slavery being ended was a combination of morality, law, and war. Other places managed to get rid of it in a more progressive law kind of way while the us had people fighting it for a long time and had a massive majority who wanted to see its end before the civil war eroupted and mostly put it to bed (it being allowed for prisoners show the good guys did not completely win). The great depression is what spurred minimum wage. Voting rights for both blacks and women were a long and drawn out fight. Minimum wage has been lowered like with sub minimum wages. There is a party in the us and I think some in europe and such that toass around the idea to not have women vote. Everyone is not evil and hate us and its a pedantic thing to say they are all the same and not recognize some are better than others. So voting and resisting is what we can do. We know a lot of this has corporate influence and even ones not explicity going for it roll over easily. So don’t consume any more than you have to. Take that free time from not going to movies or out places and go to protests. Use your libraries and other local community things and support them. The reason you feel powerless is because group power comes from acting in concert. No single grain of sand in a sandstorm is that harmful but when many are raging in the storm it is a terror.