The US election and public health megathread

[u/TheYellowRose]

Please contain all election-related questions and commentary to this megathread! The repeat posts are clogging up the subreddit at this point. Thanks!

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Honestly, if people think public health is just going to vanish overnight with funding cuts, they're missing the point. The problem with our field isn’t just lack of funding or support—it’s that we’ve built this self-perpetuating machine that’s more about careerism and empty gestures than actual change. Look at the so-called “homeless-industrial complex.” That’s us. Our field has become this massive apparatus, filled with people who build careers off poverty without actually fixing anything. And the hypocrisy is staggering.

People worried about community health funding cuts… have you even seen what happens on the ground? It’s ridiculous. We prop up "community health" programs that barely make an impact, and all too often, they rely on underpaid workers—many of whom are from the communities we supposedly serve—to tick the boxes in our grants. It's brutal: they’re the “diversity” we need for funding, yet they make poverty wages and are stuck doing the grunt work while some academic in a cushy office checks the “community engagement” box.

And don’t even get me started on the research. Who actually thinks studies like “Why are Latina women unmotivated to exercise?” do anything besides reinforce harmful stereotypes and waste resources? The fact that this kind of project flies in our field is embarrassing. It’s no wonder people view public health as a grift. We preach about addressing inequity while operating in a system that often exploits the very people we claim to uplift. And frankly, a lot of the criticism coming from outside is dead on. If we’re really about justice, then it's time we stopped propping up this hollow industry and faced the fact that we’re complicit in perpetuating inequality.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I would love to see the field as a whole be decoupled from the grant complex and careerism. I care about helping people above all. It just sucks because so much of that great grassroots work isn't what gets money, and we need money to survive. It's a cyclical issue. Public health will survive, even if it looks different, it's just a matter of, will it look different because we mobilize and take direct action to help those in need, or will it look different because any and all regulatory departments will be gutted, there'll be increased misinformation, and no central way to organize?

I think both things can be true, large swaths of the industry need a massive overhaul, and RFK will not move things in the right direction. Edit: I also worked at a community health nonprofit that ate up grant money like they were pac-man so I definitely understand where you're coming from.