> These are good points, but political solutions (by which I mean political changes within the system) are almost certainly never going to happen.
I don't think political solutions are impossible, but if they are then our government is incapable of executing the public will. I think the key to generate this type of change is to tell a very compelling and broad story about why the current situation is unacceptable. Discussing {history lesson} or {personal security risk} doesn't seem to be a strong enough narrative. A very strong narrative can turn public opinion and force action by lawmakers. Over the last 100 years there has been a number of examples of popular opinion becoming so massive that the political system has to do something they clearly did not want to do.
* The draft is now reserved for emergency use only. Previously it was used for Korea and Vietnam, which were more about global power projections than direct threats to the US.
* The role of the US Military is moving away from World Police and limiting itself to more directly protect American interests. Troop deployments are highly scrutinized by the public and impact Presidential approval ratings.
* Cannabis went from the poster child for war-on-drugs to essentially unenforced federally and openly cultivated/traded/consumed in large regions of the country. Rules on Magic Mushrooms, MDMA, and Ketamine are beginning to loosen to.
* The end of COVID lockdowns and mask mandates in the US was largely determined by grassroots actions instead of top-down decisions.
Quite right. Look no further than Snowden to understand that our legislature is complicit in these deep-state surveillance activities. They don't even want to change, let alone have the ability to.
I don't think political solutions are impossible, but if they are then our government is incapable of executing the public will. I think the key to generate this type of change is to tell a very compelling and broad story about why the current situation is unacceptable. Discussing {history lesson} or {personal security risk} doesn't seem to be a strong enough narrative. A very strong narrative can turn public opinion and force action by lawmakers. Over the last 100 years there has been a number of examples of popular opinion becoming so massive that the political system has to do something they clearly did not want to do.
* The draft is now reserved for emergency use only. Previously it was used for Korea and Vietnam, which were more about global power projections than direct threats to the US.
* The role of the US Military is moving away from World Police and limiting itself to more directly protect American interests. Troop deployments are highly scrutinized by the public and impact Presidential approval ratings.
* Cannabis went from the poster child for war-on-drugs to essentially unenforced federally and openly cultivated/traded/consumed in large regions of the country. Rules on Magic Mushrooms, MDMA, and Ketamine are beginning to loosen to.
* The end of COVID lockdowns and mask mandates in the US was largely determined by grassroots actions instead of top-down decisions.