No new "thought" posts from me tonight. Instead, I have spent the better part of the evening updating the content of this blog to more fully reflect its mission and increase its effectiveness as a weapon in the fight against Trump and Trumpism. New features include:
* A way to contact me so that external content, submissions and posts, reflecting the breadth of the national anti-Trump movement, can be shared through this blog.
* Information regarding current local and national, direct-action campaigns against Trump and his administration.
* Information regarding the Impeachment process and contact information for Congressional Representatives.
* A list of groups and organizations that are working towards resisting and removing Trump.
* Multimedia relevant and related to the anti-Trump movement.
The overall idea of this blog is to serve as a kind of Resistance pamphlet, to bring together the disparate movements and coalitions against Trump and Trumpism into one voice. For now, I will (probably) be putting up most of the content, but I really encourage others to submit, so that this little blog can help drive momentum towards a world without a Trump presidency.
Back to regularly-scheduled content postings tomorrow.
In the meantime, a couple of parting thoughts:
1. "fascist loofa-faced shit-gibbon" is my new favorite insult directed at Trump. Kudos to PA State Senator Daylin Leach for coining the term. I challenge any inclined programmer to create a web-based program that can locate and replace the terms "Donald Trump" and "President Trump" with "fascist loofa-faced shit-gibbon" any time they appear online in print.
2. If you have Twitter, I encourage tweeting directly at @realDonaldTrump, the infamous Twitter account of POTUS. Trolling can be a great stress-reliever, and since we *know* he actually interacts with it, there is a chance he might see our posts. And its a great way to blow off steam. Obviously, be smart: no threats or anything that could be reasonably construed as a threat. Barbs and cattiness should suffice quite nicely. Ditto for the Twitter accounts of any of his lackeys and minions. Happy h(a)unting!
Friday, February 10, 2017
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Now with Twitter
Getting with the 21st Century over here. Follow The Concerned Citizen on Twitter @cncrncitznvoice.
Principles of Organization Against Trump
Fighting Trump, Trumpism, and its creeping authoritarianism requires a coordinated and sustained movement. It is not enough to post on Facebook, or even attend marches, though these are important. The resistance against Trump has been growing, but its main weakness is its decentralization. Different groups organize marches, (some) politicians in Washington and elsewhere do what they can, lawsuits are filed. Trump and the coalition he has built around him, however, are stubborn and will be impervious to change unless it is forced on them. As President, Trump has significant resources at his disposal to counter any resistance against his style of "governing." In order to be effective, resistance must be nationally coordinated and unrelenting. It must make no small gestures, but moves calculated to stop any more consolidation of his authority and power. Ultimately, it must seek the removal of Trump from office before his natural term is up.
As such, Trump Resistance must seek the following things:
1. National and centralized organization -- and governing body, if you will -- that can bring together the disparate entities -- political, social, legal -- that are currently fighting him. Resistance actions on all fronts must be in direct dialogue and support of one another, so that Trumpism can be hit from all sides on a particular issue, with a particular, defined goal in mind. Trumpism must be overwhelmed. It takes organization to pull this off, and these efforts must be somewhat centrally-directed vis-a-vis the creation of an organized coalition with a unified governing body that can drive strategy. Furthermore, undirected resistance has the high likelihood of devolving into chaos and anarchy, and ultimately, futility.
2. Ultimately, the movement must seek Trump's removal. The damage he can do to our system of government, our national security, and international stability demands that he not be allowed to continue. The Constitution provides two mechanisms to remove an unfit President: Impeachment, and the invocation of Article 25 of the Constitution. Currently, there are a number of petitions circulating demanding the former. But in order to get Congress, the majority of whom has shown itself spineless against Trump, to do its national duty, we must consolidate all of the disparate voices into one voice and demand that cannot be ignored. This is why Point 1 is so important: we have to present a unified front. The Trump people will seek to divide us along political and identity lines so that resistance cannot grow into an effective mechanism for change and for the removal of Trump from office. If Congress won't take it upon itself to remove this dangerous man from office, We the People must take up the mantel.
There are a number of things we can do in the short-term. I propose the following:
1. Show up to rallies and protests
2. Contact your representatives, both state and national. In face of the federal Congress's fecklessness and aiding and abetting the Trump regime, the States have done a good job stepping up to the plate to resist. Let's encourage them to keep at it
3. In addition to protesting on April 15, Tax Day, I propose that everyone who is able -- individuals doing their own taxes, corporate payroll people, local and state governments -- withhold paying federal taxes. If the Trump regime won't listen to the people, then it has no right to expect anything from the people. And since Trump likes to use the threat of pulling federal money from people who disagree with him, or people/entities he does not like, let us respond in kind. Since Trump only seems to care about money and the influence it buys, let's speak his language. While IRS consequences for individuals can be steep, the government cannot punish people en masse. If even 1/6 of the country's population did not pay their federal taxes, that is roughly 50 million people. The government cannot punish 50 million people at once; the resulting outcry would be enough to topple it.
