is opaque and seemingly lodged un-democratically in the executive branch. the people should have some say on all of this, but current levels of discourse make me skeptical that we can carry a national conversation on this to effective ends. so the govt makes these decisions basically in secret. and it's one thing when you've got Obama sort of maintaining a lawless but fairly humane status quo, but quite another when you've got Trump and the goon squad calling the shots. would be nice if congress could wake up and, you know, lead the country to a better place, but clearly cooperation is passe. gotta elect people who will transcend petty party lines, imo.