Triasha
The hospitals underpaid maintenance team vrs a licensed tech from the manufacturer is a false dichotomy. The choice could easily be the hospital’s underpaid maintenance team or no repairs at all.
Realistically, they don’t put grandma on the vent because they won’t buy or keep a device they can’t afford to repair.
And why would the company spend more time/effort on their repair staff than the hospital? The company license is no guarantee they aren’t minimum wage nobodies.
It’s not regardless of anything he does. There is a floor. It’s Donald J Trump, and project 2025.
If he was doing, or likely to do, worse things than grifting the American people for his personal wealth, pardoning dozens of heinous criminals, stripping our rights away like reproductive healthcare, overturning the affordable care act, rigging the tax code in favor of small businesses, rolling back environmental regulations and any progress we have made towards decarbonizing our economy, backstabbing our allies and gutting the administrative state in favor of christofacists then trump would be the better choice.
I can’t imagine what could be worse, but I couldn’t imagine Trump before he took office either.
Withholding your vote for Biden is an endorcement of Trump and the Republicans. Democrats and leftists will never hear “Oh man I should be offering people some real left wing policies so they will finally turn out for me.” They will 100% of the time hear “people really like this right winger, I need to be more like him if I want to be elected.” And the Republicans will see it as a signal to move even farther to the right. The Overton window will shift until balance will be restored.
Denying this reality is a failure of imagination. Things can ALWAYS get worse. The Dems will ALWAYS be the better option. But they could be a better or worse depending on how many of the last few elections they won.
If you care for the Palestinian people, you will vote for Biden and the democrats instead of the party that are frothing at the Mouth to accelerate the genocide.
There is no plan in a democracy that resulted in “people do what I want to do.” You could try a coup.
There are things you can do outside the ballot box. Unionize your workplace. (Or your apartment building, or your student body) create or join mutual aid societies. Volunteer for local organizations. Create and support power centers outside the government.
The political parties won’t listen to singular people. Even billionaires, for all their wealth and power, struggle to get what they want from government in a timely manner.
Creating power centers like unions outside of the government creates a lever of power that can move things in the future.
Electoral politics is a game of inches. Refusing to play just cedes a few more inches to the opposition.
Tell your mom that God made you trans, and God doesn’t make mistakes. He also has a lot to say about how we should love each other. You can’t change being trans, but you will pray about it and deal with it in the best way available, by transitioning.
Tell your dad that the science is not super clear, but whatever he is reading decided their conclusion first and then looked for data to back up their predudices.
Tell them both that you want to have a good relationship with them, but if they keep sparking arguments trying to convince you they know more about your brain, body, and soul then you do, you will have to limit the time your spend with them for your own well being.
My mom cried when I came out to her. We didn’t talk about it for years. I told her when I started hormones, and while we had some rocky days, she always maintained that she loves me and wants me to be happy. We are closer than ever, and she introduces me as her daughter now.
I hope your parents come along to love and affirmation eventually.
I’ll take a crack.
Slow population loss, while concerning for policy makers, can be managed theoretically by moving money around. Taxation, subsidies, etc.
The US is currently at 1.6 fertility rate. 2.1 is replacement rate, so a pretty steep drop of 25% loss per generation. But we have substantial immigration to make up the shortfall. It’s an issue, and it’s trending down, but manageable for now.
Fertility rates of 1 or less are terrifying. Each generation is half the size of the one before. Half as many workers supporting the elderly. Retirement/pension systems will be strained then collapse, allowing retirees to fall into poverty. Half as many workers to maintain infrastructure, half as many doctors, half as many nurses, half as many experts in every field, means half as many researchers making discoveries and breakthroughs.
God forbid you go to war and have half as many soldiers to call on, from a workforce already stretched beyond any before. It’s a recipe for mass suffering in a scale never before seen.
South Korea and Japan are currently below 1. China might be even lower. People are, generally, resilient and resourceful. Adjustments will be made. People will work into their 70’s and 80’s because there is work to be done. But there will be a great deal of suffering.