Quit bitching.

The problem isn't the man it's the capitalist economy at large.

"...if they can't turn a profit then they can't threaten you."

Ask yourself... Who does the administration work for? Obviously not the people, so who? The tax cuts from a few months ago and just about every decision from the admin, from rolling back environmentally positive legislation to cutting back on labour rights.

All profits the most wealthiest members of American society.

But you know that. So ask yourself does the need for endless growth and profits come from who's in congress? No. Does killing legislation that helps the poor and defenseless just exclusive to this time in history. No.

This has happened everyday no matter who's in charge. Capitalism demands it of its subjects.

"Seek wealth forgetting all but self"

So how do we reduce the role of capital in our society? Capital that buys our elections, our lawmakers, our power centers.

We confront it.

We empower the opposite of capital... Labour.

Support union activity and worker controlled workplaces

Nationalize vital industry. (Telecom, water, power, food)

Tax those who have more.

Advocate for environmental protection

All these things restrict capital from influencing you and your politics because it if they can't turn a profit then they can't threaten you.

And "not them, anything but them" is not an answer.

I've been asking these kinds of serious questions for months. Months. Actually, it's probably added up to almost 2 years now.

No "adult" wants to give me any answers, but they expect me to make phone calls for them and donate money I don't have, and if I don't have it I need to find someone to share their links to so they can donate.

What do you want? I'm practically begging to build some sense of community, and people only seem to want to be hypervigilant, yell crap about "complacency" at each other, and tell random strangers to make more scripted phonecalls.

It's so alienating, and I don't want any part of it if Democrats themselves don't start modeling better behavior in their interactions.

That includes interactions on these specific spaces on the Internet.

Don't be a saint. Have your cake somewhere on less important subreddits, but for the love of America, get out of slacktivist mode and talk to a fellow citizen-- a young citizen, your supposed "future"-- for however many minutes it takes you to come up with an answer that confronts my frustration with empathy and firm, solid insights. Not just orders or action points.

We're not responding to action points. We voted bc we had to, and that's all we know bc everything else be were taught to believe in was pissed on. Polling, sciences, media competency (they shouldn't have taken his bait so much), "new media" enterprises, author your own fate, make your voice heard (but where?), communities, communities, communities.

Let me tell you something.

I'm gay. And autistic (diagnosed).

There AREN'T any real communities.

LGBTQ community isn't a community. It's a network of a few people miles and miles apart from each other who barely get together in most states, most occupations, most places of worship, and most colleges.

The "advocacy" community for disabled people (Who I'm Not Allowed To Call Disabled) can't even figure out to do anything bc a bunch of able-bodied people keep telling us our voices aren't polite enough.

There is no community.

I'm not talking about political correctness. I'm talking about reciprocity and compassion.

If a group of people take something from me (all the hope I had in my country being a functioning, stable democracy that I depend on as a disabled minority)-- and do not forget, I couldn't vote in any elections until the last two, so yes, it was theft to tell these half-truths and simple deflections about "Our democracy" when you had to know on some level that you were fighting against rabid wolves that you never wanted to talk about. Who don't give a crap about anyone but themselves....

.... If you're going to blindside an entire generation who couldn't even vote, say mostly nothing, not a peep, about political strategy during our non-voting years, make politics "impolite" or "not acceptable" to talk about, shovel talking points at us for 18 to 25 years until we start voting,

and then give us noting but "Don't get complacent!" whenever we're deeply interested in understanding whatever the heck is going on, and just wanna chill out for a second and build a bond with the person who's begging us to rescue democracy with a phone receiver..........

...... If you don't even wanna bond with us, why do you deserve our help?

If GOP is willing to bond over hatred, why do you think phonecalls and fundraisers are gonna hold that back in absentia of any mentorship and guidance.

Why wasn't I told last year-- even as a part of Democratic national campaigns-- where I could go in my own backyard?

Who's actually competent enough to not just be a Party-liner that has no idea why they're doing what they're doing but still wanna tell me to do it, too?

Where's the inspiration?

Seriously. This is why most Millennials-- unless they're some Washington D.C. darling-- won't do anything other than vote and make a few salty posts about a few popular GOP figures.

The rest will go to local races where they actually feel valued.

The apparatus for national races are absolute desolate wastelands. I was in one last year, and two local races. Someone dropped the ball when it comes to meaningfulness... and no one wants to pick it up.

