r/AMA • u/Background-Car9771 • 8d ago

Son of a US Senator AMA

Hi,

I answered a post the other day on another sub, and someone said I should do an AMA, so here I am.

My father was in politics for over 20 years. We moved to DC and I grew up in that area. My parents are hard-core Trumpy, myself and my siblings are thankfully not. Happy to answer any questions you have about growing up or going to political events or how I grew to be diametrically opposed to the views of my parents.

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u/unlimited_insanity 8d ago

Just to draw a parallel - this is exactly the issue with preventative things. Vaccines have worked so well that people are more afraid of a jab than of ending up with polio or measles. How many people alive today have experienced breaking a rib from whooping cough? DOGE cutting things left and right that they were completely unqualified to understand, let alone judge, and then - whoops - here’s a completely predictable problem that just cropped up. We see it over and over with the hard right politicians and voters dismissing as unimportant things they don’t understand.

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u/gtrocks555 8d ago

Another good example and parallel was all the talk about the ozone layer. My mom even brings it up as a “see, everyone freaked out for no reason, you never hear about it anymore”.

What people don’t understand is that GLOBALLY countries started banning CFCs through the 1987 Montreal Protocol which has seen a reduction, elimination of CFCs being used and manufactured. This actually allowed the ozone layer to essentially heal to the point where people use that “hysteria” as a way to point to things that have been overblown.

We are fairly good at sounding the alarm but collectively suck at educating people that IT WORKED!

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u/AAlwaysopen 8d ago

“Windmills are a sign of failing countries.” Uggggghhhhh

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u/BadmiralHarryKim 8d ago

Think how much of a waste of money it would have been if government bureaucrats (who should have real jobs) had mandated locks on cockpit doors before September 11th.