I'm not sure you guys understand what catastrophically means. And I think the problem is we have a bunch of folks who don't live here, who only get their news from the comments of Lemmy posts, and they go and opine from there on the state of America as a whole.

I live in New Jersey. Things are pretty good. We're not without problems, cost of living is a bit high, coats for utilities have been going up. Not great. We also have the best education in the country, one of the safest places to live. I have access to everything. I live in a town where I can walk anywhere, including to the train station.

It's just this constant homogenization of America. The country was founded on this whole states rights idea, and every state tends to operate a little differently. The northeast corridor of the US is a fantastic place to live. The gulf (of Mexico) coast? I have no idea, never lived there, but from what I hear and read, it's not for me.

And yeah, this administration is terrible. There's fortunately some modicum of buffering that living in a good state provides. It's not perfect. It is not catastrophically bad, not even close. We have elections currently ongoing. I have hope that the elections will swing things to the left.

Now, if some games get played with the elections, then I'll adjust my thinking. Everyone here seems to think it's a foregone conclusion, but I'm not there yet. Lemmy and reddit are bordering on the same cult status maga has, but I happen to agree with most of what they think so it's okay. I do think each community tends toward hysteria first.