Janet Mills, Governor of Maine, Suspends Senate Campaign

[slightlv]

59. You pointed out two basic elements to consider...

How blue is the state? Too blue and trump's sics his goons on the state (not that I wouldn't get up in their faces with everyone else!), and price range. Not blue enough and we're harassed and tormented all the time. I'm in the central Midwest. Prices for homes, etc., are pretty cheap... all things considering... but even they are skyrocketing now that trump has done all he can to rape our economy and enable is real estate buddies. And gentrification is all over everywhere. Jacking housing prices up to unaffordable for the common person. My daughter bought a house I advised against. It was over $300k; bought by one of the "We Buy Ugly Houses" LLC's. They did do some work on it, not that much on the outside... don't know about the inside... but I do know for a fact they only paid $25k for the house! This is rampant around here in my little town. Entire neighborhoods are being gentrified and put out of reach of the ordinary person.

One thing I've always thought would be cool would be to pull in with a bunch of people and put money down on an apartment complex or something like that. Have one major common area for everyone to gather as a community, and have a community kitchen. Plus, each month, everyone kicks in maybe $20 into a kitty help anyone who is in a huge bind. A community built on helping each other; tolerant of everyone but racists, rapists, and right wing religious nuts. I was never in a commune, they came and went before I was adult enough to check them out. But CoOp I always thought was a really cool idea. No rent for those who helped chip in and buy... there would be rules, of course. No doubt it would attract some who could fool some of the people some on the time. Or maybe at this age I've just become too cynical. After all, my favorite T-Shirt says "I Used to Be a People Person -- but People Ruined It." (LOL) I do get a lot of compliments when I wear that shirt, tho... so I think there's a lot of people out there hungry for *meaningful* community.