"My dad says you used to be evil, but now you're just cranky."

iirc

Or organization like ISIS will have recruiters. Mr. A shows up in a town, talks with the locals and arranges a few meetings. The locals know who might be receptive. Say Mac is a likely recruit. Angry at the powers that be, not a lot of prospects, ready for some adventure. Mr. A will give him a few tests. Graffiti this building, throw a rock through that window. If Mac does well he gets an offer to visit the big city. Train fare and a few bucks. There he meets others like himself. There's training and more training. Mac is now part of something big and important.

In a lot of ways it's not much different from High School ROTC. A sense of belonging and purpose mean a lot to many people.

He was the head of a crime family, the Don. Like Don Corleone in the Godfather. Corleone's first name was Vito, but he was the Don of the family. Later his son Michael became the new Don.

By that logic, every Union is a cult. All I said was that people should organize and show up and vote.

"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein. It's a really good science fiction novel and the handbook for a lot of Libertarians.

You can read and enjoy it as a story, but if you examine it you'll see all the hoops the author had to jump through in order to make his society work.

One of the most glaring examples is that there are almost no guns in a prison where machine tools are readily available.

The GOP pushed both the Greens and the Libertarians to siphon votes from the Dems.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/09/10/metro/jill-stein-new-hampshire-ballot-republican-help/

Look up The Moral Majority and Jerry Falwell.

Falwell made himself a big deal in the GOP by getting his troops to show up at every single local Republican event with enough votes to make sure that they got everything they wanted. It started small with sheriffs and county clerks, and then Congress members.

Does this mean that by voting Republican we can secure abortion rights? The answer is no.

Actually, by your own post, in Alaska it does.

New York City established Ranked Choice voting in 2020 under a Dem Mayor and majority Dem City Council.

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I like to read old science fiction and check out the things the authors got wrong.

Maybe my favorite is the 'mini VHS recorders' from Neuromancer.

[off topic]

I remember the golden age of the DVD Man. That noble soul who had all the latest movies on DVD a day after they opened. Quality ranged from someone recording the movie in the theater with a camcorder to perfect copies taken directly from the source.

Every shot of insulin is the most important shot of insulin in history.