Lately I've been feeling like we're done, as a nation. We've stepped down as leaders of the world. We've also walked away from prosperity. It feels like freedom is done and 25% of the nation is celebrating. I worry that elections are finished. And I'm worried that I'll be killed in the streets when I protest this change.

Anybody feeling differently?

4/9/2025 9:59:07 AM

Pretty much the same.

I keep telling myself I'm overreacting, and I very well may be. Maybe this too shall pass and everything will be as fine as it's ever been. But then again, maybe not. Maybe I should be doing more to prepare.

4/9/2025 10:16:42 AM

I don't think you're overreacting.

I'm installing a greenhouse in my backyard, solar panels, and rain barrels. Also, wiring the house up to run on a propane generator I installed into a shed. And upgrading my security camera system.

I'll be back at the gun range more often. And I'm shifting my hobbies away from travel and towards fishing.

4/9/2025 10:19:24 AM

I am moderately optimistic about the long-term future, and quite pessimistic about the short-term.

The pandemic, the 2024 election, and political reaction to it confirmed to me that we cannot rely on the collective action of our fellow citizens to do the right things for the right reasons. When the shit hits the fan, it's every man for himself, so prepare accordingly as well as possible.

4/9/2025 11:39:18 AM

I am optimistic. But if anything goes wrong, I will be at Snewf's house

4/10/2025 12:41:11 AM

Thanks snewf, meant to look into rain barrels the other day. Live in an apt so need something relatively reversible

4/10/2025 1:06:10 AM

There's room for tents in the yard. But, if you're using my resources, I'll need you to tend the gardens and do some watch shifts.

4/10/2025 10:18:00 AM

Quote :

" For the first time in the US, more babies are now born to moms 40–44 than under 20. This marks 2 historical shifts for the US, plummeting teen pregnancy and gradually rising fertility for older women. "

https://bsky.app/profile/ericfinnigan.jbrec.com/post/3lr4ty2tgms2i

6/8/2025 7:46:30 PM

Having older parents adds some challenges.

6/8/2025 8:28:43 PM

Yeah the flip seems mostly young peoole not having kids

This is not optimistic

As an older Millenial most people I know don’t have kids and in my friend group at least this seems driven by the woman’s decision in the case of people in a relationship.

[Edited on June 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM. Reason : ]

6/8/2025 8:33:44 PM

Quote :

"I am moderately optimistic about the long-term future, and quite pessimistic about the short-term. "

Those are also my thoughts.

IF the U.S. can make it through the next 5+ years (maybe even closer to 10) without a catastrophic failure (like, way more catastrophic than we've seen so far) or mortal-wounding breakdown that prevents us from turning the corner like we always have before--and I think that these are real, serious risks-- then I think we will likely be teed up for very good times for a long, long time to come.

https://geopoliticalfutures.com/books/the-storm-before-the-calm/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory


[Edited on June 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM. Reason : ]

6/8/2025 9:57:17 PM

I'm kinda worried i missed bitcoin like i missed netflix, amazon, google, and facebook, among others.

6/9/2025 12:08:51 AM

Cryptocurrency remains a scam. We just have the biggest scammer of all currently pumping it up. It's not an investment. Certainly not something about which to worry. Sure, there are lots of dubious things you could have profited from if you had Biff's Sports Almanac and a time-traveling DeLorean

6/9/2025 6:46:37 AM

I feel optimistic

Quote :

"As an older Millenial most people I know don’t have kids and in my friend group at least this seems driven by the woman’s decision in the case of people in a relationship."

I want to have at least 3 kids. Maybe 4 or 5 depending on how it turns out and if it is manageable

[Edited on June 9, 2025 at 7:13 AM. Reason : 1]

6/9/2025 7:11:17 AM

quit doomscrolling Snewf it's not good for you

5/19/2026 9:34:56 AM

that's true - I'm working on that with a professional

but, still, things aren't looking good

5/19/2026 9:38:56 AM

yes they are

5/19/2026 9:39:27 AM

the country is digging itself into massive debt, it's being plundered by thieves, we're in a war we don't need to be in, the cost of living is through the roof

¯\_(?)_/¯

5/19/2026 9:42:58 AM

yes but you are an able bodied man

5/19/2026 9:47:08 AM

^^says every generation ever. stop letting social media harvest your emotions for money. the future is going to be awesome (we're already living in it btw, if you would just pay attention!) and we're all getting old so why not just enjoy it while we're still here

[Edited on May 19, 2026 at 9:51 AM. Reason : go outside and breathe the fresh air. look up into the sky. put your fingers in the dirt. it's ok!]

