Justmehere
Sponsor
I am on SSDI and I have Medicare too... they do suck and mental health care funding has already been falling apart in my state. So I see why you are concerned.
Something that has been calming for me to remember: no president can do a thing with Medicare or SSDI or most other laws unless congress passes a bill to change it, the president signs that bill, and congress chooses to not override the president, and that law is properly funded or defunded by congress.... or the president throws out the consitution entirely and becomes some flavor of a dictator.
Outside of military actions (and there are checks and balances there), executive orders (of which are out of control but still somewhat limited), and illegal impeachable actions, the president can't actually pass any law himself. Not a single one.
The president is the executive branch, not the legislative one. As much as presidents talk about where they stand, and this is very important, they don't actually have as much power under the consitution as it might seem because of the length and shock of this past election cycle and current division in the country now.
I have deep concerns about the president elect and what he will do in office and what others will do with him in office. I think we are at a very dangerous point in history.
However, I want to push back a little to what I read here and other places about fears of how so many things are expected to fall apart, and with urgency like it will happen rather quickly with no opposition or checks and balances.
Unless the sh*t really hits the fan, most government programs are not going to suddenly end overnight... and if things really hit the fan, well... a lot of things will fall apart then...
But it hasn't happened yet.
For many reasons I won't get into right now, Medicare and SSDI are not likely to end in the near future anymore than they were already likely to end.
(Edited to delete section on the checks and balances in the consitution that we still have because I didn't want to get too far into politics...)
These issues like loss of all current gay rights and Medicare and SSDI could become real problems down the road, but right now, we are at least a few steps away from it being an immediate problem.
It's like when an abused person is running from an abuser and begins to fear danger from all people at every turn. The victim is smart to be careful and concerned about the known and very real and present problem and threat - but generalizing to all people and places actually makes the victim less safe because they won't get help to stay safe and be able to engage in as effective problem solving as well.
I see that happening in the US right now.
There are real problems and real dangers right now, and maybe they will get much bigger down the road, but if people generalize too far about too many things too soon when they are already "over the edge"... they won't be able to deal with the problems of the current moment as well and will end up feeling even more over the edge.
Does this make sense at all to anyone or have I muddled this so badly it's a mess of words?
It's important to try to redirect our thoughts to focus on what is and isn't happening in this moment now when over the edge... the and to recognize when generalization and/or focus on future fears might be happening and not actually helping someone cope, but pulling one more over the edge.
Mindfulness and CBT are two sets of tools that can help a lot in reigning in fears like some expressed here.
I don't write this to dismiss any of the fears of the future, and I don't mean to invalidate anyone's distress or fears - I get it, I'm only trying to mention that maybe when super triggered or distressed, it might help to try to refocus on this moment now.
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