I think you're on the right track with focusing on the local things you can change. And keeping hope alive is important! I mean, I may not have a choice in being fucked and miserable later, so if I can avoid that now, then that's great.

I liked Spider's point about means testing for voting. It wouldn't work, although it does seem like it would be a step forward. We can't even means test our politicians which has seemed necessary more and more recently... those pesky legalities, lol.

I saw that Mr. Roger's quote "look to the helpers" recently on here and that keeps bouncing back in my head when I get negative thoughts. I know it's not completely sustainable, but I keep seeing the impact of positivity on my life and the people around me, which is a nice change from the norm.