R senators just helped pass vote on war powers. That looks like some helpful procedural goo. And of course the drama queen in chief has lost his fricking mind over it. I do hope these Rs give him the finger. As far as emotion, it is best served in the PUNITIVE stage of holding these people to account WHEN this happens! I am salivating so hard for that (those?) day!!
Philip, you’re right to call the war powers vote "procedural goo."
That’s exactly what it is. Boring. Technical. Easy to underestimate. And...incredibly disruptive to a leader...who thrives on speed...spectacle...and unilateral action.
The fact that it sent him into a rage spiral...tells you it landed where it counts.
On the emotion piece: you’re also right about timing.
Emotion is most effective AFTER leverage has been established...not before.
When accountability becomes real...hearings...subpoenas...courtrooms...records...that’s when anger stops being fuel for the other side...and starts becoming punitive pressure.
Until then, restraint is a form of discipline...not passivity.
One note of caution, though...because it matters: the goal isn’t vengeance for its own sake. The goal is consequences that STICK...the kind that deter repetition...and force institutional correction. That requires cold PROCESS first and HOT accountability...later.
So...yes...this vote is a crack.
Yes...the meltdown is a tell.
And...yes...emotion has its place.
Just not yet. At least not how we're thinking about it, here. (I use emotion on social media...daily. But, I have very different goals, there...than I do here. Here, I teach, inform, educate, interact...and strategize.)
The people who last longest in moments like this...are the ones who can wait...until the system is ready to absorb the focus.
You’re reading the field correctly. KEEP that clarity!
LOVE 'restraint is a form of discipline, not passivity'! drama drama drama burns brightly...until it doesn't. Then you got nothin'. Given my lifelong difficulty with ADD I wish I knew earlier a more restrained, disciplined MO for doing life myself. But these people are just a terrible joke and a very destructive joke on the rest of us.
Wayne, if you’ve been taking action in defense of democracy...you were already doing it the right way.
What I’m offering here...is a refinement...drawn from strategies that rarely get discussed ...because they aren’t exciting...emotional...or cinematic. They don’t sell movies or rally crowds.
They do, however...have a long historical record of working.
Another reason these strategies are unfamiliar...is that they’re deeply counter-intuitive.
Without context, they feel wrong; like the last thing you’d want to do in a crisis.
That’s a fair ask...and it’s exactly the right next question.
Let me make this concrete...without drifting into fantasy or asking anyone to do anything reckless or illegal.
Here are specific, real-world examples of what this looks like in practice; things ordinary people actually do...every day...that create real friction.
When it became clear how monstrous this regime would be, what I kept hearing inside my head as my role was "grit in the gears." I'm retired and haven't yet found the gears to damage.
Margaret, that phrase...“grit in the gears”...tells me something important about you.
It means you already understood the assignment on a level most people never reach.
Here’s the part that might help reframe what you’re feeling:
You don’t need to find the gears.
You’re already touching them...just not in the dramatic...visible ways our culture trains us to value.
Authoritarian systems don’t collapse because one heroic person...jams a wrench into the machine. They degrade...because thousands of small...irritating...morale-sapping... coordination-breaking actions...make the machine unreliable.
Grit works by being everywhere...not by being loud.
For someone in your position...retired...observant...psychologically awake...the most damaging forms of grit usually look like this:
• Refusing normalization when others try to shrug
• Quietly validating people who feel crazy for seeing what’s happening
• Interrupting bad narratives in low-stakes conversations
• Supporting the people doing frontline work so they don’t burn out
• Withholding compliance...enthusiasm...and emotional labor from corrosive systems
• Being a memory-keeper when the regime wants amnesia
Those don’t feel like gears.
They feel small.
They feel unsatisfying.
But regimes...fear persistence...not spectacle.
Also...and this matters...grit doesn’t announce itself to the grit. Sand never knows which gear tooth finally fails because of it.
You’re not late.
You’re not missing your role.
You’re already friction.
And...if you ever want help identifying a specific place to apply pressure...that fits your energy...skills...and boundaries...say the word.
Truth is, I've been putting in 15-16 hour days, 7 days a week....for well over a year now. When I finally can't keep my eyes open any longer, I give in to it...and get my 6-7 hours of sleep, and then get up and start again.
Let me say this: That is NOT a template for others to follow. It is NOT.
