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On the bright side, I've spent the last month learning a lot about essential government agencies that I never knew existed. I just wish it wasn't due to a real life PSA about how bad things get when the federal government is dismantled.
It's almost like the general populace NEED TO BE TAUGHT about what makes up the government and what it does.
Look, whatever political philosophy you ascribe to, you need to understand what government institutions exist and what they do so:
You can understand where your tax is being spent.
Which ones you should contact for the appropriate service or issue resolution.
When you start becoming politically aware, you can form opinions on how you think these functions should or should not be performed by your ideal institution (or individuals).
And
These institutions, like anything built by humans, need to be maintained, upgraded, remodeled, or replaced effectively for human society to continue to exist. You'll have ideas about what ones, why, and how and we should get to hear about those ideas and discuss them.
That ONLY happens properly when people have at least some idea of what they're talking about.
Else this is what you get; some unelected Muppet treating it like a spaghettied server and pulling random ethernet cables out and listening for what screams.
You have to have an educated populace in order to comprehend how the government works. The systematic dismantling of education since at least the eighties has left people ill equiped to deal with the world.
During Trump's first term, we learned a lot about the law and how easy it is to break norms and get away with shit.