A Fierce Resistance

And no America, that's not it.

Lewis: I was hit on my head right here.
Hall: What were you hit with?
Lewis: I was hit with a billy club, and I saw the State Trooper that hit me.
Hall: How many times were you hit?
Lewis: I was hit twice, once when I was lying down and was attempting to get up.
Hall: Do we understand you to say were hit . . . and then attempted to get up
and were hit—and was hit again.
Lewis: Right.
—From John Lewis’s testimony

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“…They knew what was important They knew that life was everything and they died with screams and sobs. They died with only one thought in their minds and that was I want to live I want to live I want to live…”
―Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun

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“The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse. The invulnerable dead man forced a way for himself. The youth looked keenly at the ashen face. The wind raised the tawny beard. It moved as if a hand were stroking it…”
―Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

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“…Here is the happening-truth. I was once a soldier. There were many bodies, real bodies with real faces, but I was young then and I was afraid to look. And now, twenty years later, I'm left with faceless responsibility and faceless grief.”
― Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

In every war fought, fierce battles, and resistance actions are profiles in sacrifice, suffering, and courage.

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And now that the criminal-elect, his shillbilly, his band of DOGEs, idiots, and sociopaths, have successfully taken over the United States…

This is the response of the American resistance …

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Try to stop shopping for a day???

“The 24 hour Economic Blackout -As our first initial act, we turn it off.
For one day we show them who really holds the power”
― John Schwarz, The People’s Union USA

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Night after night they hit us with 10% off, 20% off, and even 30% off coupons -but we didn’t blink. —Anonymous “JP”

There is incredible untapped power in the flow of our spending as consumers, our subscriptions, where we bank, and our investments (if we are fortunate enough to have savings and investments). And while I support most any non-violent attempt to draw attention to the criminal circus act occupying the Executive Branch of U.S. Government (and elsewhere), the civic resistance actions must be well-planned, strategic, and have value in defending the vulnerable, safeguarding important institutions, and building toward a massive wave of political change.

Resistance actions such as “don’t buy gasoline on this date” or “don’t shop on that date” are effective at building email lists and sometimes shift power from one well-meaning organization to another. However, when people just buy more the day before and/or the day after the action, what will have been accomplished? Anything?

Note: [I make an important exception for the actual “Buy Nothing Day” which originated at Adbusters (https://adbusters.org) and is historically the frantic hyper-consuming day after Thanksgiving. While its economic impact is negligible, it is important in terms of challenging one of America’s great strengths -obedient, unquestioning hyper-consumerism.]

Furthermore, while I’m picking on well-intentioned organizations and campaigns, static tactics do not work. On the battlefield, charging up the same hill, the same way, repeatedly is a perfect way to lose.

So is “Fax your Congressional Representative everyday to tell them you oppose (whatever the criminal-elect’s executive order du jour happens to be). Overwhelming Senator Jeff Merkley’s legislative staff to tell them you are opposed to yet another corrupt incompetent being elevated to the Cabinet is a waste of your time and is counterproductive for staffers. If you really want to know the hierarchy of contacts with Congress that will change minds they are as follows:

• I’m no longer going to write a blank check to your dark money PAC.

• You are no longer authorized to use my private jet for campaign events or to visit your mistress in Palm Beach.

• I’m no longer going to max out my direct contribution to your campaign.

• I’m now in possession of some unflattering photographs of you at Matt Gaetz’ last party.

• I just bought Twitter and I’m going to make sure my 80 million followers know all about you. (Feel free to substitute Washington Post, CBS, Sinclair Broadcasting, or the Los Angeles Times for Twitter).

• I’m moving my company and our 10,000 employees out of your district or State and I will make sure everyone knows your latest bill sponsorship is the reason.

• Hi, I’m with AIPAC/NRA/Heritage Foundation/Koch Industries and I have some concerns…

Somewhere near the bottom of the weighted list are …

• I live in your district and want a meeting about …

• I live in your district and I’m writing about …

• I live in your district and I’m calling about …

• I live in your district and I’m emailing about …

And finally at or near the bottom: “I just clicked on a petition …”

Civic/Resistance actions must be direct and sustaining, or have solid intangible value. Examples:

• Shift your banking to a credit union or local community bank.

• Stop all shopping at entities that are anti-union and/or pro-insurrectionist.

• Attend large, well-planned multi-city rallies to show other democracies around the world the United States isn’t completely insane.

• Write and submit “Letters to the Editor” for publication in local newspapers (if any are left).

• Take extra time to make sure any news or information you share is factual.

• Talk and share information about important films and books such as:

  • “Don’t Think of an Elephant” —George Lakoff

  • “The Corporation” —Joel Bakan

  • “Merchants of Doubt” —Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway

  • “The Origins of Totalitarianism” —Hannah Arandt

  • “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” —Timothy Snyder

  • “The Price of Inequality” —Joseph Stiglitz

  • “Dark Money” —Jane Mayer

  • “The Economics of Innocent Fraud” —John Kenneth Galbraith

  • “Chomsky on Miseducation” —Noam Chomsky

• Support front line civil society and whistleblower organizations , using the judicial system to defend those most vulnerable to the egregious actions of the criminal-elect and his cabal.

• Use more secure forms of digital communications. Shift from WhatsApp to Signal. From Gmail to ProtonMail.

• Work/labor strikes and stoppages (except for emergency personnel).

• Shift from X, the former Twitter to Bluesky (bsky.app).

• Control of the House of Representatives is razor-thin. Support candidates in every special election who embraces democracy, justice, and equality instead of absolute fealty to billionaires and the criminal-elect.

• Help to build a massive wave in 2026 to shift the United States back to the rule of law, democracy, and equality.

The death and suffering caused by the criminal-elect, his “shillbilly”, his corrupt AG, and his DOGE billionaire are already unfolding. This is the very beginning.

Impoverished people are at risk of starving to death and people are suffering due to the lack of medicine once supplied by USAID. People are fighting for their lives in Ukraine while the delegates of two criminals attempt to carve up Ukraine (without Ukrainian or European participation), deportations of immigrants and refugees, the economic uncertainty and devastation wreaked upon Federal employees and their families, and the talk of Palestinian families (already suffering and destroyed) being swept away for the future Kushner/Trump/Netanyahu beach resorts built on a foundation of the bones and decay of the dead- we are only at the very beginning. This is not a polite battle that will be shifted when Senator Susan Collins expresses her mild concern. This is a fierce battle in a long war between billionaires with an unquenchable thirst for more wealth and power, and the rest of us, fighting for democracy, justice, and equality.

This is the very beginning of a state of emergency in the United States felt worldwide. In this moment and the future we need far more of the fierce courage of John Lewis and much less of the dismayed Susan Collins.