Less than a third of the eligibl evoters in the US on Election Day 2024 voted for the current president, Donald Trump. More people didn't vote (89 million) than voted for Trump (77.3 million). Even many Republicans and independents who did vote are now regretting their vote for Trump, given the economic chaos he's causing and the fact that he's ignoringthe Supreme Court and the Constitution at every turn. It is clear from opinion polls that the majority of people do not agree with the dangreous direction he is taking the country.
If this majority of people does not stand up to the minority that is quite clearly in the process of turning the United State into a dictatorship, and much faster than almost anyone expected, our democracy will be lost. For those who have read the Project 2025 documents, this comes as no surprise; Trump has been transparent in his desire to become a dictator. And, once a state becomes a dictatorship, history has shown that it is very difficulty to go back the other direction without armed conflict.
At this critical stage, however, an armed uprising is not required. A full-scale national strike, lasting days or weeks, would effectively stop the administration in its tracks. Trump does care about public opinion; he has said that he doesn't want to godown in history as another Herbert Hoover. All around the world,outside the US, national general strikes have been shown to be very effective in recent history. Indeed, some of the largest social movements of the last hundred years, from Indian Independence led by Gandhi, to the Civil Rights movement led by MLK, to the collapse ofthe Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War, have had General Strikes at the centers of their strategies. People in the USA have been lulled into a state of impotence, feeling that they, their votes and their actions don't matter, but of course they do. In a consumer society, the government can only continue to wield power if the people submit to this power. Everyday citizens must rediscover this power, right now, or their democracy will end.
Corporations are now the most powerful entities, more powerful than governments, but this power is ultimately derived from consumers and shareholders. Citizens have ceded their power to these corporations for generations, but thepower ultimately still rests in the hands of all the billions of consumers around the world. Just as they have given up their power, they can take it back more easily than they realize. A few months of people not paying credit card bills and mortgages and all their other bills would bring these corporations quickly to their knees, if the people can organize enough to take these actions. It follows, then, that a strike of this type does not require going into the streets. Anyone can participate without leaving their home, by refusing to pay bills, minimizing or stopping any purchases, and supporting those who are in the streets or who are more economically disenfranchised.
Many low-wage earners are not in a position to participate. Since they are living paycheck to paycheck,they cannot afford to lose their job (or one of their jobs since manyin the working class today have more than one job, it's up to middleclass and more wealthy citizens to take the brunt of the economic impact of the strike. If someone can afford to take a two week unpaid vacation, they can afford to participate in the strike.
The very good news is that a 2019 study showed that only 3.5% of the population needs to engage in nonviolent protest in order for it to succeed. Not only that, but the same study found that nonviolent protests are twice as likely as violent uprisings to bring about change:
(https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world) There is currently a website where people can sign a “strike card”, with the strike set to begin when that 3.5% threshold has been reached. It is: https://generalstrikeus.com/
Prominent leaders on the left, from Robert Reich to AOC to Bernie Sanders to union leaders, have directly or indirectly called for a General Strike in the last year. Now is the time for those leaders to step forward and take leadership rolls in actually making the strike happen.
The establishment view is that we should wait until the midterm elections in November. Doing so will send the message that the best way to solve the problem of rising authoritarianism is through the current, largely broken system. By holding a General Strike, we the citizens will remind those who are part of the entrenched power structure that we still hold the power in our democracy, just as we always have.
We are at an inflection point in the history of this country. We will tell our children and grandchildren the story of this time. We the people, collectively, can determine how that story ends. We the people are still in control of this country, but we have to prove it with actions, not words.