But, it is an example of something I could never hold up to...if I hadn't found a way to utilize the few specific skills I have...with something I was DEEPLY passionate about. Since I did, though...I wake up and almost run to my laptop to begin again.
Two things I want to be very clear about.
First: I laid out what I did in this article because most people aren’t strange birds like me ...and...honestly, they shouldn’t be expected to be.
Working that hard, for that long...at that level of intensity is not realistic for 99 out of 100 people. And that’s fine. The world doesn’t need more people like me.
Second...and this is the important part:
The world does need more people like YOU.
People who live normal lives.
Who do ordinary...everyday things.
Who move through multiple spaces each week...family...work...errands...community... conversations.
People like YOU are the ones who can do the small things.
The quiet things.
The almost invisible things.
And those actions...taken repeatedly...across hundreds of moments...create ripples. Those ripples interfere with the machine. They slow it. They distort it. They shift outcomes without ever announcing themselves.
That’s how change actually happens.
Not through a few people burning themselves to the ground...
but through many people applying steady...human friction everywhere the gears try to turn.
“Being a memory-keeper when the regime wants amnesia.” That’s something we Boomers can do!
JFK’s “Ask not” phrasing isn’t history to me; I watched and heard it on TV.
My generation sang The Impossible Dream in high school: “To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go…”
This has been the most clarifying of your posts regarding how authoritarians work and how to derail them quietly, peacefully. I’ve learned much from your writing, but now have a clearer view on how it can actually work. My only question is, do we have to depend on the courts? that seems like a roll of the dice now. I have some hope now even as life here in our country grows ever darker.
This is a very perceptive question...and I’m glad you asked it now...because this is where most well-intentioned people still get mentally trapped.
Short answer: No. We cannot depend on the courts. And...we don’t have to.|
Longer, clearer answer...the one that actually gives you agency:
Courts are one battlefield...not THE battlefield.
Authoritarians want the public to BELIEVE everything hinges on judges...rulings...and procedures ordinary people don’t control. That belief keeps citizens passive...anxious... and waiting.
What actually derails authoritarian movements...historically...consistently...is pressure from outside formal institutions...applied in ways that raise the cost of continuing the project.
Here’s the key distinction most commentary misses:
Courts can ratify outcomes.
They rarely CREATE them under authoritarian pressure.
Authoritarian systems fail when:
*Elites fracture
*Enablers defect
*Bureaucracies slow-walk
*Financial backers retreat
*Media narratives shift from inevitability to instability
*Public compliance quietly erodes
None of that...requires a heroic Supreme Court ruling.
In fact, when courts do intervene successfully... it’s usually AFTER these pressures have already changed the terrain...when the outcome is safer to formalize.
Think of courts as thermometers...not thermostats.
So what actually works?
Quiet, peaceful derailment looks like this:
*Narrative judo...not protest theater
*Legitimacy erosion...not moral shouting
*Making obedience costly...not symbolic outrage
*Fragmenting coalitions...not trying to “win hearts”
Authoritarian power depends on coordination. Your job is not to overthrow it...it’s to make coordination brittle.
And here’s the hopeful part you’re sensing (correctly):
Once people STOP believing “the courts will save us,”...they stop WAITING.
They start:
*Applying pressure locally
*Withholding legitimacy socially
*Forcing institutions to choose between lawlessness and survival
*Making quiet, rational self-interested exits from the authoritarian orbit
That’s when things begin to crack...often invisibly at first.
One more important thing, Sara.
The darkness you’re feeling...isn’t a sign of failure.
It’s a sign that ILLUSIONS are breaking.
Authoritarianism feeds on confusion and false hope. Clarity is DESTABILIZING to it...even when that clarity is sobering.
Hope doesn’t come from believing someone else will fix this. It does not.
Hope...comes from realizing:
There are FAR more pressure points than we were ever taught to see.
You’re not wrong to feel steadier now. That steadiness ...quiet...grounded...unspectacular ...is EXACTLY what authoritarian systems don’t know how to handle.
Wow Jack, perfect timing as always! This article refreshes my resistance and sharpens my focus of energy, so a huge Thank You Jack is due!! I am calling Senator Moran again, this time to freak him out and actually praise his vote to require the Trump regime to consult Congress for any military deployment to Venezuela. I’m contemplating calling Senator Josh Hawley as well (I usually call him the ‘January 6th runner!’) since he had a momentary lapse of insanity and also voted against the Trump regime. I feel compelled to reward good behavior, even if it’s with these two jokers. You keep me going, thanks for the energy! #HOLDFAST
Elizabeth...this right here...is exactly how resistance actually works...and you’re doing it instinctively.
