In so many places even shit like that isn’t on the table. In my fairly left/lib small city our local elections look like “Small business owner, small business owner, entrepreneur, small business owner, christofascist psychopath”
Of the people running in the last city council election the best policies offered were “Maybe look into possibly getting electricity prices down” (we have some of the highest energy prices in the country), and “Don’t increase the police budget as much as the others wanted to”
The politics in my city honestly seem to not even comprehend the possibility that the government has any control whatsoever over housing in any way. There’s not a single unit of public housing in this city and I don’t think anyones even considered it as a possibility.
:shrug-outta-hecks: they send the thing to my house, I fill in the "not psychopath" bubbles and mail it back it takes like 10 minutes. Beyond that im not involved and see shit getting worse and worse around me. I don't blame anyone for not voting.
:yea: i do the same, but it feels just as pointless as voting in the national elections if not more so. The national elections at least change up the tv show I get to watch while everything collapses, the local elections are completely run by local capital and each faceless ghoul is basically identical to the next
I guess the way I see it is while most of the choices are still shit, some of the people (in my area) are more inclined to listen to orgs that are trying to improve material conditions for people and not just taking heaps of cash and gifts to let industry do whatever they want. I don't see enough defense of working class interests but there are always environmental, tax allocation initiatives for parks, schools, urgent care, weed stuff etc on the ballot.
Some candidate might be more inclined help reallocate funding for housing rather than police or not try to defund shelters, shit like that. I've definitely seen a difference in the last 10 years as my area has become more red, having both used social services and known people working in the field. The hostility toward workers and unhoused has gotten noticibly worse as local politics have gone from garden variety corrupt liberal to psychopath conservative.
In so many places even shit like that isn’t on the table. In my fairly left/lib small city our local elections look like “Small business owner, small business owner, entrepreneur, small business owner, christofascist psychopath”
Of the people running in the last city council election the best policies offered were “Maybe look into possibly getting electricity prices down” (we have some of the highest energy prices in the country), and “Don’t increase the police budget as much as the others wanted to”
The politics in my city honestly seem to not even comprehend the possibility that the government has any control whatsoever over housing in any way. There’s not a single unit of public housing in this city and I don’t think anyones even considered it as a possibility.
:shrug-outta-hecks: they send the thing to my house, I fill in the "not psychopath" bubbles and mail it back it takes like 10 minutes. Beyond that im not involved and see shit getting worse and worse around me. I don't blame anyone for not voting.
:yea: i do the same, but it feels just as pointless as voting in the national elections if not more so. The national elections at least change up the tv show I get to watch while everything collapses, the local elections are completely run by local capital and each faceless ghoul is basically identical to the next
I guess the way I see it is while most of the choices are still shit, some of the people (in my area) are more inclined to listen to orgs that are trying to improve material conditions for people and not just taking heaps of cash and gifts to let industry do whatever they want. I don't see enough defense of working class interests but there are always environmental, tax allocation initiatives for parks, schools, urgent care, weed stuff etc on the ballot.
Some candidate might be more inclined help reallocate funding for housing rather than police or not try to defund shelters, shit like that. I've definitely seen a difference in the last 10 years as my area has become more red, having both used social services and known people working in the field. The hostility toward workers and unhoused has gotten noticibly worse as local politics have gone from garden variety corrupt liberal to psychopath conservative.
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