TimmyDeanSausage

Potentially losing your job would be part of the risk/sacrifice a potential candidate would have to accept. Yes, it would be difficult for someone living paycheck to paycheck to do this. Ideally, election reform like this would go hand in hand with economic reform that leads us to a society in which much less people are living paycheck to paycheck. This could happen easily if we start electing real people instead of rich people only.

One option is to publicly fund candidates equally. In such a system someone could apply to run for a position, the position would require a specified amount of people to nominate that person, if that person is nominated they get a grant that covers their campaign costs. The amount wouldn’t be excessive so campaigns would look very different than they do now in places like the US.

Another option is to limit campaign donations from any individual to $100 total. This would force politicians to put effort into building a grassroots campaign while keeping big moneyed interests out of the process.

When politicians get into a position of power, they should be paid enough that they’re firmly in the upper middle class, so they’re comfortable and less likely to accept bribes, and they should not be given any opportunity to accept bribes or profit off of their position in any way.

Did you read their entire comment?

The government income and pension should be enough to live on so that these issues can be avoided.

Both of y’all are talking a lot about evidence without posting any sources. I don’t have a side in this debate, but I would like to see some of this evidence you guys keep referencing, just to further my own understanding of these historical events.

Edit: grammar.

Well, it’s very meaningful to continue to support your emotional support corporations. They need us as much as we need them. That’s why you need to buy the product, and the “continued use” package. They’re not charging extra for standard things just to charge extra. It’s about the continued closeness in your relationship with daddy Tesla.

Ok, I’ve voted in every federal, state, and local election since I turned 18, but my state is heavily jerrymandered. What now?

Yes, we are all responsible for using toxic products that we need to survive in the modern world. More responsible then the companies producing these toxic products, who should be required to research non-toxic alternatives. Let’s all band together and take a step back from the information age. Surely that will fix the problem.

Have you? Houston isn’t the “concrete jungle” it was in the 80’s… I personally prefer it over NYC and LA. Chicago is a close second to Houston for me.

Livenation was founded in the mid-late 90’s, but didn’t hold significant power in the live music industry until the mid-2000’s. Before that, a pricey ticket for a national act was anything over $25. When I started my career in live production, in 2010, many venues were still putting on local/national act shows for $5 - $20 a ticket. Since then, I’ve seen ticket prices for the same type of shows double, in non-LN venues, and triple or more in LN venues. Same thing for drink/concession prices. If you were a teen/young adult in the 90’s you likely had better access to affordable concerts than people these days.

Half the people I work with have kids and, if you complain about anything at all around them, they always have some way to minimize it and one up you. Got three hours of sleep? Well, with their kids, they only sleep 30 minutes a night on a bed of nails under a running stream of volcanic temp water. Starving because work is crazy, you haven’t eaten all day, and it’s 7pm? With their kids busy schedules, they only eat once a fortnight, on the toilet, crying into they’re meal which only consists of bread crusts their kids didn’t want. Like, sorry, I forgot I’m not allowed to suffer around you people because you made a life decision that requires extra effort on a daily basis.

Mhmm, sins of the parents pass down and all that. That’s sky daddy justice right thurr.

I love circular connectors that screw onto the receptacle or have locking tabs

You’re welcome. ;)

To add a bit more context to this for the unaware: LiveNation is the umbrella Corp that owns TicketMaster as well as over 70% (IIRC) of the live music industry in the U.S. They’re making a killing on tickets, alcohol sales, backend software licensing, and many different artist/event management firms. They also pay their employees the lowest wages relative to the rest of the live music industry, which was already a vastly underpaid industry before Live Nation came to power in the 2010’s. Further, the CEO’s salary increased by 1000% between 2019 and 2023 while the peasants got a meaningless raise from pre-inflation starvation wages to post-inflation starvation wages. They’re the epitome of an exploitative monopoly, at every level.

Source: Current part time employee of LiveNation and 14 year veteran of the live music industry.

A list of their subsidiaries: https://investors.livenationentertainment.com/sec-filings/annual-reports/content/0001193125-08-043193/dex211.htm?TB_iframe=true&height=auto&width=auto&preload=false

I’m sorry my comment didn’t meet your standards. I’m tired of reading the same intellectually vapid nonsense every day. “Why can’t these evil/ignorant/despicable fools just see the world the way I see it!?” You treat them the same way they treat us and expect them to have some kind of coming-to-jesus moment as a result. IMO, thinking this way requires the same level of cognitive dissonance as being a Trumpster. You need to read the room and see that your method doesn’t solve the problem you want it to solve. It exacerbates it. Instead of crying out to the world, wishing everyone else would do the hard work of expanding their understanding of political theory, history, and philosophy, maybe do that work yourself first.

Can you look beyond the harshness in the tone of my paragraph and take the constructive criticism I’m offering? This is what you’re asking them to do.

Thank you. Good luck with your clinging to myopic views and expecting others not to cling to myopic views thing. Let me know how that works for you.

I’m a gay progressive that lives in Texas. I’ve lived my entire life surrounded by conservatives and I’m currently dating one. I know exactly what I’m talking about. Learn to examine the beliefs you hold before you criticize others for their inability to do the same.

We can hold them responsible for their actions and still recognize that they are victims of indoctrination. However, this would require the same intellectual honesty you chastise them for not having.

I considered myself a libertarian before I saw how the people on the right reacted to same-sex marriage being legalized. Their collective reaction broke the lie that they were the party of freedom/equality. I spent years deprogramming/re-educating myself. Now I’m very progressive and much more sensitive to biased info sources, but… I’m dating a “conservative”. He’s questioning his political beliefs now due to the right’s resurgence of anti-lgbtq and the conversations we’ve had surrounding that.

Thing is, all humans attach their beliefs/values/principles to the narrative they sell themselves about who they are. We settle into these narratives as we come of age, and constantly reinforce them through our perceptions of our lived experiences. For someone to be able to withstand the process of unraveling and reconstructing who they are on a fundamental level, an extreme event is necessary. Something that shocks them with enough force to break one of the core beliefs of whatever system they’re beholden to.

YOUR PROBLEM is that you lack understanding in this area of human nature. That lack of understanding leads to frustration, resentment, and ultimately the same tribalism you see in the people you choose to hate. You see them as sub-human, automatically elevating yourself above them because your confirmation bias tells you that your version of truth is the only real truth, but you’re too heavily steeped in your own soup to realize that you’re engaging with politics the exact same way they are.

Be better. Hate the swindlers, not the swindled. Don’t tolerate intolerance either. Just gently point out when they’re being intolerant and let them (hopefully) stubble into their own epiphanies.

TL:DR; Confirmation bias is a helluva drug. Your willful ignorance of your own confirmation bias is blinding you and limiting your ability to understand basic human nature. I hope this stimulates a little more thought, with a little more intellectual honesty on your part. Cheers.

You take that practicality back to whatever commie hell hole spawned you, you heathen!