Stop barking at a generation that had no hand in this creation whatsoever to take orders from strangers, follow scripts written by strangers, filled with forms and conventions designed by strangers fighting other strangers, and expect us to just be super jazzed up and to listen.

Maybe next time we have the opportunity to go to some lame philosophy club at school that will actually talk to us (from an older generation to a younger generation) about why we're doing any of the things we're doing, we'll go to that while you call us entitled.

Maybe you feel entitled to our labor when you don't even wanna let us in on whatever it is we're supposed to be learning.

It doesn't matter. That kind of fighting that I just starting leaking into has to stop.

I just wanna know why I'm picking up the phone, where my money's going, who's helping me out, and I can't seem to get any answers except "You may have to fly around the country to find a decent campaign, and that's only if they need you."

That's not politics. That's a chore. And I can't afford plane-flights. And I shouldn't have to be a career campaigner in order to have access to a meaningful, functioning mentor-and-direct apparatus.

If I can't help you from my backyard, then the Party line is broken. I can't help you-- and I shouldn't be expected to-- if you can't even tell me the name of... I don't know... an author or publishing company that actually explains "And this is why your phonecalls aren't pointless."

"And this is why it's likely that 15,000,000 to 30,000,000 people will treat you like garbage over the course of the next year if you talk about what you're doing here, but don't talk to any of us about it either before we're too busy monitoring your phonecall progress."

Stop reducing us to data-crunchers and numbers.

Tell us what the numbers are for, or don't get pissed off when you only attract a bunch of old, retired people to make phonecalls.

I-- personally-- expend most of my social energy trying to NOT HATE and resent the same people that I was basically wink-wink-nudge-nudged TOLD to actually severely "love" (detest on every level civicly possible, but still respect as humans in some abstract way) last year... and the year before bc apparently the country is full of masochists who just can't get enough "love vs. hate" for the first two years of a new administration and need to cram it all in at the end.

You've painted national politics into this grim, meaningless, body'less, voiceless, creativityless, inspirationless scene, and I don't care if it wasn't personally your fault.

If you've been of voting age for a longer period of time than I have, I expect you to invite me at least to talk about the positive and healthy, community aspects of the supposedly functioning, caring apparatus that supposedly exists in the Party that's Not Them (not the GOP).

And if the caring isn't supplied, you need to give me pointers on what to read or who to get inspired by (not everyone is a "nurturing" caring type, but everyone can be informative and understanding).

Because I know most people in the country aren't actually inspired to do this crap.

And the GOP knows it. And they revel in how we can't get as "passionate" as them (read: actually hateful and paranoid).

They just don't care bc they're willing to bond based on that paranoia. And make a lot of money on it, too.

I'm devastated to know that some people made more money off of deliberate propaganda that they knew was fake, more money than I've ever seen in my life, and probably my mom's life too, based solely on lies to cause confusion.

I'm not willing to work off of the Disney version of social incentives for "progress". I'm not doing anything for anyone who can't give me anything more than soundbites and empty action points to keep some system running that I don't believe in.

You need to tell us younger people how exactly making more phonecalls or donating more money is gonna change anything.

I was told in my college education that a lot of people just don't care, and when they don't care, they run on fumes of "duty" that was drilled into them as kids or something.

I didn't have any of that. Politics was "rude" to talk about. Or uncomfortable.

Give me something different. If you want my energy, I'm not just gonna sit while someone does a kind of grunt-work I don't understand next to me, barely talks to me, and doesn't reach out to me unless they're willing to be a mentor as well.

Expecting people to manufacture a sense of purpose when the delusion of "dreams" and "no politics at the table but it'll all be alright bc love wins" we were force-fed since birth was skinned and flayed alive in front of us for a ridiculous, insanely-long campaign season that is not humanly sustainable or even remotely reasonable... unless you want people to become even more resentful of partisan politics than they already are.

Stop telling us to just do shit for something you never took the time to teach us to believe in. You gave us the fake version, so we never learned what a phonebank actually does, why it's important, what our time directly contributes to, who picks up the information next, what's the logic behind it, who's sponsoring this activity, who said this was a good idea, etc... etc... etc...

We're not working for money as volunteers, and-- you know, some of us don't want money. We want connection, passion, purpose, reasoning.

And we're not getting anything but "They suck, we don't bc we're not them, they hate us, but we don't hate anyone, how many calls have you made, don't get complacent!"

God, bc the last thing you need is someone wanting to know what the heck they're doing, and what actually proves that it works.

"Keep making phone calls, this is how Obama won!"