5/19/2026 9:49:36 AM

^Maybe even bury your head in the sand to shit that is going on. Pay no attention to the drought, the record breaking heat, the super El Nino building right now, the global impacts on fuel, fertilizer, lubricants and more of a completely unnecessary war, the erosion of rights here in the US and rampant corruption of our administration, and the ongoing genocide in both Gaza and now Lebanon as well perpetuated by Israel and supported by our administration.

5/19/2026 9:58:30 AM

I just got back from the beach and I work in my garden like every day
trust me, I'm doing good

but our leaders are very, very bad -- incompetent AND malevolent

in order for things to work out positively we have to have people pushing back against terrible things
at least, I feel that is my duty as a patriot and a person of faith

things don't just "work out" -- someone behind the scenes is working their ass off for good outcomes

5/19/2026 9:58:33 AM

[Edited on May 19, 2026 at 10:01 AM. Reason : pay attention to the things that make you happy and that you can control. see some of you on the other side]

5/19/2026 10:00:48 AM

I just keep telling myself "trust the process"

5/19/2026 10:01:05 AM

^^ you're not wrong about perspective but there has to be a balance -- living in a delusion is dangerous, too

5/19/2026 10:03:50 AM

Quote :

"but there has to be a balance"

correct. that's precisely what i'm advocating for and have been for years at this point. but all the doomscrolling and the hyperfixation on what is "wrong" also leads to delusional takes. many of which can be found in this forum. in this thread even.



[Edited on May 19, 2026 at 10:28 AM. Reason : f it. important enough to embed.]

5/19/2026 10:08:20 AM

I mean, when formal communication from our government says: "We will find you, we will kill you." to people who support the trans people in their lives... that's grim shit.

I'm just not going to kill myself with stress. If they want me dead they're gonna have to do it themselves.

5/19/2026 10:14:32 AM

^^^^^^^^you sound like my mayor, he is all the time finishing posts on social media by telling citizens to go outside and touch grass

5/19/2026 10:24:24 AM

^^Reference?

5/19/2026 10:29:05 AM

Quote :

"^^says every generation ever. "

Some of them are right! Sometimes the future is worse than the present!



Also this is just minor but sometimes your posts are hard to engage with bc I never know where links are gonna take me, and I'm personally rarely in a position to watch a YouTube video to get the full meaning.

I guess I should've used the Ai while it was here to summarize the links RIP

5/19/2026 10:49:05 AM

Quote :

" says every generation ever. stop letting social media harvest your emotions for money. the future is going to be awesome (we're already living in it btw, if you would just pay attention!) and we're all getting old so why not just enjoy it while we're still here "

Historically they are eventually right. Nations don’t last forever. We live an extremely easy life here in America relatively speaking, because of very specific and intentional work of educated people who carefully spend their lives orchestrating things like economies and political systems and public safety and health measures. We’re disturbing this system more than I’ve ever seen or read about happening in history, and it’s not inevitable that it will work out— it too 100 years from Jim Crow starting to see signs of it ending and the Black community here still suffers for it. I think it could definitely happen here again to a bigger group, and the deterioration would be rapid. This is the first time where it seems like deterioration is the intentional goal of elected politicians.

Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t find joy where you can, but we also have a duty and obligation to try and stand up out for our society too.

5/19/2026 10:54:05 AM

Quote :

"Sometimes the future is worse than the present"

for sure. but empirically, this era in history fucking rocks. imagine having been born 100 years ago. 500 years ago. 1000 years ago. 10,000 years ago.







humans just need something to struggle against. that's millions of years of evolution that we're not gonna overcome so easily. the media et al is happy to hypnotize you into believing everything is bad cus they need to fill a 24/7 news cycle and triggering our fear response works.

our job is to see through the noise and reclaim your time and energy so you can spend it making today better than yesterday.

Quote :

"sometimes your posts are hard to engage with bc I never know where links are gonna take me"

understandable and I agree tbh.

