Delightful! I love both having this type of small revelation about other cultures and seeing mine recognized and appreciated by others. We shall persist, I have faith.

But let's remember: those now-discarded DOGE kids stumbled so that Vought could run. Now he's working with proven systems for starving and wrecking government capacity, against a government with a weakened immune system. The damage is going to be generational.

How about Shade's Children by Garth Nix? It doesn't end on a fully pessimistic note, but it might fit the brief anyway.

Oh they still have overpriced Glühwein, though!

You can't buy Christmas trees here; it's in Seattle Center and it's supposed to be a gifts market, carousel, food carts type of thing but they're charging everyone (attendees, vendors) and it's just so expensive. Also that whole section of the Center grounds is inaccessible to the public for weeks!

Maximizing visibility by blinding other drivers is such an elegant metaphor for America