I've recently learned that a good chunk of Democratic donation solicitations are more or less just a scam. That and seeing Democrats firmly believing that letting Trump fuck everything up is the easiest way to ensure they'll people's votes...

“So the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? And what I think they should do is what we call in rural America, play possum. Just let it go. Don’t get in the way of it. Or as we like to say, don’t just stand there, do nothing. Let this germinate… We don’t need to get in front of it. This freight train is moving. Let’s just get out of the way and then we’re gonna have time.”

-James Carville, Feb 2025

... just pushes me farther into doomer territory. We can't have nice things. People will find ways to extract the maximum amount of personal gain, with minimal effort, from anything. They don't care what it might cost society.

Find any good cause these days and you'll find a swarm of catchy slogans and effective marketing used to convince you that spending your money with them will further that good cause and help save the world. In reality, many of those campaigns are pretty paint hiding outright lies or half truths. It ends up being more just people looking to skim off some cash by finding a place for themselves between people who want to do good and the good they want to do.

I feel like the next step of the orphan crushing machine metaphor is finding out that the reason we have an orphan crushing machine is because the collecting-donations-to-save-orphans-from-the-orphan-crushing-machine industry is extremely lucrative and has a massive lobby.

Theres also a recurring donation option. Sort of a tithe to the Dem leaders who are working hard so hard on things the voters want, like ensuring aid continues to flow to Israel, making sure ICE stays funded, and fighting against the billionaire tax.

/s