My city's mayor is speaking at the "State of the City" event.
At the local Hilton - when we have a perfectly fine Council chamber and community center with everything needed for such an event.
Tickets are $75, even though it;s the state of OUR city.
It's a fantastic opportunity to "network with business and civic leaders and learn about the City's priorities for the year ahead."
Something we *could* do for free at a publicly owned building in town.
No word on where the proceeds go.
To be clear: I live in a suburb.
Not an especially wealthy one.
One of the bigger - if not the biggest - ones in the county, mind you...
But it's no long a major center for commercial business. Aside from shopping centers and shit.
This is an affront. It's bullshit.
Local governments decided *DO NOT* want the people involved.
Because politicians in common law cities like mine know they have zero power.
All the power comes from the state and the county.
Common law cities are completely subservient to their state and county governments.
They can't directly collect taxes - they rely on retail sales tax (a fraction of a penny for every dollar), property taxes (roughly 5! on average of what is collected) and permits, fees, and things like parking violation collections.
This is why they so often prioritize retail businesses and big developments.
Prop 13 also means they want people moving frequently so they can reassess property values.
Not a lick of this does anything to help the people living in these cities.
The city government can barely care for the roads and parks under their care with the meager funds they collect.
Fully 50% or more goes directly to "public safety" - the fire and police departments.
The only fix is to convert a common law city into a charter city.
But, every time you suggest that, moneyed interests from outside the community flood the campaign with crap to keep people from voting for it.
Because the perverts benefit from this setup.
The perverts don;t want you to have any control.
They want all of your time, attention, labor, effort, etc. directed toward the things they want to point it to.
If you had freedom, they;d be poor and powerless.
So they lie about "democracy" while denying it from you.
#NoKings claims to defend democracy - but that's bullshit.
America is not - nor has it ever been - a democracy.
It's an oligarchy.
We can fix that.
But we only fix it if we are willing to take on the work ourselves.
We can not rely on the perverts to change a system that benefits them.
We need to sop believing their lies and use our own eyes and minds to look at the world.
WE CREATED IT - NOT THEM.
WE CAN FIX IT - THEY WON'T.
We start by no longer living our lives for them.
WE start by turning away from them and working for each other and ourselves.
#GeneralStrike now - not May, and not for one day.
Now and forever.
Or shut up.
A one day #GeneralStrike does nothing - what's one day to these perverts?
Any strike with a pre-planned end date instead of real, achievable goals for long term reform *actually helps them*.
Because enough marches and fake strikes wears the people down enough that they become more susceptible tot he perverts depredations.
We need a #PermanentStrike that gives us lasting control over our lives.
Anything else is just licking pervert boots.
Aren't you sick of their shit enough yet?
The urge to just skip straight to one’s own personally imagined & preferred ending in social movements is overwhelming — and counterproductive.
“Indefinite general strike now!!!” has been popping up in my TL for •years•, and has been failing to happen even longer.
We’ve spend the last 1.5+ years getting the US from a place a widespread apathy to a place where the May 1 action is even conceivable. That time was necessary: smaller actions leading to larger ones, effective regional actions spreading nationally, each thing the stepping stone to the next.
May 1 is not an endpoint. It too is a stepping stone. It’s a crucial stepping stone.
@inthehands That's the difference between you and I.
You want a social movement.
I want peace and stability for the people who matter to me in my time.
And if you're only looking back 1.5 years... hoo boy. I grew up with stories about the "great movements" of every generation.
We're still arguing against the *SAME PERVERTS* over the *SAME QUESTIONS AND ISSUES*.
If personal freedom and liberty is not the end goal of all of this, then what is?
Or is it just scream therapy?
@robz
> You want a social movement.
Wrong. I want peace and stability in my time too — and I therefore want to do the work that will •actually work•, not just opine about how we’re not already at the destination.
Your post basically reads to me as “Why are we making a giant hole that goes down when we need a very tall building that goes up? Digging the foundation is just boot licking!”
…when I’m thinking “FINALLY, after all these decades, we’ve spent the last year actually digging this foundation.”
We can agree to differ on this.
Rob Zazueta
Paul Cantrell