Democrats are a coalition, not a monolith. The socialist liberal Democrat in NY is not the same as the capitalist centrist Democrat in Iowa. They have to be electable in their pocket of the country. They’ll both vote party line 80% of the time though, and that’s a far better outcome than what we have now.

I actually talked to my former congressman the other day, happened to be at a function I attended regarding green energy and sustainability. He said that the conservatives in power called them in, said alright, don’t pull any of the stuff in that’s far to the left, but what are some priorities of yours that meet in the middle and we’ll get them in the bill. He said that they were able to get a few in. All that is to say, even the other side of the aisle wants to work together where they can.

But the publicly divisive stuff is real tough to do until the culture changes. In some cases the culture has changed > remember when Obama pushed back on gay marriage and Biden was much more understanding? And then the polling showed that people didn’t care so much about it anymore, and it became much less of an issue? It took nearly 30 years from don’t ask don’t tell to gay marriage. The trans issue is likely the next. Keep fighting for it, keep advocating for it, but I’d encourage you be tactful with how you frame it, there are a lot more of those that are allies than you may perceive.

Damn right. You think AI wrote the Konami code? No, humans did, millions of times over.

I take it you’ve never been Home Alone

They called it Linux to celebrate the man. At what point do we have to change it to Ainux?

I think the key pieces of information we’re missing here is how old are you and how life changing is this money for you.

If you’re young and poor, sock away about 2/3 of it in an index fund and 1/3 in a high interest savings. Take out loans and go chase that dream bro. Use the 1/3 in savings to cover your life expenses.

If you’re mid life and poor, use it to bolster your retirement. Defer the dream but chase it once you’re comfortable.

If you’re late life and poor, take lessons from a good tutor, don’t go for the Bach. Use it to subsidize Social security. Consider moving to a cheap country where that kind of money will support you for many years.

If you’re old and well off enough - go self actualize. Time truly is the scarcest resource.