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I was required to take a civics class this semester.
The professor is a nice guy, but he would harp on and on about those cynics who had no faith in the government. I never felt targeted or anything since I never made much of a stink in class, but his undying faith in the system would make me roll my eyes. One time a person in class alluded to the media having an agenda on certain topics and he corrected him saying "well don't say they have an agenda, that makes it sound like there's some sort of collusion between them and government". Yes. That is exactly right. The fact he as a professor doesn't have more knowledge about the well documented history (and soon to be history) of the intelligence community and other parts of our government working with the media to push stories that are beneficial to their narrative made me lose any remaining faith in the facade of self-criticality within academia.
I've always been privy to anti-establishment rhetoric. Bernie being my first introduction to politics certainly shaped this, which makes it sad seeing what he has become today, being a whipping boy for the Democratic party. The online communist communities I became immersed in firmly cemented those radical feelings, that it wasn't just the people in government that were bad but that the whole bloody system was rotten to the core. Over the years as communism has lost that golden glimmer of hope that I once thought it had, that disdain for the system remains and grows stronger.
A common line I heard within these communities to counter the growing anti-establishment rhetoric of American conservatism was "the government plays a minor role in your life when compared to your boss. He controls eight hours of your day and your paycheck". I'm finding that to be less and less of the case. Though I don't have a "real" job, working in retail, if I have an issue with how things are being done, I can at least tell my boss about it. The government seems to be reaching its fingers into everything now. Our light bulb section had to be completely reworked with the restriction on incandescent bulbs and I have to regularly turn away people because an LED equivalent hasn't worked in their ancient fixture. It just boils my blood to see that decision being made for them by the powers at be, that a person can't choose to use a less efficient form of lighting in their own damn home. I like LEDs, nice soft white bulbs have existed for many years now and I often try to steer customers towards them for their numerous advantages over incandescents, but I still think someone ought to be able to choose "wrong". Not to mention all the meddling that has been revealed through the so called "twitter files" and the "disinformation experts" that seek to tamper down any information the system deems too dangerous. Even the required expiration dates on foods that, when in the right environment, would last for months if not years after what is printed.
My parents built a house on their property which became a 3+ year process due to all the permitting that was required. First they needed to build a solar array if they didn't want their roof to be covered in solar panels, a solar array which has yet to be hooked up to the grid despite being finished for the past 2+ years, simply because the house hasn't received an "occupancy permit" despite the solar array being completely separate from the building. Tens of thousands of dollars were required to build the array, and it can't even be used because of moronic red tape. I haven't even started on all the requirements of the house, like the full sprinkler system that needed to be installed and now litters the ceiling with ugly white circles. Now the city is requiring them to put thousands of dollars more into expanding the already massive gravel driveway because the grade is too steep for a firetruck to turn around, despite the fact we've had massive construction vehicles do so, albeit with some difficulty. The state of California is looking for any little bit of money it can take from my parents. Now in order to even get an occupancy permit my parents have to move stuff out so it doesn't look like they have been living in the house for the past six months so they won't be fined during their inspection.
And when I do actually want to interact with the system it spits in my face. After filing a police report regarding my stolen bike, which was a needlessly complex process in and of itself, it took them two months to even acknowledge that they had received it! Roomie has been in and out of having healthcare because MediCal keeps saying that he is still living in Contra Costa County despite living in Sacramento for almost four years now! Crime is rampant on the streets and we are regularly robbed at the store AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.
It just makes me so mad, it makes me want to do things like....
My lawyer has advised me not to finish that statement.
But yeah I hope somebody does something about this rotten mess soon.