Playing With Fire - Thoughts on the Passing of the BBB

As of today, the Republican controlled Congress is passing the budget bill, known also as the BBB or Big Bullshit Bill, to Trump’s desk.

Despite non-stop 2024 campaign promises that the republicans would not touch Medicaid, this bill is going to remove coverage for millions of Americans. Rural hospitals, already strained, will lose funding and close. Jobs bolstered by government investments will be lost as renewable energy spending is cut.

The trade off? Billionaires will get to pay fewer taxes, allowing them to hoard more money.

Meanwhile, ICE funding has increased in this budget by $150 billion. So, while there is no money for universal healthcare, paid parental leave, UBI, or whichever other scraps the working class has had to beg our billionaire overlords for these past decades, there are HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars going to putting humans in cages. No more healthcare unless you work 80 hours a week. But if you’re a fascist who likes wearing masks and kidnapping people, some new positions will be opening up!

We all are sick and tired of this. I, personally, am sick and tired of this. We can only take so many insults; insults to our common decency; insults to our immigrant friends, relatives, and community members; insults to our dignity as human beings. Are the ghouls running the show aware that to every action, especially one as broad as this, there is a reaction? And if so, how do they intend to suppress us?

I know one thing. We cannot allow ourselves to be suppressed. We must express our ire at every opportunity. When hospitals start closing, we need to make sure everyone knows who is responsible. We need to name and shame every representative who voted for this atrocity. We need to remember names, so when this is over we can hold criminal trials for those complicit in blatant corruption happening in our federal government, and for those allowing and empowering this constitution-defying regime.

And regarding reactions, it is worth noting that the French Revolution began as the monarchy went bankrupt, as the nobles continued to refuse to pay taxes, squeezing the peasants even further.

Closing Thoughts

Why do we exist as a people? To serve the billionaires? To work 80 hour weeks, while those we enrich with our labor pay nothing back to society, and scoff at the idea we should have things like healthcare and clean air?

We exist as people to be happy. To live, to love, and to create. To spend time with each other and experience the beauty that life can be. I reject the framework that the BBB establishes in this country. I call on all of you to reject it too. To speak out against this, while continuing to build community. During this weekends economic blackout, make an effort to meet your neighbors. Community and mutual aid are about to become more important than ever. And the thing about mutual aid is once it is established, we will be ten times as resilient to further right-wing attacks on the working class.

What You Can Do

I know we all want to hear about what we can be doing. Unfortunately, nothing within our current system’s framework can save us from the bill now. But, there are other actions we can do to help; the fight, as always, goes on, and it is our responsibility to start paving the road for the aforementioned reaction.

• Participate in this weekend’s economic blackout and boycott, as well as the July 7th sick-in (click on the above link for details).

• Get ready to participate in the July 17th “Good Trouble” event.

• Let everyone you know in your personal life who works for ICE, or that are thinking about joining ICE, that they are an enemy of the people. Do not support fascists in our personal lives. This huge funding increase will be far less harmful if they have issues filling positions. “Just following orders” is never an excuse for enforcing fascism.

• Resist. This is one is massive. Do not comply with unconstitutional orders. Know your rights not only as a citizen, but as a human being. Fascism only works when we comply, especially when we comply in advance. People are going to be stretched thinner than ever, leading to desperation. ICE Raids are about to get a LOT worse. Resisting means rising above, and continuing to protect those in our community. It means standing up for the rights of everyone. We must continue to resist, even in the face of guard and marine deployments.

• And, most important: don’t forget there are more of us than there are of them. The people united can never be defeated.

I hope you all are able to still find solace this holiday weekend. We will try to keep posting to a minimum during the blackout, but as history does not stop, neither can we. We will see you all soon. In the meantime, think about what it means to you when a supposed democracy serves the interest of the top 1% at the expense of the bottom 99%, and what your ideal world will be in place of that. Because when the reaction comes, and it is time to rebuild, it is our moral imperative to build something that works for all.