I know. Your post was so dead-on that it struck a nerve
   because it pisses me off that the government is the weather.
   Everybody complains but nobody does anything about it, so the
   best we can do is watch the weather reports and grab an
   umbrella. I was pissed off at school for the same types of
   reasons, even way back at 8-9 years old. Felt powerless. At 14,
   I read Unschooling, "Why Johnny Can't Read", stuff about
   Summerhill by Js Neill, and wanted to change school. Wrote
   letters, started a group on the early Internet (1990) for
   children's rights, with my main focus on changing or eliminating
   school (although I allowed people to have other topics). A
   couple of rights organizations followed. The [1]National Youth
   Rights Association is one of them, so is [2]Taking Children
   Seriously - the founders found each other in my group and split
   off to form their own causes that they fight today. So, I feel
   successful that I made _some_ change. I still work for change in
   my own way. But the uphill battle is hard. Some people work
   within official channels and for them, I'm grateful because
   there's a lot of mazes to go through for that. Subversive
   efforts seem to work best though. I mean, you're right: Educate
   people. Let them know they're not alone. It's not that people
   "don't know". They know. There's no sheep here. They KNOW IT
   SUCKS. Every kid knows that school sucks. They just bend over
   and deal with it. Every adult knows that government and
   corporations are problematic, that lawyers are a regretful
   necessity and other things like that. People AREN'T idiots, even
   if they appear to be. So it's not waking people up. It's letting
   them know they're not alone. THEN... once you've got them
   knowing they're not alone, you discuss to find ways to fix the
   problem. You don't have special secret knowledge that few know
   about. You don't. Every adult 18 - death knows this stuff at
   some level. But once you get people's attention, you gotta go
   beyond a pity party at some point. That's all. Sorry for the
   rant. It just takes a lot of effort to stay positive about
   things I can't do a damn thing about right now, which includes
   everything you mentioned and then some. Most of the people that
   seem to be "asleep" are just coping as best they can. -- Thanks
   man. I keep this stuff bottled up and stay positive because I
   don't have much choice atm. When i see people wearing business
   suits, white shirts and ties and painted on smiles going to work
   each day to support their families, they have my greatest
   sympathies because they haven't shot themselves yet. The
   greatest heroes aren't always the ones making the rallying cries
   for change; it's the unknown ones that try to make the best of
   the shit piled around them and keep smiling. They're plenty
   awake - so awake they can't afford to close their eyes for a
   single moment. So awake at the horrors around them they can't
   even speak it and are forced to pretend "it's all ok" for the
   sake of others' sanities. The quiet ones make change where they
   can.. in the ways that they can. For a kid, maybe all they can
   manage is getting their homework finished that night. For an
   adult, maybe successfully doing their taxes, or managing to
   write a check for their rent or mortgage payment. Do they dream
   of overthrowing the school or government? In the quiet moments
   when they allow themselves to do so, I have no doubt that they
   do. The rest of the time, it's coping 'til you get burnt up and
   tossed into the air or stuck in an urn, or buried into the
   ground, plasticized, and hoping that SOMETHING you did in your
   life _might_ actually have benefited somebody else in the
   future.... some little piece carries forward into a future where
   they're not there. *sigh* - sorry about that. I'm the nice-guy
   who is always smiling and staying positive for the sake of
   others, so they can express themselves and be all nutty and loud
   without having to worry about the things I have to worry about.
   But I know they have their worries too, and I know there's
   people worrying about me that I don't know about. We're cogs in
   wheels and if we escape one machine, we join another. The fight
   is worthy though.

References

   Visible links
   1. https://www.facebook.com/YouthRights/?hc_location=ufi
   2. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Taking-Children-Seriously/103854562987205?hc_location=ufi