• @cubedsteaks
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    110 months ago

    I like how “day job” is in quotes. That makes it seem even sketchier than I originally thought lol

    what kind of “day jobs” are we talking about here? Are they in an office?

    And yeah, how do they have time to be a politician if they have that day job going?

    • @SCB@lemmy.world
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      110 months ago

      I’ve worked with local politicians in office settings, as salespeople (trained a city councilwoman as a saleswoman once), etc. They also sometimes own businesses (a bit of selection bias there because that “plays” really well to the electorate).

      Most political jobs that aren’t state/federal arent very demanding of time. School board, local government, etc, is generally unpaid/low pay and very much part time. If you can carve a couple nights a week, you can work in local gov.

      • @cubedsteaks
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        010 months ago

        They also sometimes own businesses

        Ah yeah. The kind of people who already had money to start a business in the first place.

        If you can carve a couple nights a week, you can work in local gov.

        That seems like not nearly enough time to be putting into something that is meant to change how things work. Government is incredibly slow though, I’m aware…

        None of this is making them sound… well better.

        • @SCB@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Most people start a business via a small business loan, which is surprisingly easy (in my view) to qualify for. You also only need like $50 in my state to register as a business owner.

          Lots of relatively poor people own their own business. I ran my own consultancy for a while and I was definitely not rich.

          Couple nights a week is plenty when you’re on city council for a town of 10,000 people. There aren’t that many hearings

          • @cubedsteaks
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            110 months ago

            Most people start a business via a small business loan, which is surprisingly easy (in my view) to qualify for. You also only need like $50 in my state to register as a business owner.

            Now this is really wild to me. If I walked into a place and tried to get a business loan, I guarantee they’d say no to me REAL quick.

            I don’t think only rich people own businesses but I think people who are able to be in a place financially where they can get a loan to start a business, are probably better off financially than say, some no body like myself.

            There aren’t that many hearings

            Jesus… is that based on locality or? That almost sounds like no one is really doing anything. What do they actually do?

            Also I want to add, I have thought about getting into politics and the reason I don’t is the reasoning behind these questions. I can’t imagine having a job and doing this but really only doing it like politics are my hobby and hearings are my little meet ups.

            • @SCB@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              It’s definitely by locality, but keep in mind that basically as a matter of course there will always be a shitload more small localities than large. Thus, most politicians aren’t paid much. Lots of localities have city councils that yeah, are basically meetups. They’ll literally meet in kitchens and shit. I had an embarrassing moment at a state rep dinner at my aunt’s house where I didn’t silence my phone and my ringtone was hilariously inappropriate. Politics can be extremely local, and I think that’s a good thing, even if I personally think it does fuck up a lot of small towns

              The numbers can be a touch misleading, since there are a large number of larger towns and cities that do have paid representatives, because the country is absolutely enormous and there are “major” cities everywhere. There are a lot more politicians than you’d think if you really get granular.

              Also the key aspects of a business loan are

              1: some form of collateral

              2: a solid business plan

              You bring those things and you can probably start a business.

              • @cubedsteaks
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                110 months ago

                some form of collateral

                ah! found it!

                I’m someone who doesn’t have a form of collateral to give and I assume that there are other people in my poor people group who also lack this and would be unable to start a business of any kind.

                In fact, that means a lot of people in the city I live in are unable to start a business.

                So it definitely does point to a certain class of people that can start a business and those of us who can’t.

                I’m definitely going to look into how many hearings are had where I live.

                • @SCB@lemmy.world
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                  210 months ago

                  I mean you can start a business without a business loan. I started my LLC with $50 and some cold calls.

                  You should get involved! Run for office! Volunteer on campaigns! We need more people participating in the process on a local level.

                  • @cubedsteaks
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                    110 months ago

                    I mean you can start a business without a business loan. I started my LLC with $50 and some cold calls.

                    The thing is, if I do that - I won’t have a place to live afterwards. My rent is going up $45 in a few months. I currently make $36 an hour and they’re talking about paying me more and putting me on salary.

                    I do want to be more involved but it really seems blocked off for regular people who have to have full time jobs. Without my full time job I’m pretty much fucked.