I've been thinking a lot about this and talking with mostly working class people about what we can do. The only thing i can think of is to stop paying federal income taxes on the grounds of Conscientious Objection to the war being waged on our country by billionaire plutocrats. While they demolish the government and give themselves every tax loophole and tax break imaginable, the load is on the backs of the struggling remains of the middle class. So what if we all just stopped paying in to a system that is rigged? The way DOGE is gutting the federal government and ignoring court orders, I doubt they could do a whole lot about this. And if this is the hill we will die on anyway, we may as well use our voices in the only way that will get their attention: collectively divest from the power banks and their subsidiaries, and stop paying federal income taxes.
Sorry. This will be long. I'm not telling anyone what to do but this is what I aim to do and keep doing:
Shop small businesses, preferably local mom and pop businesses. Bank at State banks or local credit unions (corporations are taking over credit unions as well). Pay cash or check wherever and whenever possible. Do not use credit or debit cards and if local businesses start telling you that they don't take cash or check, find one that will. The plan is to force us into central digital banking currency. (CDBC) - DO NOT COMPLY. If you are too poor to completely boycott places like walmart and amazon (their workers have to eat, too!). then boycott buying them on specific no buy days targeting them. Try NOT to use QR codes - that is a trap to help hasten a cashless society. Don't fall for convenience over looking at long term impacts of those conveniences.
Grow food and herbs. Learn about herbs, homeopathics, Chinese Medicine. Share garden space with those who don't have it. Trade with (organic) farmers for other goods or better yet, buy stuff from them with cash. Write or petition local farm centers and hardware stores to stop carrying the worst of the poisonous herbicides and pesticides. Learn about natural means and support Nature's way of dealing with pests. Learn medicinal weeds and harvest and process them for medicine and healing.
Look forfunctional medicine doctors, naturopaths, homeopaths, etc who will also honor alternatives, even if you have to pay out of pocket rather than use your (corrupt) insurance company.
Some will support midterm elections and ones coming sooner than that, with the idea that retaking the majority in congress will actually do something to stop the criminality and grift. Some will give money to campaigns. That may be effective... I think it's way beyond that. But since it's up to us, 20 bucks toward someone who may have integrity is a much better investment than buying useless junk from slave states..
Social media and broswers are the next thing> Try to find something that the billionaire cartel don't own. Divest from all things Google - which will seriously impact all of our lives because Peter Thiel and cronies have such a huge hold on us all - yahoo, AOL, Instagram, facebook, youtube, all chromium based browsers, and many others too lengthy to list - It's hard to keep track of them all. But the more we know about them and how to avoid using them, the better.
It all falls on us, true. Americans have, in general, become lazy in thinking a 'leader' or Jesus will take care of us. No. God helps those who help themselves and others. More of us feel defeated, downtrodden, hopeless or worse, apathetic. Don't give the brutality purchase in your consciousness by giving up - that's what they want!
Take care of your local community and each other. Keep talking to and listening to people who are different from us, as well as similar. Agree to disagree without attacking them. Take the high road but do not be silenced by bullying and ignorance and hate. We are all victims of the lies - some more than other. Read books again. Write again. Use screens less for the doom and more for inspiration. Study another language. Do whatever your heart yearns for you to do. Keep learning. Keep creating in the face of it all. I vow to, even if it means all I have is a backpack and cardboard boxes and a pencil to write with and a knife to sharpen it.
I believe everything is made up of energy. The narcissist(s) everyone is giving their undivided attention and stress cortisol to, is basking in the glow of our collective angst and attention. This makes a small, mean person feel big - but it's all a decoy. These persons are empty inside - of empathy. Divest from THEM. (but wish them peace). This collective fear feeds that energy and grows it.
For me, this is most important: Divest from all mainstream news. Turn it off! IF you MUST, limit it to weekly recaps and set a time limit. There are plenty of journalists with integrity - Search for investigative journalists and historians like Thom Hartmann, Chris Hedges, Lee Camp, Heather Cox Richardson, Etc - people who've been censored, thrown off billionaire-owned platforms and still will not be silenced.
I live in an apartment on a busy street. Lately I have taken to making cardboard signs with things I want to say, You can use old election signs, the kind that you stick in the ground. Cover the plastic with a tarpaper envelope that you staple on for a decent fit (weather impervious). Use house paint to print your message. Red paint on black is especially effective. Sell or give a little home grown produce to your neighbors or those less fortunate.
