CARPE DIEM

     Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. A bird in the hand. And the lists could go on for some time, with all the messages being this: take what you can get in the immediacy of the moment and worry about the future later. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we have in the passing of the tax changes.
     This is not a reform by any means other than reformatting advantages and disadvantages, cutting out any idea of fairness and allowing this to be a massive tax cut, though not the biggest one ever - sorry, Trump - but still and all, a massive one for uber wealthy and our own dear molester in chief stands to reap millions upon millions, just for him and his whole miserable family. Nor does it provide any real impetus to kickstart an economy which was already kickstarted by the Obama administration and has maintained its momentum right thru this year - a fact that Trump attributes to himself. Sorry, Donny, no way.
     What just took place was a travesty of democracy, of morality, of altruism, of anything good and what it was, was a huge grab for greed what with certain senators gaining financially, others not getting their desired additions or changes and truly, what fools they were. Why did they ever expect the Trump administration in all its facets, to tell the truth, to promise and keep it. For the "little guy" - no way, no how.
     We had a group of mostly men who were frantic to show the world they could do something and the end of the year was fast approaching. So they did something - and screwed the country. After one year of Donald I we now have a country that will be raped financially, morally, physically and any other way one could think of. 
     To add to the mix we have the increased hatred, the open nastiness of prejudice. Thousands of DACA kids are waiting. Our economy has suffered from their uncertainty and coming loss and will continue to suffer as Trump closes off our borders and prevents fresh minds, new thinking. America simply does not have all that she needs to keep this economy chugging along and it will slow down and go into panic mode, just as Britain is now, as workers are getting harder to find, crops are going unpicked, slots in businesses and technology are going begging and people simply do not want to come or are leaving and we will have that problem here - already do - but hey, no worry, for Trump gets all the visas he needs time after time for all his immigrant overseas workers for his temples to the wealthy.
     We are in a bad position and just wait till the truth about this tax bill is obvious even to the most benighted. Just wait till the budget deficit causes a huge shortfall in monies available for social safety net programs. Wait till Medicare recipients are denied meds and procedures and start dying. And wait till children start dying because there is no more CHIPS. Wait till people go hungry right here in America, but not to worry, for Ivanka will have her child care money and Mar a Lago will still serve exotic foods all to please the palates of the Trump class people. And remember, first comes the Wall, ICE, police enforcement, and military funding. First we will send our forces overseas to even more countries and then perhaps worry about our own. In cutting us off from the world we are actually harming our people, his own 'base'.
   Trump is a prime example of the evil thinking that can result from carpe diem thinking. We need to plan for the future and that future means a world that is intertwined, where nativism and populism disappear, where prejudice is recognized as ridiculous and dies away, where children do not go hungry and the elderly are not neglected or written off. It means a world where ethnic cleansing is a thing of the past.It means a world where we the people have retained our country's soul, that we have restored our true values to where they belong and turned away the negative aspects of the past, learned our lessons well. One can  hope, yes? One does not have to lose all hope and optimism as one ages. We the people can do this. If we wish to do so. If we work hard to take our country back.
     We the people    WE THE PEOPLE