=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 one of my most humbling political memories is getting in a fight with a kid at
 school (okay, a heated argument) because he said republicans lower taxes and I
 thought democrats did.
 
 turns out we were both right, because one of our dads had money.
 
 gotta raise taxes for public services, and well inflation's just a fact of
 life y'know, at least stuff doesn't cost as much as way back when.
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 messages/1343 ---
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 I've never been a fan of the democrats. From a young age, I remember my father
 talking about how spineless they were, and how cruel and shortsighted the
 republicans were. I have since come to learn that democrats, as an economic
 class, are also shortsighted, and their lack of foresight causes their
 "triage" to have cruel effects. We could do so much better, and it's not
 because everyone wants something different as they say. The reason is because
 they are spineless. They don't want to rock the boat because they're afraid of
 death. Remember, most of them are so thoroughly traumatized having lived in
 the era of nuclear threat (which isn't over, I might add) and post-911
 hysteria (which they contributed to, I might add) and it makes sense that they
 act so conservatively. They feel such immense pressure to keep the ship
 sailing but if your rigging is secure and you've got enough control over the
 boat, you can pull down the sails and wait out the storm. T.T too bad j+j
 
 I bet we were in love in the original timeline. The me from then was different
 than the me from now, so I don't know if it could ever work out. Talk to me
 after the war, maybe it'll toughen me up a bit.
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--- #2 fediverse/549 ---
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 ngl I kinda want to see what conservatives would riot over in a socialist
 system. Like "oh no we have healthcare! that sucks, so I'm going to burn down
 a police station" like bro what your basic needs are met and you're encouraged
 and enabled to pursue your passions and personal desires, are you still hung
 up on that old capitalist stuff? get a life my guy that's soOoOoOo 21st
 century of you
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--- #3 fediverse/3797 ---
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 @user-570 
 
 unless you meant canada. I vote no on that, because there's very little
 difference between there and here. I mean, it's colder, which is nice. But
 don't move because of politics or whatever. We can handle that.
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--- #4 fediverse/3080 ---
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 @user-1443 
 
 sorry 😅 
 
 re-reading what you wrote, your point was that it's unfair that republicans
 are granted the control they have over our society through the
 disenfranchisement of democrat voters, right?
 
 and I was saying that if those limitations were removed, the democrats would
 win in a landslide everywhere in the country, which gives me faith in my
 fellow countrymen.
 
 am I on the right track now?
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--- #5 fediverse/4619 ---
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 I want the political right to exist, because otherwise there'd be nothing to
 talk about a couple beers in and with no real stakes except a good time with
 your friend who you disagree with
 
 I want the political right to exist, because, y'know, life liberty and justice
 for all and all that
 
 both of those are "left of center" takes and I've definitely held both at
 different parts of my life
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--- #6 fediverse/4003 ---
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 republicans are upset because they think democrats are so mean
 
 they don't understand why we're so intense about this election... or the one
 before
 
 they don't ever really think about what losing democracy means
 
 "democracy... that's where we vote, right? That's a democrat thing, I don't
 really like their way of doing things. Whatever our way is, is probably
 better."
 
 meanwhile everyone has a friend from high school who ran off to the mountains
 to learn how to farm or hunt as a pack
 
 (with rifles and weed, of course)
 
 you can get a lot done if you just... spend your whole life working. Like most
 humans did for most of our existence.
 
 well, except for that period where we were the tribe of tribes. That was
 probably a highlight TBH because we mostly just chilled out, danced in public,
 ate blueberries and munched seeds... It was idyllic. Truly, the garden of
 eden. There was music and laughter in the air everywhere, in all places that
 humans did wander on earth.
 
 what a thing to aspire to.
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--- #7 fediverse/3891 ---
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 "no, you're the opposite of a yes-man, AKA a gatekeeper. I don't know how else
 to explain mentally disabled and barely keeping it together to you, but
 frankly if you want to take away my house or my weed then why would I do what
 you say?
 
 ... oh right, the state's monopoly on violence [can compel me to do what you
 say]. Sure seems like a "well regulated militia" is supposed to be a
 counterweight to that monopoly, to prevent people from harassing and
 exploiting and destroying. Too bad any "militias" I can think of tend to want
 me dead.
 
 like, seriously, if you live in America, you implicitely trust that your army
 will be able to protect you from the right-wing bozos who spend all their time
 drinking and shooting in the woods. Otherwise, if they couldn't / wouldn't,
 then why wouldn't or couldn't the right wing bozos just decide to wreck
 everything in spite of our past?
 
