My First (Fan?) Mail

On the legal page I mentioned that the email address is for site issues only, not for complaints, threatening to mock any of the latter sent to me. This was mainly because, way back in the late 90's and early 00's, that's precisely what we would do: People would email to complain, Pappy would post the email, and we'd lambaste the whiny baby.

But I got a message shortly after my "sore losers" rant and, rather than make fun of the person, I figured it might be fun to answer them. It was the typical length you'd expect from internet stranger who is really upset about the content of a website they disagree with, but toward the middle a question stood out:

You say you don't have any answers, but that's a cop out. So what does your ideal society look like, snowflake?

This came amid being called various names worse than snowflake but it actually sparked some thought. So here's some free-range ideas based off current events. I'll mostly link to non-paywall stories from USA Today since they are such a boring news source.

1. Union workers feel let down by Biden. Give them the paid sick time! What the fuck is wrong with you? "Oh we don't have the money." Bullshit. I'll happily audit your company's finances for free. I already know what I'll find: Executives who don't need all the money they're getting, and their salaries can cover the gap.

2. Senate passes bill protecting same-sex and interracial marriages. One of the big areas of debate here was also protecting religious liberty. What a crock. Throw out the idea that protecting religious liberty maybe sorta counts as passing a law respecting religion (they throw in mentions of Judaism and Islam but you know they only mean Christianity). Religion is a perfectly fine thing for people to believe but it's fucking fiction. Even the most devout know this. So opinions that come from Space Grandpa shouldn't be considered when doing things that affect the public.

3. Death by nitrogen hypoxia versus Georgia heartbeat bill struck down by judge. You often get claims of hypocrisy when someone is against the death penalty but supports abortion. I keep it simple. For the death penalty: Texas executed an innocent man. I wouldn't even trust a case where the person confessed. For abortion: That's health care. It's science. Any thoughts beyond that either come from Space Grandpa (see above for my thoughts on that) or assholes whose opinions should be disregarded.

4. Student loan forgiveness isn't looking likely. It is absurd that we place this enormous burden of higher learning on teenagers at a vulnerable point in their lives then expect them to make a wise financial decision. That's it. I really don't have much more to say than that. If you can wash your hands of it by claiming they should have somehow known better or lived perfect lives where they didn't make even a single money mistake, you're a lousy piece of shit.

5. Dark money trickles into political campaigns and early voting is tested. The Citizen's United decision was an egregiously bad ruling by a compromised Supreme Court. That said, the money problems in U.S. politics were around well beforehand. Now here's an, "okay you lost me dude," moment: Political campaigns should be funded entirely by taxpayers. What that means to me is we shouldn't be spending much money on them and there shouldn't be any outside funds used. Aside from that, six months feels like more than enough time to get to know a candidate. Voting, meanwhile, should be ranked choice. And early voting should be universal, with paid time off on whichever day a worker chooses to go. Mail-in ballots should just be opened and counted upon receipt so that a voter can correct any problems early.

Those are just a few. I've got tons of other thoughts like that tumbling around in my head. I hope that, at least, my "fan" hates my answers.