The USA is at a turning point. This country has been a disaster for the past four years. We just managed to fire the man who almost destroyed the rule of law, undermined education, greatly increased the flow of money from the poor to the rich, harmed the environment, alienated our allies, and encouraged racist, misogynist, xenophobic, and violent behavior. The virus is still raging here because of his indifference and incompetence.

Now scientists around the world are developing vaccines faster than anyone thought possible. And evidently the Trump administration had no real plans to get them to us.

These are thrilling and dangerous times. We have to change our way of living, fast, to survive. Wearing masks and isolating ourselves for a few months, this time like we mean it, won’t be impossible if households get adequate subsidies. The way many other countries have handled COVID has proved we can do it if we try. We know our hope lies in coordinated communal action. Once the worst of the pandemic has receded, we’ll need this knowledge to cope with global warming.

Tens of millions of Americans are hungry and homeless, or close to it. Hundreds of thousands of families grieving unnecessary deaths. Businesses gone, children behind in their education. Health care workers exhausted and burned out. It’s staggering how much mental and physical damage we must try to heal. We’re all the walking wounded.

The rich have been getting richer for a long time, but the trend has accelerated over the past 40 years. Where did all the billionaires’ money come from? Working people have been paid too little, and been charged too much. Now our communities have been sucked dry by this wicked scheme.

We have to take the money back to do what we, the people, need it to do. We need it to feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, and teach the children. We need to clean up our nasty habits, train ourselves to stop mindlessly consuming as though earth’s resources were endless, and help rescue our species from climate change.

This is a new era. It’s time to tax the rich.