Sometimes you gotta look at the context. It's like the US civil war. A good chunk of the country will swear up and down it was fought over states' rights and leave it at that.
Yes, women's "rights" to be transphobic essentially. The J.K. Rowling Women's Fund, the organization she is founding, uses TERF dogwishtles in their mission statement right on their page. "Overly inclusive policies". Come on.
While nice in theory, that's not how partisan politics works in practice. What's going to happen is that the absurdly large proportion of judges from conservative states will simply shout over opposition like they currently do in all other branches of government and stonewall any attempt to compromise. Gods forbid you try to push progressive ideas.
Giving each state equal representation without a population distribution that is exactly equal across every state inherently devalues the representation of those in population centers, giving disproportionate power to a party that is outnumbered but is spread out over the much emptier land. Equal rep must be based proportionally off of population to avoid devaluing individual voter influence.
Nearly free? I'd tell you to tell that to my dad, but he passed away after getting thoroughly drained of most of his savings thanks to his "nearly free" health care while dying of cancer.
But also the vibes are totally different. In the original there's a palpable eldritch terror despite the absurdity, helped along by the difference in scale and the unknowable malice in Ribbonthulhu's expression. In the ai generated version it just looks like a phoned in political cartoon with a shocked Pikachu MAGA looking mildly alarmed at a rather underwhelming baby Cthulhu with ribbons attached.
Then literally just say "could be better". It's the truth, and phrased in such a way that a stranger you're exchanged pleasantries with doesn't have to feel awkward about it.
Hell I live in an area that asks it as a greeting and I don't lie. Sometimes I sugarcoat it with "could be better" but like, no one ever makes me feel like a dumbass for being honest.
The difference is that your example is designed to exploit you and, generally, your freedom amounts to "leave and get exploited elsewhere." This is the same for poverty. Sure, technically you could walk away... But to do what? Suffer elsewhere in poverty?
Those in Swedish prisons aren't free to leave, but that's not the only kind of freedom that exists. Freedom from starvation, danger, from the influences that lead to the crime that put you in prison. Is it really so hard to imagine a world where you might give up some freedom for real, tangible safety and peace of mind?
Both, the active threat modifier just means you get to engage in vehicular combat directly to sabotage other drivers going for a high score.