I've come to the realization that we are "expendables" to the PTB.

[Hortensis]

3. Free, able people take care of themselves. That's basic.

We created government of, by and for the people to provide a stable, safe structure for ourselves, within which we were free to pursue our happiness. Not to take care of us. Being taken care of is strictly for those who cannot, who are temporarily in bad trouble or who are mentally and/or physically disabled.

Programs like Social Security aren't a gift; we created them as part of taking care of ourselves. We work, we pay into our government-guaranteed retirement savings that can't disappear, and we draw out. Same for others, including the ACA. We should make some others we want as part of taking care of ourselves.

As for "them," we are over 250,000,000 eligible voters. They're a few hundred thousand at most, @70,000 families. "They" don't do anything or get anything we don't allow.

From my point of view, WE are the powers that be. Yes, I know -- those who won't act like it are our problem, and a disgusting one, not the others we once stripped of much of their excess wealth and put on a regulatory leash. Maybe way past time to do it again, and mean it?