Yesterday, after the Senate parliamentarian did her thing, it was put to a vote whether private insurance companies would also be required to cap insulin payments at $35 a month (and presumably lose a mountain of money). 43 Republicans voted no, effectively a filibuster.

When the entire Inflation Reduction Act, the skinny, almost unrecognizable, reconciliation-ready version of Build Back Better ( filibustered quite effectively with the assistance of two rogue Democrats), came up for a vote, those same seven bipartisan Republican senators voted with the other 43 against the entire bill. That’s called party discipline and loyalty to an angry base.

So we wound up with a fraction of what the vast majority of Americans actually want, but it is much better than zilch. Until we can fix it, that’s democracy in the age of Koch, Trump, Barr and the likes of Ginni Thomas and friends like Mark Meadows and fervent midievalist [1] Snarlin’ Sam Alito.

That said, congratulations to us all and to this poor, magnificent earth we have long been such negligent stewards of.

[1] To save you a click on Google: One who sympathizes with the spirit and principles of the middle ages: often with the sense of one who is antiquated or behind the times.