I love that Bernie Sanders has expended so much public energy railing against income inequality, but if you make an even cursory study of the depth of this divide, it becomes painfully obvious that neither lip service nor any legislative process short of a total “redo” will ever change a thing. When the conservatively misguided Supreme Court majority decision in favor of Citizens United provided a direct, legal path from the coffers of mega corporations to the war chests of systemically underfunded politicians, the lid to Pandora’s Box was not merely opened, it was blown to smithereens.

Republicans, or conservatives, or whatever they’ll be calling themselves after Trump finishes his insurgence, under the banner of free trade and less government and much, much less pesky regulation, (fucking EPA and their clean air and water bullshit), want to hand all of the remaining reins over to the 1%ers. Without uttering the only two words that Ronald Reagan uttered that are not considered gospel, (“trickle down”), the factually challenged economics of the Republican party are, none the less, based on the belief that the free market is the manna which will nourish us all. They would dismantle the few remaining socially relevant approaches to government’s public responsibility to health and welfare and place them in the blood-drenched hands of bankers and brokers. They’ll feign resistance, but dangle a $15/hour minimum wage, which, if passed, would insure that millions of full-time workers will be living below the poverty level for generations to come.

Here’s what would have to change if Bernie’s “redo” were ever possible:

• Matters of health and welfare would become the total responsibility of the Federal Government, (not the present, lobbyist-controlled, non-representative, unconscionably wasteful Federal Government that we have now…a new one that’s none of those things), replacing the current system of for profit health, controlled by a megaplex of faceless and soulless insurance and pharmaceutical companies whose annual profits succeed a kajillion dollars, (this number has been thoroughly fact checked).

• Education would be a Federal responsibility without doubt, equal in access and quality for every child through his or her first four years of college, with subsidized, interest-free loans for specialization and advanced education for anyone showing aptitude and desire.

• All infrastructure would also be the responsibility of the ‘new’ Federal Government, including roads, bridges, transportation, water, electricity, alternative power sources, the InterNet and its security. As a result, the seventeen bajillion jobs, (also fact checked), created would insure zero unemployment.

• There would most certainly need to be a disconnect between real capital and venture capital. Real capital would be based on the fair value of real assets, goods and services and venture capital would be all the phony baloney future, short, projected make-believe crap that’s left over. Or, let’s make all the banks small enough to fail and let banking be about holding money and making legitimate profit by investing in real shit and paying a portion of those profits to depositors for making their working capital available.

• We are a global society with a global economy, but everything can’t be a game of currency manipulation and manufacturing exploitation and hiding profits from taxation. Our Infrastructure Work Force will eliminate the fear of losing manufacturing jobs to other countries, but we will not allow profit to be the motivating factor for engaging foreign development partners. We will not allow goods to be sold in America if they are made by any abused or under-aged worker and the profits of all companies doing business in the US will be fairly taxed.

• The present tax code will be publicly incinerated and a new, ultra-simple three or four tiered tax on all income will replace it. Business taxes will be similarly restructured and all taxes will be reviewed on a regular schedule and adjusted up or down based on real costs of our new, waste-free and efficient Federal programs for health, education, welfare, infrastructure and national security, both military and cyber.

Or…we can continue down this other, horrible, Trump-laden road.