@OP. Congrats! If joining Ford it is your biggest regret in life, that means you haven't messed up much in your life, or you haven't had a long time yet to mess your life up. Either case, the solution is obvious: leave the company.
It is true that the company today is just a shadow of what it was before. Ford always had this bureaucratic approach, some FnF/managers playing politics and a weird insistence on making everything the "Ford way". Now all the bad things have grown too much, curtailing the decent operation of the company. I wouldn't join the company today, actually I am preparing my way out.
Personally, I am grateful that I started working at Ford several years ago. I met nice and knowledgeable coworkers. I was able to reach certain goals in life thanks to the stability provided by my job at Ford. Most important, I was able to contribute with my experience and knowledge, improving on others' work.
Ford was always a paycheck, a means to an end, never my family or whatever crazy loyalty some employees think they must show to the company. I had good and bad moments, but I never forgot is a business contract between the company and myself. I provide my labor, my knowledge, and I get paid for it. No loyalty expected on either side of the transaction.
Ford is free to let me go whenever they please, and I am free to leave Ford whenever I please. No golden handcuffs for me, so I don't even have to worry for a pension. I get paid today what I am worth, not waiting 20 years to see it in the pension. I call that a fair agreement.
I am not a slave, nor I need someone babysitting me all the time. As a grown up man, I am responsible for my actions, my career choices, and my life. I don't come here to whine about my wrong choices, but to share my frustations with my fellow Ford employees. Why? Because it hurts seen such an iconic American company being gutted by a bunch of selfish mo--ns at the top.
The company could be in such a better position, if not for the myopic decisions taken by Bill Ford and his acolytes. It hurts because I care about the company, which have received years of my efforts; I care about my coworkers, some of them were already kicked out to the curb; I care about my country, which is weaker every time we outsource jobs and American companies close down.
Still, I know my limitations. One vote does not decide elections, no matter how many times I hear that my vote matters. One low level employee cannot change the disaster at the top of the company. The only thing I can do, and I am already doing it, is to be responsible for my stuff: do my job, keep myself up to date, look for other opportunities, raise a good honest family, and vote for what I believe in. After all, the world can go to h.ll without my help.