As such, Trump Resistance must seek the following things:
1. National and centralized organization -- and governing body, if you will -- that can bring together the disparate entities -- political, social, legal -- that are currently fighting him. Resistance actions on all fronts must be in direct dialogue and support of one another, so that Trumpism can be hit from all sides on a particular issue, with a particular, defined goal in mind. Trumpism must be overwhelmed. It takes organization to pull this off, and these efforts must be somewhat centrally-directed vis-a-vis the creation of an organized coalition with a unified governing body that can drive strategy. Furthermore, undirected resistance has the high likelihood of devolving into chaos and anarchy, and ultimately, futility.
2. Ultimately, the movement must seek Trump's removal. The damage he can do to our system of government, our national security, and international stability demands that he not be allowed to continue. The Constitution provides two mechanisms to remove an unfit President: Impeachment, and the invocation of Article 25 of the Constitution. Currently, there are a number of petitions circulating demanding the former. But in order to get Congress, the majority of whom has shown itself spineless against Trump, to do its national duty, we must consolidate all of the disparate voices into one voice and demand that cannot be ignored. This is why Point 1 is so important: we have to present a unified front. The Trump people will seek to divide us along political and identity lines so that resistance cannot grow into an effective mechanism for change and for the removal of Trump from office. If Congress won't take it upon itself to remove this dangerous man from office, We the People must take up the mantel.
There are a number of things we can do in the short-term. I propose the following:
1. Show up to rallies and protests
2. Contact your representatives, both state and national. In face of the federal Congress's fecklessness and aiding and abetting the Trump regime, the States have done a good job stepping up to the plate to resist. Let's encourage them to keep at it
3. In addition to protesting on April 15, Tax Day, I propose that everyone who is able -- individuals doing their own taxes, corporate payroll people, local and state governments -- withhold paying federal taxes. If the Trump regime won't listen to the people, then it has no right to expect anything from the people. And since Trump likes to use the threat of pulling federal money from people who disagree with him, or people/entities he does not like, let us respond in kind. Since Trump only seems to care about money and the influence it buys, let's speak his language. While IRS consequences for individuals can be steep, the government cannot punish people en masse. If even 1/6 of the country's population did not pay their federal taxes, that is roughly 50 million people. The government cannot punish 50 million people at once; the resulting outcry would be enough to topple it.
Facebook Post 2-8-17: A Reprimand to Congress
Truth. Congress is abdicating its duty to country at this point. The majority is acting less like a check-and-balance on the executive and more like Trump's lackey. Or perhaps a sinister puppet master. No matter, regardless of the reason, those who blindly support Trump and his sick consolidation of authoritarian power, are effectively committing treason against the country. And the majority of the GOP has become morally bankrupt, a mockery of the values it once claimed, a decaying and rancid shadow of what once was a legitimate counter-narrative to a liberal reflection on the state of the world. History will not forget how, instead of rising to the occasion to excise the malignant cancer that was growing within its ranks, the Republican Party let it utterly consume it.
Facebook Post 2-8-17: A Call to Action and a Question to America
"Now it is time for us to decide who we are" The stakes are pretty clear at this point. Where do you stand and what will you do? You can either work towards averting the impending disaster and fight for the ideals, however imperfectly pursued in daily life, of our nation, or stand by and "hope" things get better, or don't get worse. Or lie to yourself that authoritarianism isn't that bad as long as things are going OK for you. But to quote a currently popular musical: America, "history has its eyes on you." And I ask you all to remember: how does history remember those in Germany who, while not members of the Nazi party or even particularly on board with National Socialism, nevertheless stood to the side, never took a side, shrugged their shoulders and hunkered down into the concerns of their own lives, and let it happen? So I ask again, where do you stand and what will you do?
Facebook Post 2-8-17: On Congress Censuring Sen. Elizabeth Warren
I just don't understand how a politician can lack so much self-awareness? Particularly in these charged times, how could McConnell *not* know this would blow up in his face? A man from the majority, in-power party telling a woman from the minority party to basically shut up while she was voicing dissent. And he did so in a particularly condescending manner. The optics of the situation alone would make a PR person cringe. I'm no Warren fan girl, but she is an elected representative of The People, and as such, she has the right to speak in The People's representative assembly.
Facebook Post 2-8-17: On the Appropriateness of Forceful Resistance If Necessary
Disagree. Of course it is always better to work things out without violence and force, and those options should always be resorted to as a last full measure. But sometimes they have to be resorted to. The fallacy of the peaceful protest idea is the assumption that those one is entreating actually care about the pressure from the masses. And the great majority of the time, this is the case. Yet certain individuals and entities are pathologically incapable of responding normally and logically to resistance and disagreement. Once these individuals and entities hold power, they will not release it unless forced. And in those circumstances, the only force that they will respond to is physical. Of course a physical response can't just be random rioting in the streets; this is counter-productive, as the original post explained. It would have to be organized and directed towards a specific desired result. But every major social change to wrest power away from those who hold it, or wish to hold it, unilaterally, has involved some kind of force. I doubt George III would have released the Colonies if all we did was continue to petition or dump tea into the sea. Even way back in the Middle Ages, King John had to be kidnapped before he would agree to sign the Magna Carta. If you would like a Biblical reference, Moses, through the power of god, had to reign down a fairly drastic show of force before pharaoh agreed to let his people go... people like that are bullies, and bullies only respond to force.
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