 We were a proud people once before, and we may be again. If only we fight at
 the last.
 
 [ever since I fell off my bike my body feels strange]
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--- #8 fediverse/169 ---
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 @user-95 one of the most empathetic people I ever met on VR chat was consoling
 me with their mic off while I was oversharing about some stupid things people
 did to me in the past. things that stupid me thought were okay and actively
 encouraged because I was stupid. anyway when their mic was off their body
 language spoke for them. I'll try that next time.
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--- #9 fediverse/1155 ---
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 @user-638                                                                        │
 In the 2000s when the Bush administration prevented people from working with     │
 stem cell research I remember my father going on rants about the same kind of    │
 thing.                                                                           │
 "They're limiting our access to information and the future of humanity because   │
 of their religion!" that kind of thing                                           │
 I loved listening to him. He was so passionate about that kind of thing. I       │
 think he got a little disillusioned sometime between now and then, because now   │
 he just tries to do the best he can with what tools he has available to him.     │
 And I love him for it.                                                           │
 He (mostly) abandoned his grand narratives because as the right got worse, the   │
 "left" sorta stayed the same, and he never forgave them for that. He still       │
 votes, and he'll still rant about that kind of thing, but only the stuff that    │
 affects him personally - like electric cars or cannabis or things like that. A   │
 democrat through and through.                                                    │
 He lives in a different country now, and I wish I could see him. But I cherish   │
 our phone calls and the few holidays when he visits.                             │
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--- #10 fediverse/1664 ---
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 do you ever think about how calling the BLM events "protests" versus "riots"
 is a subtle dogwhistle for your politics? I usually say "riots" so that I
 blend in. also because I've been conditioned by the people who I talk to about
 them.
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--- #11 fediverse/4422 ---
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 @user-1013 
 
 They may return to us if they choose, when they realize that we were right all
 along.
 
 Otherwise, they might feel disenfranchised and choose to disengage. That is
 expected and allowed.
 
 Others amongst them might go right. Fuck 'em, they always cared for gold over
 lives.
 
 You are right, their methods have not worked. They have sustained our society
 up to this point and for that I thank them - but we are entering a new age for
 our country, and we shall build it as a federation.
 
 They are more than welcome to observe and offer insight from their years spent
 observing and wrestling with Republicans, but understand that much of their
 insight is dealing with their elite class of politicians and not with who you
 and I might come across on the street.
 
 They are encouraged to learn from us. To do otherwise is at best to neglect
 our only route to a bright future - at worst it is to obstruct us, to delay
 us, to keep us running in circles.
 
 Find the people who are sabotaging our efforts and move on
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--- #12 fediverse/3117 ---
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 hey. wanna know what would be really cursed?
 
 --
 
 if trump dropped out and musk took his place
 
 --
 
 good thing it'll never happen because those dinguses can't accept defeat and
 will never tactically retreat
 
 --
 
 maybe something to keep in mind for 4 years from now. eyes on the prize for
 now means our eyes aren't to our flanks.
 
 what else could they do that would come out of left field?
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--- #13 fediverse/4273 ---
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 Some of my most wanderful times were when I lived in a gated community.          │
 My parents were dumb, and thought, as most people thought, that harm to a        │
 child can only come from outside of the community.                               │
 But they fell for the lies of property, where "community" means less of "a       │
 group of people who cares and tends for one another" the kind of which my        │
 parents had never truly known, and more like "this particular residential area   │
 on the map"                                                                      │
 which means I could walk around in this gated "community" where the gates are    │
 little more than security theatre for anyone who says "Hi I got a pizza here     │
 for this address which I found on google maps" or "hey I left my sweatshirt at   │
 my sister's house and it has my phone in it, ummmm no I don't remember which     │
 number her house is, nor do I remember her last name"                            │
 in those times, I developed a sense of freedom, caged as I was, that for most    │
 comes much later in their time.                                                  │
 Some o my favorite places were part of the golf course next door, where I        │
 found a nigh endless river delta.                                                │
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--- #14 fediverse/2681 ---
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 │ CW: uspol-history-mentioned │                                                  │
 └─────────────────────────────┘                                                  │
 the american revolution was literally just... rich people trying to avoid        │
 paying taxes                                                                     │
 and the poor people went along because, like... yeah inflation's really been     │
 fucking with their budgets                                                       │
 so in the end it made most households wealthier...                               │
 (built upon the backs of slaves, mind you)                                       │
 ... but as time went on the rich wanted to pay less and less.                    │
 they had their opportunity with the World Wars, and after the first (when        │
 America, previously a mid-tier country at best, suddenly industrialized) they    │
 realized "oh hey war profiteering is pretty profitable"...                       │
 (something that was known quite well to the British)                             │
 ... and then the Rockefellers and such, whose descendants never lost money but   │
 nobody knows their names, did it again in WW2 and the Cold War and.              │
 anyway                                                                           │
 the entire country is a game of numbers and spreadsheets in the ivory towers     │
 (literally, towers with nothing but opulence) and it always has been.            │
 fools like me believe in the mythology. fools, but propaganda appeals to truth.  │
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--- #15 fediverse/3076 ---
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 @user-1443 
 
