The New Resistance

Rising from fear, hate, corruption, and chaos

An important preamble to the following (and I’m going to try to keep this article unusually concise).

Puppet (L), Puppet Master (R)

The Preamble:

• I do not, surprisingly, have all of the answers and welcome help and collaboration from all (ahem,

  Scott Dworkin
  ,
  Heather Cox Richardson
  ,
  Dan Rather
  ,
  Jeff Tiedrich
  Joyce Vance
  and more). And a special thank you for
  Diane K24
  and
  Scott Dworkin
  for highlighting some of my writings and my continuing effort. Subscriptions to my substack are free (and I’ve been told it’s worth 2-3 times more).

• Thank goodness for the Democratic AG’s and Governors who have been proactively planning for a legal resistance against attacks on those most vulnerable to horrific legislation, policy, and its implementation. And to those organizations and individuals who will courageously continue to speak truth to power and defend democracy, justice, and equality.

There. Now on with whatever this is.

In the 2024 election cycle at least $16 billion dollars was, to this writing, donated to political campaigns (or invested in the purchase of candidates, right Elon)?

The funds were directed to hire organizers, purchase advertising across social media, broadcast, and print media. Some of the funds may have also been used for lawyers (or judges) for candidates indicted for serious and numerous crimes (notably one of them has a history of not paying workers, so who knows where that money went).

As of the afternoon of November 8th Trump leads the popular vote count with 74,672,841 votes to Harris' 71,144,667 votes. (Of course we don’t use the popular vote, it’s the Electoral College, but more about that elsewhere). This means that roughly 71 million people already know the plane is falling from the sky and about 74 million who are presently partying like it’s 1939, sending hate-based text messages to the BIPOC community and harassing women with “Your body our choice” will soon realize that we are all on the same plane and physics doesn’t care if you are wearing a red hat or not. Of course there are probably a handful of billionaires on their private jets watching our flaming plane falling from the sky and laughing on their way to Gstaad for the weekend.

Money, Media, Organizations, and Patience

Developing the countervailing resistance (and then rebuilding the guardrails) to a right-wing machine that was conceived on August 23, 1971 with the Lewis Powell memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and then funded and evolved by some of the wealthiest people in the United States and subsequently implemented by Ronald Reagan is unlikely to happen overnight. It took nine years from the birth of the plan to its implementation in full force by Bonzo’s co-star. Therefore, even if billions poured into a “New Resistance” plan, it will take time to change the judicial and legislative landscape toward a vibrant and lasting democracy. One that must rise from the ashes left by a criminal organization using the U.S. Treasury and the natural resources of the United States to enrich themselves and their friends.

Bonzo’s co-star and worst President in the 20th Century

Our Money

We must shift how we spend our money. Some of you have been avoiding WalMart because, for various reasons, you understand they are part of a massive problem in the economy. And make no mistake -the economy drives politics. It’s why we often hear “follow the money”.

Years ago I founded a project called “Alonovo” -kind of Latin for saying hello to something new. It was built upon earlier work by John and Alice Tepper Marlin who published a book “Shopping for a Better World”. There’s an article about the effort in the Ethical Sourcing Report of 2008. I was unsuccessful at getting the project funded.

The concept was to provide a simple grade for a company that a consumer or investor was considering for a transaction. Think of it as the anti-equifax.

The grade was based upon a series of data points that defined what kind of corporate “citizen” was on the other side of the transaction. Did they embrace fair labor? Were they plundering natural resources? What was their diversity and inclusion like? Were they major polluters? What were the executive pay ratios compared to employees? How much did they spend in political lobbying (often undermining society by doing so)? The idea was to acquire, aggregate, and normalize this data into a simple trusted grade people could use (with transparency on how the grade was derived). A person could go to a store, let’s say Costco instead of WalMart, use a smartphone to scan a product barcode, and then get a grade for the company that made the product. Inspiring people like Peter Kinder, John and Alice, Professor Ellis Jones, and others supported the project for which I maintain eternal gratitude.

Media

Mark Zuckerberg leads Meta (Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp -yes, that’s “FTW”) and other social properties such as Instagram. And while we know he’s “truly and deeply sorry” about working with Cambridge Analytica, Steve Bannon, and Robert Mercer toward undermining democracy with the first Trump presidential crime wave and Brexit, I remain skeptical about his intent. Then there’s space nazi Elon Musk acquiring Twitter and rapidly turning it into a toxic cesspool of propaganda, hate speech, and disinformation) in time for the 2024 election cycle.

