Life in Activism Special: You Can't Just Skip to the Part Where You Win

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

Whenever I send out an email blast on Bowers News Media, the grassroots activism email list associated with Wolves and Sheep, asking people to send a letter to their members of Congress or sign a petition, I inevitably receive a couple of responses along the lines of:

“We don't need petitions. What we need is REAL action!”

Because I read every response to every activism email I send, and because I try to reply to as many of these responses as I can, I probe these comments with simple questions like “out of curiosity, what do you mean by ‘REAL’ action?”

Usually, if people respond to my question—which most don't—the author admits that they are not entirely sure what they meant, but they do at least try to flesh out their idea. Some mean millions of people in the streets. Some mean a general strike. Some indicate that they mean armed rebellion, but then quickly demur when they realize what that actually means. Whatever it is, though, they all imply that what they really want is for some sort of spontaneous, sweeping popular uprising to result in the immediate removal of Donald Trump from power. In effect, they all want to skip to the part where they win, right away.

I have written about this repeatedly, most prominently with my Life in Activism article, “There Is Only One Way Out of Trump's Second Term,” but given the frequency with which it arises it is clear to me that I am going to have to keep writing it for a while: There is no shortcut that will allow you an early way out of Donald Trump's second term in office.

There is not going to be a peaceful street protest of 3.5% of the population that causes Trump to shamefully resign from office, even though there are prominent activist organizations implying that will happen. A protest of that size wouldn't shame Trump into anything.

There will never be a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate to convict and remove Donald Trump from office. When you think about it, if we actually managed to elect 67 senators willing to impeach Donald Trump, our political problems in this country would be largely solved even before Trump's removal.

There is never going to be a general strike in this country that shuts the economy down until the federal government gives into the demands of the strike leaders. Who would even organize that strike, not to mention who would organize food and social services for literally the entire country while said strike was underway? And what happens to the significant share of the country that actually approves of Trump right now?

There is certainly not being to be some sort of successful armed rebellion that overthrows the federal government. And you know, thank God for that. We have had two civil wars in our history (many historians consider the Revolutionary War to have actually been a civil war). In both cases, a little over 2% of the country died, if you count deaths in POW camps (which you should). Additionally, in the case of the Revolutionary War, another 2% fled the country, while in the case of the Civil War a little over 3% of the country was wounded but survived. (See the Wikipedia pages on the Revolutionary War and the Civil War for sourcing on these numbers). In modern times, having roughly 5% of the country killed, wounded or displaced would equal 17 million people, concentrated heavily among our children and grandchildren who would do the actual fighting. It would be one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the world.

There isn't going to be any skipping to the part where we win. The only way out of Trump's second term is this:

1. Prepare yourself for a long, difficult grind through January 20, 2029.

2. Don't give in. Instead, use all non-violent, democratic means of dissent at your disposal: voting, donating, filing lawsuits, protesting, contacting your elected officials, posting on social media, and talking with your friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances.

3. Always make sure you are learning, so that as much as possible the actions you take and messages you spread are informed, accurate and effective.

4. Do all of this with an eye toward lowering the approval ratings of Donald Trump and Republican elected officials—especially among independents and Republicans.

5. You should also be working to take care of your body and control your anxiety, as otherwise you will not be very effective at any of this.

There is no shortcut to the end. There is no quick route to victory. Seemingly small or boring things, such as learning about what is actually in the Republican megabill and telling your friends about it, are very important. In fact, victory will only come from tens of millions of people stringing together hundreds of millions of small actions like that.

Victory is also not hopeless. As I argued back in March, a big victory for liberal candidate Susan Crawford in the Wisconsin state Supreme Court election on April 1 would result in a severely damaging blow to Elon Musk's political prestige. Well, Crawford won by 10%, and now Elon Musk has said he is going back to his companies and is halting his political spending indefinitely.

We can win, but we can't just skip to the part where we win. That sure would be nice if we could, so I understand the sentiment here. However, wishing for impossible things to happen is not good for you, so we have to push thoughts like these away. On the bright side, we are all in this long slog together. Further, I believe that as we stay engaged we will find that we are more courageous, and our country is more resilient, than most of us ever thought was the case.

I wish you all a peaceful and reflective Memorial Day weekend. Thank you for being a part of Wolves and Sheep and Bowers News Media.