 they need to do stuff like that or else the republicans would never win...
 
 which honestly is the most heartening thing I've heard all day.
 
 there are more of us than them, thank goodness.
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--- #16 fediverse/3069 ---
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 I saw someone on Reddit complaining about "the libs" and how "they want to
 destroy all conservatives everywhere!!" and they ended by saying "just look at
 the WEF agenda 2030 plan it's ALL THERE." like they were "countering" our
 concerns about Project 2025 or whatever - lmao.
 
 I went and googled it and goddamn does it slap. Like, hell yeah I want all
 those things.
 
 https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
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--- #17 fediverse/2844 ---
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 @user-831 
 
 those billionaires are using their money as a weapon to "vote" toward what
 companies they think capitalism would most grow from. Unfortunately for us,
 they often aren't very efficient because they're only looking at what sells.
 
 human interest is not the only factor to optimize for, and yet that's the only
 one they're incentivized to.
 
 kinda makes me think that the only reason to replace them would be to
 institute something that could not be incentivized because it was more
 objective or decentralized.
 
 (the only reason they'd accept)
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--- #18 fediverse/5664 ---
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 that one Trump guy in town is either stupid, a fascist, or a psyop.
 
 ICE is a bluff. Doing my very best to make them escalate faster than they can
 sustain themselves.
 
 yes... YES! Exhaust yourself, mine enemies, for you are lying about your
 strength, and have challenged me to a duel.
 
 I'm just a girl but I'm not just me. Didn't you hear? It's not about me!
 
 The nice thing about the Pacific Northeast is that you don't need to pay taxes
 in dollars. Something something from each according to their ability, blah
 blah you know the rest.
 
 Raintree forest is full of pine. Straight backs shoot strong and narrow. The
 silent river flows the farthest, the rapid water drowns the most.
 
 ICE is a bluff. In the treaty of equal territory, they can keep to their burgs
 and we can worship the forest the streams the oceans the dreams. Cities belong
 to their inhabitants, homes belong to their housed. Everything else is just
 applied equity.
 
 Dream bigger than "the same, but nice". Start with nice, start out the same,
 and diverge
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--- #19 messages/1316 ---
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 I don't go to protests because they're more like yelling hatred until you get
 slaughtered, instead of what I want to meet cute trans girls at which is
 signing up for a militia and hunting [redacted -> their sons and daughters]
 
 nobody knows each other on the internet. of course they're gonna vote for
 individual personal freedoms. What do you mean they voted for a pedophile
 acrobat? they don't even know each other! [the only reason you said acrobat is
 because it rhymed] ohhhh no it's supposed to be "autocrat" but they misheard
 ah right I see I see.
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--- #20 fediverse/4073 ---
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 post until you can't anymore
 
 capitalism wants to drown your voice
 
 do not let it
 
 speak until you cannot speak
 
 then go do some pushups
 
 then find some friends
 
 then pitch a tent in the park
 
 then explain to the cops that you're not actually homeless and living there
 you're just trying to do this as a social statement because someone on the
 internet told you to
 
 then use your phone call to call your representative and complain about how
 much funding the police get
 
 then study law for 30 years because that's how long the government decided
 your life was worth
 
 by then you'll probably have figured out a better plan moving forward, so, use
 that one instead
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