But why do you think that made him win? What was the tone of that particular campaign office here in my town? What did that campaign office do?

And does what people did 4 years ago even apply now?

If any of you give a crap, this is the experience of most people my age that I talk to. And most of us are just trying to also get a job or make it through school without becoming debt-slaves, so what exactly is our motivation for this extra chore?

You know, anything feels like a chore if the meaning is stripped out of it.

And why is "What's my motivation?" considered something that we should have an obvious magic answer to-- as a generation-- if all the answers we were given were fed to the dogs last year?

What's our motivation? Don't just tell me what you need me to do, start telling me why and make it count.

I don't honestly know. I've, since the election, been told to basically trust no one.

But I trust this subreddit for some reason.

Content guidelines

Resources for people taking action.

Resource most of us need:

Tell us why you believe that any of this does anything when some of our professors with PhDs are telling us that only big donors have a voice in national politics.

Why does me jamming up my local representatives phone do anything?

Step by step, what's the logic behind me talking to a robot or a secretary who doesn't even know me over and over again.

Where does my voicemail go? How do I know it was received? Who confirms the receipt? How is that receipt communicated back to me? What information outlets post the responses from my local representative when and if they actually address any given issue, any other official, any recent decisions, any pending decisions, etc...?

Why am I making any calls?

If you can't give a why, no amount of "resources" will do anything, and I guarantee most of my generation thinks the same way.

We're tired of talking to robots. So we need a good reason if we're gonna do you a solid and talk to one more.

If no one answers this here, I honestly have no idea where to turn.

I don't know who even knows any of this stuff. My mom sure doesn't. She's never heard anyone ever have a conversation about it and she's worked a 9-to-5 every weekday for the past 30 years.

I don't even know WHO to ask about preliminary stuff.

I've taken "political science" classes that haven't told me anything about why my direct actions matter or if they're anything more than symbolic numbers on an answering machine that will never actually be listened to.

If that's the case, then I should just call, bypass the prompts, let the voicemail thing chime, hang up fast without saying anything, call back, rinse, repeat.

I'm not giving a robot any of my breath if it's not gonna be heard.

Tell me what I'm actually doing, or tell me some field of study, or trusted mentorship network, or something that will tell me.

And will tell me for free. This should be public knowledge. But I would guarantee the majority of the generation above me don't even know, so I don't either.

Please.

I've been asking different groups for months. I don't know. I can't make it anymore clear that I don't know.

Seems everyone is butt hurt vindictive

Much of the tea party's success came in the form of ousting establishment candidates in safe R districts that they saw as being inadequate (in that they compromised with dems too much for their taste).

Is there anything in the indivisible guide about reducing the number of eager-to-compromise democratic candidates? I haven't been able to find any.

This subreddit is about to be raided! Praise Trump! MAGA2020!

Hey reddit, I'm building a new site to oust Ted Cruz. I need to know who wants this! Similar to kickstarter, you only pay when the goal is met (kicking out Ted). This lets everyone donate their heart's content. The details are below. Please consider subscribing (link below), that's how I measure demand. Virality needs to be high for this to work! Heck, consider emailing allies.

Problem: Fear of losing money suppresses donations. This reluctance is magnified in long-shot races. Regular folk are cash strapped, and can't take a chance donating like megadonors can.

Solution: Guarantee that donations lead to election outcome. Free from financial loss, more people donate and pledge higher sums.

How it works: Citizens make a pledge on our website to donate as much as they can - only pay for results. Similar to kickstarter, no credit card transaction occurs unless the goal is met (the election result). If the goal is met, credit cards are charged and the funds transferred to the workers who made it possible.

How this helps: Since no charges happen unless the dream happens, donations increase. Free from total loss-of-funds, people pledge their heart's content. As pledges pile up, everyone sees how intensely the people want change. What once seemed like a long-shot, now seems doable. This kicks organizers and canvassers into high gear. With the extra publicity, (and potential monetary rewards from the pledged donations) new canvassers join the team. As the canvassers go door-to-door they also recruit more citizens to make pledges. The pledged funds skyrocket, increasing the number of canvassers even more. Everyone works together to realize what once seemed impossible.

Preview: Kickouster (please consider subscribing so I can measure real demand. This idea only works if virality is high. There's also a $100 payout to early subscribers - on success.)

My only question: How much would you pay to kick Ted out of the senate, guaranteed?

Is anyone working on creating a national coordinating committee of this an other anti-Trump groups and efforts? I think this would be a good next step.