silence7

They're gerrymanding congress, not your local city council

Taking control of a local government via an election remains doable for a modestly sized and motivated group. You can change things

It can with local support.

The outcome of that is less availability of groceries, long treks to buy food, and higher prices.

What's actually needed is a unionized competitor

Sure.. but you need to do it in a way that keeps them listening

Yeah. Breaking that was what the New Deal was about; it shifted wealth away from the robber barons and created a generation of broadly if imperfectly shared prosperity

Also: if you're a white-looking US citizen buttonhole them and tell a very very long and pointless story. The more time they spend listening to you, the less harm they can do.

That's more or less in progress for left-leaning speech, yes

The racism and dictatorship were the important promises. The rest was just for suckers

Its a lot worse than that. The NYT has a really long history of favoring the right. They even had articles like this:

TIMES WRITER VISITS REICH PRISON CAMP; Taken Through Entire Place at Dachau in Bavaria Except Possibly Disciplinary Cells. 2,000 INMATES GLOOMY Incautious Word Has Landed Many There -- Machine Guns and Rifles Bar Escape.

Thats an individual right-wing columnist the NYT keeps around to pretend there is something other than hatemongering on the right

I strongly recommend getting a fitting and spending some time riding with a local club. The former makes sure you're comfortable, the latter can familiarize you with riding on roads and get you into better shape