I won’t engage further then because it won’t be productive. I’ll continue to call out baseless claims of course, but I don’t think there’s any amount of argumentation or evidence that could convince you since you arrived at your position via feeling - proof or citations are just window dressing.

I’m sorry that asking your side to support its claims is so offensive to you. I can’t say I relate to this mindset. It’s completely foreign to me.

What makes you think that this is something I’m obscuring?

They feel very strongly about a topic, but it’s entirely based on their various personal experiences. They arrive at the conclusion first, and then try to arrange reality around their opinions.

Deaths are pretty much 1:1 with drug use. Us having more fentanyl deaths mean we have more fentanyl users. Feel free to cite something that proves that Australia has the same amount of drug users as the United States.

It’s a contributing factor. Americans consume healthcare at much higher rates for many reasons, some of which I listed above. I’d fully expect Americans to pay more when they consume more.

> They have a right, if not an obligation, to be concerned about water consumption and pollution, especially in an already drought stricken area, near a drying, poisonous lake.

Same

> They have a pretty good reason to be upset about adding an extreme amount of heat and CO2 in an area where the tourism for skiing and snowboarding plays a huge role in tourism for the nearby counties, despite lowest snowpacks on record year over year.

How do they add heat and co2? Just produce more clean energy lol

> Also as a citizen, I would be furious is my elected officials ignored the locals in favor of 2 other officials' pressure and opinions.

Why should locals have any say whether I buy some land and build a building that houses computers in it? I'd prefer officials ignore local's opinions as much as possible, we'd have more housing and cheaper compute by now

Not sure what this is referencing

> Like factories funneling community wealth into the hands of a few capital holders.

Idk how this relates to present day

> Like dangerous working conditions maiming workers and children

same

> Like a disenfranchisement of skilled labor leading to worse wages, worse hours, and less prosperity.

Same

> Like a disenfranchisement of skilled labor leading to worse wages, worse hours, and less prosperity.

Same. No evidence for any of this

Sorry I don't believe this

> Gee, I wonder if not having healthcare (including access to things like therapy and rehab) might drive up drug death rates

Lol, yeah that's why we have so many fentanyl addicts, the lack of therapy, I'm sure that's it

> Sure; you didn't address how it's responsible for 3x the healthcare costs.

Gunshot wounds obviously, we have way more guns and gun crime than Australia

I straight up don’t believe the drug use one, we have way more fentalyl deaths than you and it’s not even close.

You didn’t address crime. We have much more of it. More gun ownership and gun usage as well.

I’m not quite sure what this anecdote has to do with my comment.