Action 241: Here We Come 2018, and What To Do About Taxes

Lessons We Are Learning for 2018

There are all sorts of unknowns now that the tax bill has cleared the Senate and the house. The ACA mandate will be no longer, throwing insurance markets into disarray. Corporate taxes will go down by about 15%.

What can we do about this?

The answer lies in the 2018 midterm elections.

It’s coming up on a year since the 45th president was instated. The only significant piece of legislation to pass in an entire year under this GOP-led government is one that will bankrupt millions of Americans through changes to their healthcare, disrupt the health insurance markets, and throw basic protective structures that helped engender a middle class and protect the working class, under the bus.

What do we have on your side? All of the things we have learned the last 50 or so weeks. The knowledge that it is a fight that is waged by calling every day, or every other day. By getting out the vote in crucial areas. There have been some surprising and rewarding wins, not least of all the recent election of Democratic senator Doug Jones to Congress.

Resistance is hard. It can be tedious, involving repetition of the same phone calls to the same people. But if we have learned anything these long months, it is to wake up and realize the direct link between our civic engagement and the cost of our healthcare, the funding of public education, the subsidies for research and development that keep the US relevant in the world economy. We've come to think critically and analytically about the structure of the country we live in - and that is a huge feat.

When we ask you to call, we’re also asking you to ask your friends to call. Education is important, but it must be followed by action. Spread what you know on Facebook, but also tell people when you’ve picked up the phone so they can be brave and tenacious and follow suit. We know not everyone can spend more than a few minutes a week resisting, and that is ok.

If even half the people on this list called, Congress would be getting 4K messages. We are powerful as a group.

All the decisions our representatives and senators have made this year will shake out in the 2018 mid-term elections. Our job between now and then is to remind every single one that, come election day, we will be the ones calling the shots. We have a real chance to turn the Senate and House blue

More soon, we continue together.