Quote :

"We’re disturbing this system more than I’ve ever seen"

I think it's important for the next generation of educated people who want to carefully spend their lives orchestrating things like economies and political systems and public safety and health measures recognize that what worked last century isn't necessarily gonna work this century. disruption is a natural part of any healthy ecosystem. Democrats big problem is bc they were all the good kid rule followers in school, they aren't good at disruption. they want to maintain the status quo and follow the rules so all the friends they made in college and people they built their ever-advancing careers with will keep liking them. it's a shame that it took a trump to shake things up (and obviously not always for the best but hey quit losing elections ig), but Dems should learn from it so that in 2028, or 2032, or 2036 or however long it takes for us to get over ourselves and actually learn something new will be prepared to actually try to keep the party going in the good ol U S of A

[Edited on May 19, 2026 at 11:10 AM. Reason : .]

5/19/2026 10:55:58 AM

[user]rjfumel[/user]

https://theintercept.com/2026/05/15/podcast-trump-counterterrorism-strategy/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-USCT-Strategy-1.pdf
page 3 for the "We will find you, we will kill you." line

from page 5:

Quote :

"Currently we face three major types of terror groups: • Narcoterrorists and Transnational Gangs • Legacy Islamist Terrorists • Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists"

from pages 6-7:

Quote :

" Americans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives committed by violent left-wing extremists, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies."

5/19/2026 11:24:18 AM

^^
Yes the world has been getting better but op is worried about their world in their lifetimes. Domestic trends are very “k shaped” now at historically bad levels. We’re worse than things were during the Great Depression for some key metrics.

5/19/2026 12:20:31 PM

the original post was made over 13 months ago

in the meantime I have done a lot to manage my anxieties over this, focusing on what I can control
I have moved forward with my gardening and building in other resiliencies into my daily life

I still have concerns about upcoming elections and I have even more concerns about damage to our economy. Prices have gone up over the last year.

5/19/2026 1:19:41 PM

Quote :

"Democrats big problem is bc they were all the good kid rule followers in school, they aren't good at disruption. they want to maintain the status quo and follow the rules so all the friends they made in college and people they built their ever-advancing careers with will keep liking them. it's a shame that it took a trump to shake things up (and obviously not always for the best but hey quit losing elections ig), but Dems should learn from it so that in 2028, or 2032, or 2036 or however long it takes for us to get over ourselves and actually learn something new will be prepared to actually try to keep the party going in the good ol U S of A"

the people who you rail against the most are the ones who are actually putting in the work

5/19/2026 3:43:15 PM

who is it you think i rail against and what kind of work do you think they're doing??

[Edited on May 19, 2026 at 10:04 PM. Reason : not work]

5/19/2026 9:59:46 PM

Quote :

"op is worried about their world in their lifetimes. Domestic trends are very “k shaped” now at historically bad levels"

agree about k-shaped but i suspect if you plotted op on the k he'd be looking pretty good and if you described op's circumstances to the people who are actually on the lower part of the k (let alone the rest of the world) (let alone the rest of people who have ever lived) they'd wonder wtf he's so anxious about

Quote :

"I still have concerns about upcoming elections and I have even more concerns about damage to our economy"

understandable, but catastrophizing doesn't help you personally, and unless you're fundraising it's a bad strategy electorally too. project a hopeful vision for our future!

5/19/2026 10:13:08 PM

^^

Quote :

"garbage - trump, bernie, aoc, mamdani, bush"

5/19/2026 11:43:18 PM

If you're like me and wondered where tgl pulled that quote from, here it is.

5/19/2026 11:51:52 PM

when a system has calcified and become unresponsive to changing conditions, there are good ways to shake things up, and there are garbage ways to shake things up.

5/20/2026 12:07:06 AM

I think we're doing the garbage ways right now

5/20/2026 12:19:28 AM

Quote :

"garbage - trump"

correct.

[Edited on May 20, 2026 at 12:25 AM. Reason : but this too shall pass. stay optimistic!]

5/20/2026 12:24:51 AM

^ Betrayal is a powerful motivator. Trump has alienated a lot of his online core (some are even saying vote D), independents and younger voters. Obviously, those pockets of Arabic voters won't be swinging that way again. The ones not out for blood are apathetic.

Best case scenario for dems.

5/20/2026 6:07:19 AM

I feel optimistic about Z server sales.

5/20/2026 11:59:50 PM