Zuckerberg, Space nazi, Robert & Rebekah Mercer, Bannon, Bannon & Farage, Cambridge Analytica

As

Scott Dworkin

and others have mentioned, we MUST have a well-funded and viable, and trusted independent media ecosphere. We would never see stories of blatant greed, avarice, and obscene wealth as covered in the Paradise and Panama Papers about trillions of dollars parked in offshore tax avoiding shelters and schemes. We will never see anything like the Pentagon Papers again without a free press acting with courage as the Fourth Estate, critical for any attempt at a meaningful democracy.

We must also understand that while independent investigative journalism adhering to truth and evidence produces trusted stories, most of the news and information we receive is distributed through social media. Think of content creation (articles and stories of vital importance) as the manufacturing process for things we must have. However, if the things we need were only available in a warehouse in St. Paul, Minnesota, most of us wouldn’t have access. Therefore there must be a distribution system that is open and not constrained or blocked by the “Muskerberg” algorithm that (generally) keeps us in social media “bubbles” or the illusion of choice offered by corporate print and broadcast media such as Fox “News”, CNN, and others.

Trusted News requires distribution channels unfiltered by “Muskerberg”, Murdoch, and corporate media ownership.

There has been important thinking behind my current project, https://civ.works. It is intended to be a new and trusted social network, supported by subscribers (think “Netflix for Democracy”) and not advertising or selling subscriber data built to distribute trusted and rated news, effective civic action opportunities -to resist bad law/policy and later to promote the strengthening of democracy and societal imperatives around equality and justice for all. There was a fairly recent story about the project in the Fair Observer. To ultimately succeed we need academic partnerships (beyond our present and valued relationship with the London School of Economics), independent media, and an array of subject matter experts across several disciplines (not just technologists).

We also need significant software engineering and design help (see https://civ.works/moonshot/) to complete our web and mobile platforms.

And there is legal and economic thinking that has gone into Civic Works. While we are currently organized as a non-profit, we have plans to protect the integrity of the mission in a similar manner that Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard protected Patagonia through a Perpetual Purpose Trust to ensure it continues without having its mission subverted by Elon Musk or others. With initial funding we’ll explore cooperative or other shared ownership models to provide equitable value while protecting the mission.

There is organizing behavior and how to bridge the intentionally divided America thinking that has gone into the concept. How to help a polarized society reunite around virtual “Kitchen Table Democracy”, respectful dialogue based upon facts, and finding opportunities for agreement and codifying those agreements into scaled and effective actions. Not just talk -action.

There is a civic education element to help all people understand different policy perspectives in a concise, compelling, and trusted manner.

Finally, as a founder I recognize that Civic Works is just one element of a larger ecosphere that must include trusted news and news rating organizations, civic action planning and coordination, geo-validated constituent engagement platforms such as Canada’s PlaceSpeak (which recently earned Canada’s trustmark for privacy protection), journalists, authors, professors, and influencers -and we must have revenue sharing methods to ensure they are funded and viable. I also need a dedicated team of active leaders for Civic Works so it can flourish in time to make a major difference in 2026 and beyond. I will also be looking for university/academic partnerships to carry the original concepts of alonovo forward. Shifting our purchases and for those fortunate enough, our investment into entities with leaders committed to balancing economic growth with minimizing harm (externalities) will drive capital to people who think beyond quarterly Wall Street results, where to buy their next winter home, and how to get a bridge raised for their new yacht.

Organizations

There are many great organizations who will actively resist horrific policy and do all they can to protect those most vulnerable to Trump’s second crime wave, people, rights, climate/environment, and natural resources. I will be publishing a guide to organizations I know that will need our financial support and volunteer efforts for what will be a very challenging road ahead. Organizations such as the ACLU, Earthjustice, Moms Rising, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Democracy Docket, Fair Fight, and others immediately come to mind.

News and journalist organizations such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ProPublica, and The Guardian also need resources and attention.

Patience

We are dealing with something that was created and well-funded over the course of 45 years. And half of the people who voted think they’ve won (and are likely headed toward something more horrific than a “rude awakening”). Hate won in 2000, 2004, 2016, and 2024. These are battles in a multi-generational war. Campaigns and candidates will still require our attention and money until and beyond when we recognize what we are up against and properly fund the infrastructure necessary to get money out of politics. Eventually there must be a global wealth tax and any one person or small group of people should not be able to unite to subvert any democracy anywhere in the world. However, before we can successfully address that, we must overcome what is now right in front of us.

Thanks for listening, sharing, liking, and subscribing. It all matters.