And the businesses that bought the buildings they're in get bought by private equity and then driven out of business by renting their buildings back from their parent company.
The really fun part is that because we don't have the actual "law enforcement" resources to do this we're about 10 seconds from them calling up every single reactionary militia to put on masks and detain people at makeshift checkpoints in every county.
You do not exist simply for the benefit of others.
Your worth is intrinsic.
That doesn't mean you're wrong for wanting the contact, it's a very human and natural thing. Nearly all of us have felt that way before and we likely will again, you're not alone.
I put it in my frozen coffee drinks because I love those blended frozen coffee drinks as much as I hate the primary purveyor of said beverages. It makes the consistency "right".
The primary way the federal government maintains control (aside from belief) is money.
These dumbasses have already started yanking all the funding they felt like they could get away with. If that keeps going, they'll burn all the methods of control except force and they just don't have enough.
Hell, Gavin is a giant reactionary turd, but he's not dumb, he's had to have considered the possibility of being king shit of the Republic of California.
There's not enough military to continue adventurism and suppress cities. Even if you called up all the national guards. Like a few cities could be covered tightly maybe, but not all of them.
You'd have to start calling up "militias" and shit. That shit isn't gonna be as disciplined as the regular military.
Sounds like a dumbass recipe to all the sudden lose control and balkanize the whole country.
Hell, California is already talking about inking independent trade deals with foreign countries.
There's a point at which I think certain states will just start ignoring the feds.
Either way, it's not gonna be fun for us smallfolk.
I had a model pby-2 when I was a kid. I loved that thing so much.