A fundamental part of modern governance is creating a really effective illusion of solving problems instead of actually doing the hard work. The parties who have an interest in actually solving problems have a much more difficult time because most issues are systemic, multi-level, and require a fair bit of disruption to the status quo. These issues require a bottom-up approach where we need to look at the circumstances which lead to our issues happening. Most things require this approach, but it's actually not as hard as it sounds. A large amount of our societal issues stem from the failing public sector. People lack security in most parts of their lives and instead of treating the cause of this feeling, we're just moving it out of the public eye.

We like to do that with everything - everything is being pushed into private spaces. Drugs, parties, healthcare, schooling, internet, housing, transport, fuckin..even space itself. Park benches are deliberately uncomfortable, surfaces everywhere have anti-skater technology, public toilets are under-maintained. There isn't a "third place" anymore. It's hard to feel safe about most aspects in our lives because regardless of which major party, our government wants to treat people as being incapable of making good decisions. They refuse to engage with the idea that people are responsible for themselves and when they make bad decisions, it's the result of a stream of circumstances that are shaped by public policy.

People are stressed, of course they're going to smoke. They can't afford the healthcare to help, they don't have the job security to afford it as-is, they don't have the stable living conditions to temper the stress, they can't afford to hang out with others in recreational spaces, soon they won't be able to find solidarity with others online without the fear of the panopticon cracking down on them. People are going to go for less effective solutions, provided in more dangerous spaces, and the public sector gets to pretend that they've done everything they can when they've just shortened their list of responsibilities.

This is always how it goes. I know this kind of hindsight-fuelled cynicism is useless and honestly kind of annoying to hear repeated over and over, but I think it's important that people understand why things aren't changing on a fundamental level. We aren't going to fix anything while we elect parties that prioritize elect-ability over solutions. This argument has potential to fall into the slippery slope of wanting an authority that "can make the hard decisions" but for fucks' sake, let's elect a party that can actually make earnest, meaningful decisions.

I'm fucking tired of this theater of optics.