Mastodawn

OpEd - No, I'm Not Going to #NoKings This Time
And neither should you

A Declining Democracy
Mar 18, 2026

Excerpt: "What does toppling the #oligarchy mean? It means boycotting the media, goods, and services they use to extract wealth from the rest of us. (See the #TeslaTakedown as a great example.) It means #activism to get state legislatures to enact #WealthTaxes. It means lobbying state legislatures to increase income taxes on the top 10% of earners. It means electing Governors and Mayors who adopt a #Mamdani / #AOC-like platform to alleviate the financial burdens of average workers/citizens. It means rejecting corporate centrism and any of their candidates, local or federal, who accepts money from PACs, particularly those that have effectively paralyzed representatives from voting against Israel or the NRA. It also means creating the networks that protect the most vulnerable: the undocumented, women who are being persecuted for exercising bodily autonomy or receiving life-saving medical care, and anyone, frankly, who isn’t white or Christian.

"So, where does one start? First, send an email to the No Kings organizers at [email protected] and explain why you won’t be joining this time or at any time in the future until they adopt a strategy with teeth:

- Protests must occur on weekdays and for multiple days at a time and to call it a #GeneralStrike.

- To use their clout to call for union leaders to have their union membership strike in solidarity.

- To call for their sponsors to contribute to a strike fund for non-union, hourly wage participants, offsetting the financial burden of participating in these actions.

- To have specific demands for our government:

* Remove and Prosecute Trump for his criminality, particularly as it relates to the sex-trafficking and rape of minors

* Abolish ICE

* Audit the 2024 election, restore voting systems where breaches have occurred, and implement federal voting rights statutes to ensure every voter is heard and every vote counted

* Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment across all 50 states, codifying women’s rights to vote, have equal pay, and access to reproductive health care.

* Adopt Medicare for All.

"Now, there is a #MayDay general strike being organized by the #UAW, but it’s being planned for 2028 which seems awfully far away and too late. I’m sure the idea was to do some union saber-rattling in the lead up to the 2028 Presidential election. However, the time to show some critical mass is right now, not two years from now, after heaven knows how much more crap this Administration will inflict or how much more suffering Americans will endure. No Kings has the numbers; why not just consolidate and do it sooner? "

#NoKings3 #Resistance #USPol

No, I'm Not Going to No Kings This Time

And neither should you

Sabrina Alfin

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BlueDot 3d ago

@DoomsdaysCW

Alfin seems to have forgotten "Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good."

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DoomsdaysCW 3d ago

@BlueDot Yeah. I mean, I'm glad that folks are taking to the streets, but I do agree that a general strike would be a much more powerful statement. Also, maybe these events are "feel-good" for blue cities and states, but in red states, they can send a powerful message to R's -- we aren't happy, change or we'll vote you out!

#NoKings #NoKings3 #USPol

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DoomsdaysCW 3d ago

Any points you'd care to share, @nando161 ? (I just started reading it the other day...)

@BlueDot

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DoomsdaysCW 3d ago

Another common element is leadership. Do we need leaders? What kind of leaders? Not egotists or power-hungry types. But yeah. Fascists and authoritarians tend to rise in the absence of good leadership. Also, individualism versus communal thinking and mutual aid. I've been fascinated by power structures and trying to figure out how things could *work* without them. @nando161 @BlueDot

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Huntn00 2d ago

@DoomsdaysCW @nando161 @BlueDot Leadership is crucial, good leadership however you want to define that, I predict ends up with the best chance of a good outcome as long as we can get the masses on the same page regarding expectations.
We tend to function as sheep, herded, and tribal. Sadly it appears average humans are just not that smart and are selfish. We tend to take advantage of one another when opportunity presents itself. This maybe our epitaph.

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DoomsdaysCW 2d ago

Well, I think that being able to gt rid of bad leaders and make them accountable would be a start. Also, I suspect the best leaders are those who don't want the job, but rise to the occasion to help fix what's not working or for the common good. Bad leaders usually want the attention / adoration/ power. Good leaders shun that and just want to do the right thing. imho

@Huntn00 @nando161 @BlueDot

#PowerStructures #Leadership

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Tiota Sram 2d ago

@DoomsdaysCW @Huntn00 @nando161 @BlueDot I'm an anarchist, so my view is the opposite: leaders by definition centralize power and weaken movements.

I'm this view (which could, I admit, be wrong) we do need many people to inspire each other and it's fine if some people are outstanding at that and become notable for it, but what we really need is ideas (and framings that communicate them) that shift away from leadership models to per-individual shared responsibility for collective action. When every individual accepts responsibility for initiating their own plans and actions (even if they ultimately voluntarily delegate that responsibility to someone else who had a great idea), then the movement cannot be stopped by killing or corrupting its leaders, and the drag effect of everyone waiting around for a leader or hero to save them will disappear leading to greater momentum.

The "fact" that humans tend to behave like sheep and cluster behind leaders could easily be specific to "humans raised in and trapped by oppressive propaganda". Compare the behavior of wild to domesticated sheep, for example.

I think we do need people who will inspire each other, people who are brave enough to step out first in defiance, etc. But I don't think these people should lead by giving orders or even setting the agenda. And I don't think it's productive to think "we need someone to do these things" when instead we should be thinking "how can I contribute to these things myself?"

To me, hero mythology might as well be fascist propaganda, because it implies that *only* heroes can change the world, when in the past significant changes have always been accomplished by mass movements.

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DoomsdaysCW

Well-said, @tiotasram ! And yeah, I can see how "hero mythology" can be used as propaganda -- both in ancient times and most certainly today. The Aeneid and Odyssey are examples of how the ruling class justifies their ruling over others -- using heroes and mythology! @Huntn00 @nando161 @BlueDot