Rewarding specific...concrete behavior is not endorsement. It’s conditioning.
Authoritarians survive on binary thinking: friend or enemy...loyalty or betrayal.
When citizens calmly violate that binary...praising a single correct action while withholding broader legitimacy... it scrambles the circuitry. As in sizzles their mind.
Calling Moran to praise that vote does three powerful things at once:
*It signals he’s being watched for substance, not slogans
*It raises the psychological cost of backsliding
*It tells staffers, aides...and peers that defection gets noticed
That’s how fractures spread...quietly...socially...reputationally.
And...yes...even Hawley.
ESPECIALLY Hawley.
You’re not forgiving January 6th. You’re doing something far more destabilizing...you’re making inconsistency VISIBLE.
When someone built on performative loyalty....steps out of line once...and gets rewarded for it....it creates tension between their brand....and their BEHAVIOR. That tension is corrosive over time.
This is how you “freak them out” without theatrics:
*Calm
*Specific
*Unemotional
*Focused on one action
*No absolution offered
It forces them to confront a new reality:
They are no longer being evaluated by the tribe...they’re being evaluated by outcomes.
That’s deadly to authoritarian alignment.
Also...notice what happened INTERNALLY for you.
You didn’t just feel energized.
You felt directed.
That’s not accidental. That’s what happens when resistance shifts from rage...to leverage.
Hold fast is right...but notice how you’re holding:
Good theory but implementing it in the present situation will be difficult and time consuming. Most do not have the access necessary to grind the wheels down and time is running very short. We are in deep trouble and the window for escape is narrowing. We have wasted the time for this strategy.
I understand the fear behind this, Nancy...and...you’re right about one thing: time feels compressed. That’s real.
But... there’s a critical assumption in your comment that I want to gently..but firmly challenge.
This approach doesn’t require special access. It doesn’t require insider status. It doesn’t require months of preparation. It operates exactly where you already are...at the points where systems touch ordinary people and where execution still depends on humans making choices.
And...it’s not slow in the way people assume.
What is slow...is waiting for mass awakening...perfect coordination...or a single dramatic turning point. Those almost never arrive in time.
What moves faster...often invisibly fast...is when friction starts showing up everywhere at once...independently...without central direction. That’s when systems seize up...and leadership starts making unforced errors.
We haven’t “wasted the window.”
We’re in the phase where automatic compliance is still the norm...and that’s precisely the moment when interrupting it...has the highest leverage.
This strategy isn’t about grinding wheels down one by one over years. It’s about making the machine lose its rhythm...now...while it’s still trying to move fast...and look strong.
If we were truly out of time...you’d already be seeing clean...unified execution...with no hesitation...no leaks...no contradictions...no overreach. That’s not what’s happening.
The danger isn’t that this is too late.
The danger...is people convincing themselves they’re powerless...at a time...they're most certainly not.
Your concern is valid.
Your conclusion...isn’t inevitable.
And I’m glad you raised it...because this tension...between urgency and agency...is exactly where clarity matters most!
I would like to add historians to your list: A smaller number: writers, artists, commentators. I realize that they would be encompassed in writers and commentators, but I think that they should be emphasized. In many discussions that I have with people, I am stunned by their lack of knowledge of lived history. I don't consider myself as educated as I should be on history, but I try to keep learning. Then I talk to young people about how I learned about JFK's assassination, the civil rights movement, Vietnam war protests, etc. I try to share my perspective of how we ended up where we are today and how they should stay engaged. I always tell them to vote. Don't let an old white woman determine your future. As always, Jack, thank you for your clear writing.
An ex boss paid me the highest compliment when I left -- "Go be a piece of sand in someone else's machinery." Mission accomplished!!!
Superb, CLF.
-Jack
Outstanding post, Jack!
Thank you, Keith. I appreciate that.
-Jack
R senators just helped pass vote on war powers. That looks like some helpful procedural goo. And of course the drama queen in chief has lost his fricking mind over it. I do hope these Rs give him the finger. As far as emotion, it is best served in the PUNITIVE stage of holding these people to account WHEN this happens! I am salivating so hard for that (those?) day!!
Philip, you’re right to call the war powers vote "procedural goo."
