Haven't checked the math but I figure that's like at least an 80% saving on each purchase.

This could incidentally be a good way of selecting for candidates committed to economic justice and the public good, and who recognize the paramount importance of creating a mass movement rather than finding a savior.
3/3

This is worth considering as progressives and the DSA feel emboldened to run for office. Taking a longer view, it might make strategic sense for candidates to signal over and over that they will not seek any higher office than the one they're running for.
2/3

Excellent.

perfect

Yes. Precisely.

For one thing, devolved planning + nimbyism = really bad outcomes for the country. Reminds me of local pressure to keep "local" hospitals open, even tho local hospitals don't have enough flow of variety of patients to sustain a medical school and therefore struggle to attract high-caliber doctors.

I did a little bit of planning law way back, when in legal practice, and my takeaway was that every aspect of planning and development was a racket for everyone professionally involved.

I'd bet money that the makers of Brazil, the 1985 movie, in which the main character is a civil servant, were inspired by Kafka (and the clear echoes in British bureaucracy, especially pre-war bureaucracy)

À propos, there's an article or book to be written about discoveries or inventions by folks one might regard as "outsiders" to a field. It's that question or that way of seeing or that technique that requires an outsider unencumbered by the orthodoxies of the discipline.