Totally agreed on the points in your first paragraph. I try my best to help them out and stay as friendly as possible. For example, the Department of Finance senior FOIA officer and I are on a "hey man" basis now. :)

Thanks! This all started in November of 2014 and I doubt there'll be an end for a while.

Not to derail too much, but this sort of work is one of the main reasons why I'm in favor of a basic income. It sucks that it's impossible to live freely while doing this stuff, without being a journalist (bad at writing, so my reliance is on other journalists) or without having a stable job. Not having either right now makes me think to go to patreon for "basic income", but that just feels dirty.

A comment from me from below:

"What is the new becomes the old in no time at all. Something will, and realistically has to, fill the void of high level domestic security. And unless the people that make up it are fundamentally different, or unless the structure itself and its system of rewards and punishments are different, we will only repeat history.

Laws and education are our only hope. Right now these two things are time consuming and are full of hardship so much so that the average person has a hard time taking on responsibility in these domains in their daily lives. If we could lesson these burdens for the average person in these areas then I think, I know, that we are really on to something."

If we could limit the burden for people like you then it would be a huge net positive. If we all figure out that basic income is our best bet then I am all for it. I remain skeptical though and think that there are better options in the medium and long term.