What the hell do we do now?

Well they went and did it, I admit that even though I said it was probably gonna pass, in my heart I hoped cooler heads would prevail, but I guess cooler heads did. A lot of the talk about the slapdash nature of the tax bill was that the GOP had to pass something, anything, to show that they could function as a political entity, and while there is some of that happening here I think it is important to keep in mind, at the forefront of our minds really, that everything they passed is exactly what they wanted and have for a few decades now, this isn't just a bunch of handouts thrown together wildly, but the culmination of years of planning and lobbying that finally bought enough support to get passed.

Cooler heads did prevail, those heads were cooled by vast amounts of money over the course of twenty or more years. The parts of the plan we know the details of are basically the late stage capitalist wish list.

Capitalism is really good at perpetuating itself just by existing, but at the policy level like this things have to be done intentionally and make no mistake, this was exactly that, an intentional and blatant play to redistribute wealth from one section of the populace to another. It's barely even being hidden anymore, oh some Senators will give the usual job creation and trickle down talking points, but most won't, at best they will talk about how it helps the struggling businessperson, you and I all know that the businessperson they have in mind isn't the kind I was, but rather the kind the Koch brothers are.

Yeah it felt like a college level group project rammed through the night before it was due, but don't fall into the trap of thinking anything in the bill wasn't intended to be there because of that.

The government as it is now cannot be trusted to take care of its citizens, even with a Democratic majority based on some of the amendments Senate Dems proposed I do believe that it only would have taken relatively minor changes to the bill the pass, ones that would have been unacceptable to the Republicans sure, but the final product would have been almost as bad for the average person.

Remember that the bill was passed unread by most people and with literally only hours of debate, if our representatives are passing laws that they haven't read and won't tell anyone about, can we truly be said to have any representation at the national policy making level? Didn't we form a country over that complaint? It was sort of a big deal I thought.

So with that in mind and knowing the government is not interested in caring for its citizens, what is left to do? Well let's leave aside what we did last time as probably unworkable at the moment and focus on the options that don't include civil war.

First, the tax reform bill isn't actually law yet, it must be reconciled with the House bill that was passed a few weeks ago and that might take some doing as there are some significant differences in the two, then the House, and possibly the Senate, must vote on it again depending on the changes that are made, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the House won't pass it depending on how much power the debt hawks have in the House right now. Voting down tax bills, or any bill really, because it ads to the national debt is generally pretty stupid, but in this case I will take what I can get and there are those who will die on that hill, Bob Corker in the Senate was one, and he was the only Republican defector on the tax bill, the House is a bit larger and more varied so perhaps there are more there.

Additionally many elements of the bill are likely to get jumped on by lawyers and the Supreme Court is likely to get involved before all this is over, I don't want to predict how that will fall out though.

Even with all that, I don't want you to get your hopes up, this thing is probably gonna pass, perhaps with some elements that we hate removed, but not even close to all of them by any means, so what then? What do we do when our government gleefully abandons its responsibilities?

My only solution is group action.

You know what saddens me when I see it? Gofundme pages for things like medical treatment, or even lately I saw one someone set up to thank a homeless person for helping her out, it raised a couple hundred thousand dollars and will hopefully change his life.
They sadden me because they should not be necessary, and yet I see them reported on like they are feel good stories, they should read, "citizens band together to help people the government won't" But they don't and we are all just supposed to be filled with wonder about how damn good we all our, nevermind that it would be effortless for a major corporation to do it, or you know, the government itself if it actually stood for the people.

One thing though is that it is indicative of how much money can be generated from us poor people, even with the imbalance of wealth in the country the 99% still have enough to do some real damage if it could be leveraged properly, if a couple thousand people chipping in twenty bucks can buy a guy a house, can those same couple thousand people chipping in 500 bucks start in investment firm that generates real income? Perhaps assuring them of retirement in an age where most of us are likely to work until we die?

Could a hundred thousand people be enough buying power to negotiate with hospitals for the same prices insurance companies pay?

Could a million form an internet provider co-op ensuring net neutrality?

Until and unless we can change our leadership, really change it, we are likely going to have to explore these options if we want to think of ourselves as a country of people working together rather than a bunch of rugged individuals getting by. Because you can't, you can't get by on your own, and you can't rely on help from the government or from the rich, because they don't care about you and won't until they are forced to, or up against the wall.