That’s exactly what it is. Boring. Technical. Easy to underestimate. And...incredibly disruptive to a leader...who thrives on speed...spectacle...and unilateral action.
The fact that it sent him into a rage spiral...tells you it landed where it counts.
On the emotion piece: you’re also right about timing.
Emotion is most effective AFTER leverage has been established...not before.
When accountability becomes real...hearings...subpoenas...courtrooms...records...that’s when anger stops being fuel for the other side...and starts becoming punitive pressure.
Until then, restraint is a form of discipline...not passivity.
One note of caution, though...because it matters: the goal isn’t vengeance for its own sake. The goal is consequences that STICK...the kind that deter repetition...and force institutional correction. That requires cold PROCESS first and HOT accountability...later.
So...yes...this vote is a crack.
Yes...the meltdown is a tell.
And...yes...emotion has its place.
Just not yet. At least not how we're thinking about it, here. (I use emotion on social media...daily. But, I have very different goals, there...than I do here. Here, I teach, inform, educate, interact...and strategize.)
The people who last longest in moments like this...are the ones who can wait...until the system is ready to absorb the focus.
You’re reading the field correctly. KEEP that clarity!
-Jack
LOVE 'restraint is a form of discipline, not passivity'! drama drama drama burns brightly...until it doesn't. Then you got nothin'. Given my lifelong difficulty with ADD I wish I knew earlier a more restrained, disciplined MO for doing life myself. But these people are just a terrible joke and a very destructive joke on the rest of us.
Love the "procedural goo" description. And agree with your comment.
#HoldFast
Procedural goo.
It’s so delightfully, perfectly goopy!!!!
I may have been going about resistance the wrong way. This makes sense. Thanks
Wayne, if you’ve been taking action in defense of democracy...you were already doing it the right way.
What I’m offering here...is a refinement...drawn from strategies that rarely get discussed ...because they aren’t exciting...emotional...or cinematic. They don’t sell movies or rally crowds.
They do, however...have a long historical record of working.
Another reason these strategies are unfamiliar...is that they’re deeply counter-intuitive.
Without context, they feel wrong; like the last thing you’d want to do in a crisis.
That’s exactly why they’re so invisible.
And exactly why...they’re so effective.
#HoldFast
-Jack
This all sounds good, in a general way. Specific examples of how to implement these tactics would be helpful.
That’s a fair ask...and it’s exactly the right next question.
Let me make this concrete...without drifting into fantasy or asking anyone to do anything reckless or illegal.
Here are specific, real-world examples of what this looks like in practice; things ordinary people actually do...every day...that create real friction.
1. When a government action touches you directly
(permits, notices, enforcement letters, compliance demands)
What most people do:
Comply immediately or panic.
What creates leverage:
Slow, documented clarification.
Examples:
“Can you provide the written authority for this action?”
“Which statute or regulation governs this?”
“Is there a formal appeals or review process?”
“Who is the supervising office for this decision?”
Follow up in writing with:
“Just confirming my understanding of our conversation…”
You haven’t refused anything.
You’ve increased time...paperwork...and oversight.
2. When you interact with local or state officials
(city council, school boards, county offices, regulators)
What most people do:
Make moral arguments or emotional appeals.
What works better:
Process questions.
Examples:
“What is the procedural basis for this decision?”
“Was this reviewed by counsel?”
“Is this policy temporary or permanent?”
“Where can the public see the documentation?”
These questions force:
*Meetings
*Minutes
*Records
*Caution
3. When enforcement is visible in your community
(checkpoints, raids, inspections, police or federal activity)
What not to do:
Confront, interfere, or escalate.
What does matter:
Observation and documentation.
Examples:
*Take notes: time...location...agencies involved
*Ask calmly: “Who is the supervising agency?”
*Ask: “Is there a public incident number?”
*Request after-action reports through public records laws
This creates after-the-fact friction...which is often more damaging to abuse than confrontation in the moment.
4. In workplaces that touch government systems
(contractors, vendors, healthcare, education, logistics)
High-leverage behavior:
*Ask compliance questions before acting
*Request written confirmation of unusual requests
*Flag unclear authority to supervisors
*Ask whether legal review is required
You’re not saying “no.”
You’re saying “let’s be careful.”
Carefulness spreads.
5. For people who write, speak, or share publicly
(this is the smaller group)
Your job is not to explain everything.