Joyce, thank you for writing and for committing your heart to the work at hand. I was proud of Ike and Nixon too - despite Watergate, he gave us all the environmental protections that are now being gutted. So much for the Republican party loyalty! We must remember that there are no real parties anymore in the duopoly - it's the new feudalism. We can expose the thugs and remind people we're more alike than different when it comes to making a stand against the real profiteers and controllers.
I have more ideas, but this is already overly long.
You are a force of nature. I’ve thought about the tax thing and have mixed feelings … maybe all this upheaval forcing us to rethink everything has its uses. Who do we want to be? What do we want to protect?
Thanks, Joyce. i have mixed feelings myself about the tax thing, worried primarily that if we don't pay into FICA it will hurt the social security program, which they are trying to gut. but I think that in times of war, more radical solutions may be necessary. CO's refused to go to war in WW2. Others stopped paying taxes in our proxy wars like Vietnam and onward. Since wars are supported by tax dollars. This sure seems like war on our own people to me. Some of what's being done is also a war on the earth. It's hard to know what to do but if we don't fight the digital banking it will imprison us in a system that will effectively remove barter and a lot of other ways that people tried to keep going in dire times. Still mulling it all over.
Another thing our county did was declare itself a sanctuary, and Pres. Obama made this archipelago a National Monument... all of this will likely be taken away from us, or they will try. Our food bank just lost its federal funding... how low and cruel can it get?! We must counter their cruelty with deeper kindness and giving, is all I can think. But 'll be damned if I am going to give to the billionaire welfare state when they already have permanent tax breaks and every loophole imaginable.
Nancy ... I've wondered if the UU group would be interested in more info about using Substack ... as writers or readers? I'd be happy to share my experience of almost 3 years here. joyce
I may not be American but I get your sorrow, most of those who run counties do a mixture of good and not so good, but the money hungry orange twat just wants everything his way his bromance with you know who isn't helping as he is also a money hungry twat, who I would run over in my Tesla except I don't own that piece of junk. I feel many who voted for the twat will start to wonder why the hell they did that as they find it harder and harder to survive
I've been thinking a lot about this and talking with mostly working class people about what we can do. The only thing i can think of is to stop paying federal income taxes on the grounds of Conscientious Objection to the war being waged on our country by billionaire plutocrats. While they demolish the government and give themselves every tax loophole and tax break imaginable, the load is on the backs of the struggling remains of the middle class. So what if we all just stopped paying in to a system that is rigged? The way DOGE is gutting the federal government and ignoring court orders, I doubt they could do a whole lot about this. And if this is the hill we will die on anyway, we may as well use our voices in the only way that will get their attention: collectively divest from the power banks and their subsidiaries, and stop paying federal income taxes.
Sorry. This will be long. I'm not telling anyone what to do but this is what I aim to do and keep doing:
Shop small businesses, preferably local mom and pop businesses. Bank at State banks or local credit unions (corporations are taking over credit unions as well). Pay cash or check wherever and whenever possible. Do not use credit or debit cards and if local businesses start telling you that they don't take cash or check, find one that will. The plan is to force us into central digital banking currency. (CDBC) - DO NOT COMPLY. If you are too poor to completely boycott places like walmart and amazon (their workers have to eat, too!). then boycott buying them on specific no buy days targeting them. Try NOT to use QR codes - that is a trap to help hasten a cashless society. Don't fall for convenience over looking at long term impacts of those conveniences.
Grow food and herbs. Learn about herbs, homeopathics, Chinese Medicine. Share garden space with those who don't have it. Trade with (organic) farmers for other goods or better yet, buy stuff from them with cash. Write or petition local farm centers and hardware stores to stop carrying the worst of the poisonous herbicides and pesticides. Learn about natural means and support Nature's way of dealing with pests. Learn medicinal weeds and harvest and process them for medicine and healing.
Look forfunctional medicine doctors, naturopaths, homeopaths, etc who will also honor alternatives, even if you have to pay out of pocket rather than use your (corrupt) insurance company.
Some will support midterm elections and ones coming sooner than that, with the idea that retaking the majority in congress will actually do something to stop the criminality and grift. Some will give money to campaigns. That may be effective... I think it's way beyond that. But since it's up to us, 20 bucks toward someone who may have integrity is a much better investment than buying useless junk from slave states..
