A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.  A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.  A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.  A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
              Ecclesiastes

There is also a time for obedience to government and a time for civil disobedience. Now is the time for disobedience!  While civil disobedience should not be our first remedy to an unjust situation, when a long train of abuses and usurpations is dealt, and when entreaties to reach reasonable reconciliation are turned back, civil disobedience becomes the best option. 

Now there are levels of disobedience, and we should not go immediately to most extreme.  Its not yet time to dump Teslas into Boston Harbor but it is time to resist and passively refusing to conform to a prescribed action is very effective civil disobedience.  Non-violent political action should escalate from protest to non-cooperation and finally to intervention. 

When we choose to deliberately engage in civil disobedience, we must be willing to face the legal consequences. We must differentiate ourselves from the evil that is the Trump Administration and when possible, work to restore the rule of law rather than devolve into militant protest and forcible resistance.  Focus your actions on places where they have the most impact.  Attacking civil servants is not the answer, they are following orders.  Take money from those who pull the strings.  Protest those who rule not those who are ruled.

When we engage in civil disobedience, we are taking an active, non-violent action against the dictates of an unjust government. Our actions should be focused so that they inform those in power that we see them as unjust.  Our actions must also create real and sustainable disruption in order to forcing debate and create progressive changes.

Don’t engage in destruction of property, that is vandalism and does not cause pain on those who caused the problems.  Don’t engage in violence as this makes you the criminal rather than focusing attention on the perpetrators of evil, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans.  Acts of civil disobedience do not have to be extreme and we can all be activists.

Our job is to translate outrage over his agenda into action toward a truly transformational vision.  Our challenge to restore democracy in America, not sow more hatred and chaos.  We must focus on long-term change not just reverse the immediate problems and allow them to regroup and refocus.  We all celebrate the military actions of the American Revolution, but the reality is that it was the stalwart economic resistance of refusing to buy British goods, forcing Britian to spend huge sums of money to maintain control, and patently refusing to comply with British laws that won the war. 

So now is the time for phase II of civil disobedience.  Yes, we should continue to march and protest but we need to take this up a notch and begin doing the following:

End all voluntary compliance with the government.  You don’t have to break the law to get the effect, simply make them the government work harder to enforce those laws.  Pay your taxes at the last minute, or better yet, file an extension.  Its legal and it makes the government insolvent.  Don’t help law enforcement.  You don’t have to oppose them, just don’t help.  Maintaining order depends massively on voluntary compliance.  If we don’t cooperate, they cannot rule.  We are not yet to the stage of openly disobeying laws, but we can give them a glimpse of the future.

Openly ridicule the government.  Its our constitutional right.  Point out all DJTs stupidity to the world, let them know we know he’s a fool and everyone who follows him is criminal.  Differentiate the good people in the world from the evil ones and don’t let them win the propaganda war.  One of Trump’s strategies is to dehumanize his opponents.  We cannot afford to allow this to continue.

Actively discriminate against MAGA Republicans.  They seek to segregate and isolate subgroups within America.  They want to sow mistrust and hatred of the “other” who lives in our midst.  Its an old Nazi tactic and we need to turn it back on them.  Make MAGA the underclass.  Treat them as the outsiders.  Belittle and deride them.  Refuse to allow them service in your businesses.  Do not give them equal access or fair treatment as long as ANYONE lawfully in America is mistreated by their policies.  They will cry foul but political persuasion has never been a protected class and we can literally keep them out of our society and exile them within our borders.

Put economic pressure on those who fund and support MAGA.  In America, politics runs on money and if we can take away that resource, they will suffer.  Here I am not talking about public but rather private funds.  We need to deny those who contribute to (and profit from) DJT’s reign of terror the economic success that allows them to spend money on MAGA. 

Sure, boycotts are hard and total boycotts often fail because they are not sustainable, but we don’t have to go that far.  Reducing their income by 10% can be devastating.  Here are some strategies:

  • Buy less.  You don’t have to do without, just make do with less.  Repair and reuse things.  Reduce the amount of waste in your budget.  Spending less is good for you and bad for the big corporations.
  • Delay purchases.  Cash flow is just as powerful as profit.  If they cannot count on you to regularly spend, they will be forced to reconsider how they spend their money as well.  If we all just delayed one major purchase by six months or a minor one by a month will send shockwaves through Wall Street.  Consider not buying a car for four years.
  • Choose venders who don’t support MAGA.  Its hard, but do you know who the companies you spend your money with support politically.  Send them a message by not sending them some of your money.  They won’t listen to words, but they will definitely hear your dollars not flowing into their coffers.

If we do these simple things and stick with them for six months, the impact will be massive.  We can march tens of thousands of people thorough the streets and the NAZI MAGA politicians will dismiss us as troublemakers.  If we going to get the name, its time to take John Lewis’ advice and “get into some good trouble!”

First, they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist,
Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist,
Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist,
 Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew,
 Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me.
— Martin Niemoller

Don’t let them come for everyone else.  Let them worry we are coming for them.

Published by Michael Carver

My goal is to bring history alive through interactive portrayal of ordinary American life in the late 18th Century (1750—1799) My persona are: Journeyman Brewer; Cordwainer (leather tradesman but not cobbler), Statesman and Orator; Chandler (candle and soap maker); Gentleman Scientist; and, Soldier in either the British Regular Army, the Centennial Army, or one of the various Militia. Let me help you experience history 1st hand!