Your job is to:
*Highlight contradictions
*Spotlight delays
*Repeat visible mistakes
*Frame confusion as incompetence...not strength
Ridicule lands after friction appears...never before.
What This Is Not
It’s not:
*Mass coordination
*Secret organizing
*Heroics
*Confrontation
It’s distributed hesitation.
That’s why it scales.
The Key Point Most People Miss
You don’t need access to “the system.”
You are already inside it the moment it asks you to:
*Comply
*Accept
*Move quickly
*Stay quiet
Every request is a LEVERAGE point.
So...yes...you’re right to want specifics.
And...the specifics look like this: ORDINARY interactions handled differently...consistently... and calmly.
That’s how systems lose momentum without anyone having to announce resistance.
And that’s why this works NOW...not later.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Thank you, Jack. That helps A LOT.
You're most welcome.
Thanks for more specifics. It helps to see where this works and how.
You're welcome, Teri!
-Jack
That was going to be my question..
Hey, Jack,
You know that slooooow, creepy, curly that wraps itself into the Grinch’s facial architecture when he has a positively diabolical thought??
Yeah, I have THAT face right now.
And OH, how I needed this.
Cracks are everywhere and the time is ripening.
But I want to be sure that I’m not missing anything here.
Could you put that in writing for me, please? I may need something to refer back to later. 😈
BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Rae, what you’re sensing is REAL...and you’re not missing the big picture.
Authoritarian systems don’t collapse when everything looks broken.
They collapse...when enough cracks connect.
Those cracks show up first as:
*Loss of emotional control at the top
*Over reliance on threats instead of legitimacy
*Obsession with loyalty and punishment
*Increasingly theatrical displays of strength that convince fewer people each time
That’s the ripening you’re feeling.
The critical insight to hold onto is this:
Power depends on fear and respect...traveling together.
When fear remains...but respect drains away...mockery...refusal...calm defiance...moral clarity...the system enters a dangerous imbalance.
At that point...every move meant to reassert dominance....accelerates DECAY instead.
This is why things feel nonlinear right now.
Long stretches of apparent stasis…followed by sudden shifts...that feel inevitable in retrospect.
Nothing here requires heroics.
Nothing requires burning yourself out.
Collapse dynamics are cumulative...not dramatic...until SUDDENLY they are.
So...no...you’re not missing something obvious.
You’re noticing phase change conditions.
Keep this close:
When respect evaporates faster than fear can be enforced...the end stops being a matter of if...and becomes a matter of WHEN.
And yes…lol... that Grinch face is earned. :)
-Jack
Touché Cherie! 👍
SMILE! It’s a curly SMILE!!!
When it became clear how monstrous this regime would be, what I kept hearing inside my head as my role was "grit in the gears." I'm retired and haven't yet found the gears to damage.
Margaret, that phrase...“grit in the gears”...tells me something important about you.
It means you already understood the assignment on a level most people never reach.
Here’s the part that might help reframe what you’re feeling:
You don’t need to find the gears.
You’re already touching them...just not in the dramatic...visible ways our culture trains us to value.
Authoritarian systems don’t collapse because one heroic person...jams a wrench into the machine. They degrade...because thousands of small...irritating...morale-sapping... coordination-breaking actions...make the machine unreliable.
Grit works by being everywhere...not by being loud.
For someone in your position...retired...observant...psychologically awake...the most damaging forms of grit usually look like this:
• Refusing normalization when others try to shrug
• Quietly validating people who feel crazy for seeing what’s happening
• Interrupting bad narratives in low-stakes conversations
• Supporting the people doing frontline work so they don’t burn out
• Withholding compliance...enthusiasm...and emotional labor from corrosive systems
• Being a memory-keeper when the regime wants amnesia
Those don’t feel like gears.
They feel small.
They feel unsatisfying.
But regimes...fear persistence...not spectacle.
Also...and this matters...grit doesn’t announce itself to the grit. Sand never knows which gear tooth finally fails because of it.
You’re not late.
You’re not missing your role.
You’re already friction.
And...if you ever want help identifying a specific place to apply pressure...that fits your energy...skills...and boundaries...say the word.
Truth is, I've been putting in 15-16 hour days, 7 days a week....for well over a year now. When I finally can't keep my eyes open any longer, I give in to it...and get my 6-7 hours of sleep, and then get up and start again.