Social media and broswers are the next thing> Try to find something that the billionaire cartel don't own. Divest from all things Google - which will seriously impact all of our lives because Peter Thiel and cronies have such a huge hold on us all - yahoo, AOL, Instagram, facebook, youtube, all chromium based browsers, and many others too lengthy to list - It's hard to keep track of them all. But the more we know about them and how to avoid using them, the better.
It all falls on us, true. Americans have, in general, become lazy in thinking a 'leader' or Jesus will take care of us. No. God helps those who help themselves and others. More of us feel defeated, downtrodden, hopeless or worse, apathetic. Don't give the brutality purchase in your consciousness by giving up - that's what they want!
Take care of your local community and each other. Keep talking to and listening to people who are different from us, as well as similar. Agree to disagree without attacking them. Take the high road but do not be silenced by bullying and ignorance and hate. We are all victims of the lies - some more than other. Read books again. Write again. Use screens less for the doom and more for inspiration. Study another language. Do whatever your heart yearns for you to do. Keep learning. Keep creating in the face of it all. I vow to, even if it means all I have is a backpack and cardboard boxes and a pencil to write with and a knife to sharpen it.
I believe everything is made up of energy. The narcissist(s) everyone is giving their undivided attention and stress cortisol to, is basking in the glow of our collective angst and attention. This makes a small, mean person feel big - but it's all a decoy. These persons are empty inside - of empathy. Divest from THEM. (but wish them peace). This collective fear feeds that energy and grows it.
For me, this is most important: Divest from all mainstream news. Turn it off! IF you MUST, limit it to weekly recaps and set a time limit. There are plenty of journalists with integrity - Search for investigative journalists and historians like Thom Hartmann, Chris Hedges, Lee Camp, Heather Cox Richardson, Etc - people who've been censored, thrown off billionaire-owned platforms and still will not be silenced.
I live in an apartment on a busy street. Lately I have taken to making cardboard signs with things I want to say, You can use old election signs, the kind that you stick in the ground. Cover the plastic with a tarpaper envelope that you staple on for a decent fit (weather impervious). Use house paint to print your message. Red paint on black is especially effective. Sell or give a little home grown produce to your neighbors or those less fortunate.
Joyce, thank you for writing and for committing your heart to the work at hand. I was proud of Ike and Nixon too - despite Watergate, he gave us all the environmental protections that are now being gutted. So much for the Republican party loyalty! We must remember that there are no real parties anymore in the duopoly - it's the new feudalism. We can expose the thugs and remind people we're more alike than different when it comes to making a stand against the real profiteers and controllers.
I have more ideas, but this is already overly long.
You are a force of nature. I’ve thought about the tax thing and have mixed feelings … maybe all this upheaval forcing us to rethink everything has its uses. Who do we want to be? What do we want to protect?
Thanks, Joyce. i have mixed feelings myself about the tax thing, worried primarily that if we don't pay into FICA it will hurt the social security program, which they are trying to gut. but I think that in times of war, more radical solutions may be necessary. CO's refused to go to war in WW2. Others stopped paying taxes in our proxy wars like Vietnam and onward. Since wars are supported by tax dollars. This sure seems like war on our own people to me. Some of what's being done is also a war on the earth. It's hard to know what to do but if we don't fight the digital banking it will imprison us in a system that will effectively remove barter and a lot of other ways that people tried to keep going in dire times. Still mulling it all over.
Another thing our county did was declare itself a sanctuary, and Pres. Obama made this archipelago a National Monument... all of this will likely be taken away from us, or they will try. Our food bank just lost its federal funding... how low and cruel can it get?! We must counter their cruelty with deeper kindness and giving, is all I can think. But 'll be damned if I am going to give to the billionaire welfare state when they already have permanent tax breaks and every loophole imaginable.
Thanks for the reminder to just do something, no matter how small... Everything helps!
Nancy ... I've wondered if the UU group would be interested in more info about using Substack ... as writers or readers? I'd be happy to share my experience of almost 3 years here. joyce
I may not be American but I get your sorrow, most of those who run counties do a mixture of good and not so good, but the money hungry orange twat just wants everything his way his bromance with you know who isn't helping as he is also a money hungry twat, who I would run over in my Tesla except I don't own that piece of junk. I feel many who voted for the twat will start to wonder why the hell they did that as they find it harder and harder to survive
Thanks … I think you’re right and I pray we figure out how to stop the “sheer madness” as Jim Acosta calls it.
Yep; it's a sad time for our country. Historians will look back on this period and wonder why we let it happen.