, and it’s often very cold this time of year in Iowa. This year it’s pretty brutal, high of 3°F and low of -3°F today (-16C and -19.5C), and it was colder a few days ago.

You might have fixtures that overheat the bulbs. LEDs run cool compared to other bulbs but they are very sensitive to heat (that’s why the old ones had fins on them). If your fixture is enclosed, LEDs in there will have a much shorter life span.

One common fixture in these parts are those silly domes with the screw in the middle, they regularly killed bulbs at my old place. I even had one come out that had discoloration from the heat.

CFLs and incandescents didn’t like those fixtures or heat either, but I don’t know as much about how their life span was impacted.

Among other things, I take issue with “men build social order, liberal democracy, nearly everything else…”. This is simply not true, social order has existed in many forms since people existed, liberal democracy has existed in many places run primarily by women or in mixed gender groups, and men do not exclusively build the world.

Yes, men are experiencing a mental health crisis (at least in the US where I am most familiar), and it has been largely ignored by government but not because women are deemed more important, but because we do not support mental health of anyone. To say no one cares and no one is doing anything about it is like saying no one cares about the lives of our children because we haven’t solved school shootings yet. People know it’s a problem, people want it to change and to fix it, but our system of government is not reflective of the people’s opinions. (This is part of what makes up poorly conceived rhetoric about men ruining things, “if men created our liberal democracy and society as you say, surely it’s obvious it is not working out too well”).

It’s normal to feel upset and defensive when you see a group you identify with suffering. It’s not okay to take those negative emotions and direct them towards other groups, be they gender, ethnic, social, or otherwise. Remember it’s in the best interests of those who oppress to keep the oppressed fighting amongst themselves.

Is they pay not being high enough really the barrier to entry for most people? I would imagine the barrier is upfront cost more than eventual salary. Paying the politicians more just encourages them to stay longer.

Give them free food, housing, and health care, and a stipend for recreational spending. They are serving the people, I’m cool to foot the bill for that much. Use the rest of our money to help less rich and powerful people run for office in the first place.

Why are elders deserving of more respect than anyone else? Other than reference to tradition, which was often formed by religion (“respect your elders” is from the bible, old, but not nearly ancient history) which was in turn used to cement power and money in a few old folks running the religion.

Surely the young deserve the same respect as the old, it isn’t like age makes you smarter or better able to handle new situations. It can mean you have wisdom but age alone has no bearing on that.

You can also respect someone but realize that they no longer understand what is going on in the world. I respect my grandfather who flew spy planes during the cold war, then came home and was an anti war activist. Do I think he should run for office today? Absolutely not. Vote? Honestly probably not. He’s certainly not able to make an informed decision anymore. But I will visit him when I can, take care of him as best I can, hear his stories, and learn from those stories as I can.

In this threads context young people don’t get to serve in office or vote but elders get to vote and serve until the day they die. This has directly and indirectly created a feeling of disenfranchisement with young (literally under 50 at this point) folks that shows itself in all aspects of politics.