Let me say this: That is NOT a template for others to follow. It is NOT.
But, it is an example of something I could never hold up to...if I hadn't found a way to utilize the few specific skills I have...with something I was DEEPLY passionate about. Since I did, though...I wake up and almost run to my laptop to begin again.
Two things I want to be very clear about.
First: I laid out what I did in this article because most people aren’t strange birds like me ...and...honestly, they shouldn’t be expected to be.
Working that hard, for that long...at that level of intensity is not realistic for 99 out of 100 people. And that’s fine. The world doesn’t need more people like me.
Second...and this is the important part:
The world does need more people like YOU.
People who live normal lives.
Who do ordinary...everyday things.
Who move through multiple spaces each week...family...work...errands...community... conversations.
People like YOU are the ones who can do the small things.
The quiet things.
The almost invisible things.
And those actions...taken repeatedly...across hundreds of moments...create ripples. Those ripples interfere with the machine. They slow it. They distort it. They shift outcomes without ever announcing themselves.
That’s how change actually happens.
Not through a few people burning themselves to the ground...
but through many people applying steady...human friction everywhere the gears try to turn.
-Jack
“Being a memory-keeper when the regime wants amnesia.” That’s something we Boomers can do!
JFK’s “Ask not” phrasing isn’t history to me; I watched and heard it on TV.
My generation sang The Impossible Dream in high school: “To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go…”
This has been the most clarifying of your posts regarding how authoritarians work and how to derail them quietly, peacefully. I’ve learned much from your writing, but now have a clearer view on how it can actually work. My only question is, do we have to depend on the courts? that seems like a roll of the dice now. I have some hope now even as life here in our country grows ever darker.
Thank you, Sara Goodnick.
This is a very perceptive question...and I’m glad you asked it now...because this is where most well-intentioned people still get mentally trapped.
Short answer: No. We cannot depend on the courts. And...we don’t have to.|
Longer, clearer answer...the one that actually gives you agency:
Courts are one battlefield...not THE battlefield.
Authoritarians want the public to BELIEVE everything hinges on judges...rulings...and procedures ordinary people don’t control. That belief keeps citizens passive...anxious... and waiting.
What actually derails authoritarian movements...historically...consistently...is pressure from outside formal institutions...applied in ways that raise the cost of continuing the project.
Here’s the key distinction most commentary misses:
Courts can ratify outcomes.
They rarely CREATE them under authoritarian pressure.
Authoritarian systems fail when:
*Elites fracture
*Enablers defect
*Bureaucracies slow-walk
*Financial backers retreat
*Media narratives shift from inevitability to instability
*Public compliance quietly erodes
None of that...requires a heroic Supreme Court ruling.
In fact, when courts do intervene successfully... it’s usually AFTER these pressures have already changed the terrain...when the outcome is safer to formalize.
Think of courts as thermometers...not thermostats.
So what actually works?
Quiet, peaceful derailment looks like this:
*Narrative judo...not protest theater
*Legitimacy erosion...not moral shouting
*Making obedience costly...not symbolic outrage
*Fragmenting coalitions...not trying to “win hearts”
Authoritarian power depends on coordination. Your job is not to overthrow it...it’s to make coordination brittle.
And here’s the hopeful part you’re sensing (correctly):
Once people STOP believing “the courts will save us,”...they stop WAITING.
They start:
*Applying pressure locally
*Withholding legitimacy socially
*Forcing institutions to choose between lawlessness and survival
*Making quiet, rational self-interested exits from the authoritarian orbit
That’s when things begin to crack...often invisibly at first.
One more important thing, Sara.
The darkness you’re feeling...isn’t a sign of failure.
It’s a sign that ILLUSIONS are breaking.
Authoritarianism feeds on confusion and false hope. Clarity is DESTABILIZING to it...even when that clarity is sobering.
Hope doesn’t come from believing someone else will fix this. It does not.
Hope...comes from realizing:
There are FAR more pressure points than we were ever taught to see.
You’re not wrong to feel steadier now. That steadiness ...quiet...grounded...unspectacular ...is EXACTLY what authoritarian systems don’t know how to handle.
And...you’re not alone in it.
-Jack
Thank you for explaining this! It makes sense.
Carol, you are most welcome. Thank you...for being here!
-Jack
Wow Jack, perfect timing as always! This article refreshes my resistance and sharpens my focus of energy, so a huge Thank You Jack is due!! I am calling Senator Moran again, this time to freak him out and actually praise his vote to require the Trump regime to consult Congress for any military deployment to Venezuela. I’m contemplating calling Senator Josh Hawley as well (I usually call him the ‘January 6th runner!’) since he had a momentary lapse of insanity and also voted against the Trump regime. I feel compelled to reward good behavior, even if it’s with these two jokers. You keep me going, thanks for the energy! #HOLDFAST
Elizabeth...this right here...is exactly how resistance actually works...and you’re doing it instinctively.
Rewarding specific...concrete behavior is not endorsement. It’s conditioning.
Authoritarians survive on binary thinking: friend or enemy...loyalty or betrayal.
When citizens calmly violate that binary...praising a single correct action while withholding broader legitimacy... it scrambles the circuitry. As in sizzles their mind.
Calling Moran to praise that vote does three powerful things at once:
*It signals he’s being watched for substance, not slogans
*It raises the psychological cost of backsliding
*It tells staffers, aides...and peers that defection gets noticed
That’s how fractures spread...quietly...socially...reputationally.
And...yes...even Hawley.
ESPECIALLY Hawley.
You’re not forgiving January 6th. You’re doing something far more destabilizing...you’re making inconsistency VISIBLE.
When someone built on performative loyalty....steps out of line once...and gets rewarded for it....it creates tension between their brand....and their BEHAVIOR. That tension is corrosive over time.
This is how you “freak them out” without theatrics:
*Calm
*Specific
*Unemotional
*Focused on one action
*No absolution offered
It forces them to confront a new reality:
They are no longer being evaluated by the tribe...they’re being evaluated by outcomes.
That’s deadly to authoritarian alignment.
Also...notice what happened INTERNALLY for you.
You didn’t just feel energized.
You felt directed.
That’s not accidental. That’s what happens when resistance shifts from rage...to leverage.
Hold fast is right...but notice how you’re holding:
Not clenched fists.
Open eyes.
Steady hands.
That’s the posture that outlasts darkness.
And...you’re helping more than you know!
-Jack
#HoldFast, e’erbody!!
Good theory but implementing it in the present situation will be difficult and time consuming. Most do not have the access necessary to grind the wheels down and time is running very short. We are in deep trouble and the window for escape is narrowing. We have wasted the time for this strategy.
I understand the fear behind this, Nancy...and...you’re right about one thing: time feels compressed. That’s real.
But... there’s a critical assumption in your comment that I want to gently..but firmly challenge.
This approach doesn’t require special access. It doesn’t require insider status. It doesn’t require months of preparation. It operates exactly where you already are...at the points where systems touch ordinary people and where execution still depends on humans making choices.
And...it’s not slow in the way people assume.
What is slow...is waiting for mass awakening...perfect coordination...or a single dramatic turning point. Those almost never arrive in time.
What moves faster...often invisibly fast...is when friction starts showing up everywhere at once...independently...without central direction. That’s when systems seize up...and leadership starts making unforced errors.
We haven’t “wasted the window.”
We’re in the phase where automatic compliance is still the norm...and that’s precisely the moment when interrupting it...has the highest leverage.
This strategy isn’t about grinding wheels down one by one over years. It’s about making the machine lose its rhythm...now...while it’s still trying to move fast...and look strong.
If we were truly out of time...you’d already be seeing clean...unified execution...with no hesitation...no leaks...no contradictions...no overreach. That’s not what’s happening.
The danger isn’t that this is too late.
The danger...is people convincing themselves they’re powerless...at a time...they're most certainly not.
Your concern is valid.
Your conclusion...isn’t inevitable.
And I’m glad you raised it...because this tension...between urgency and agency...is exactly where clarity matters most!
#HoldFast
-Jack
I would like to add historians to your list: A smaller number: writers, artists, commentators. I realize that they would be encompassed in writers and commentators, but I think that they should be emphasized. In many discussions that I have with people, I am stunned by their lack of knowledge of lived history. I don't consider myself as educated as I should be on history, but I try to keep learning. Then I talk to young people about how I learned about JFK's assassination, the civil rights movement, Vietnam war protests, etc. I try to share my perspective of how we ended up where we are today and how they should stay engaged. I always tell them to vote. Don't let an old white woman determine your future. As always, Jack, thank you for your clear writing.
Happy to be a force multiplier - thanks for the great perspective (as usual).
#HoldFast