There Is Only ONE Pillar of Support

I've been to a chiropractor and she fixed my back. She did an impressive and valuable thing, and I will always be grateful to her.

But chiropractors have no idea what they are doing. In their training, they are taught about something called "subluxations" and they heal us by doing something about subluxations.

Doctors and scientists don't agree. I don't agree. Subluxations don't exist. Chiropractors can and do make back pain go away, but I don't think they know why their approach works. In a way, it doesn't matter. It works.

I was treated decades ago and my back pain never returned.

But sometimes, it DOES matter. Some chiropractors think that subluxations are the key to our health—all of it. They think they can treat diabetes and other diseases that they can't. And if diabetics who need insulin do not take insulin, substituting chiropractic manipulations of "subluxations," they could be making a fatal mistake.

I feel similarly about The Resistance and wonderful groups like Indivisible.org and FiftyFifty.one. I support them wholeheartedly and they are doing a magnificent job. I will forever be in debt to them. We should all appreciate what they are doing. But.

The Movement

These groups have been inspired and influenced by brilliant and passionate pioneers—and careful social scientists—who have studied movements, and in some case, guided them.

Because the organizers correctly diagnosed the situation—the emergence of tyranny and the importance of quickly building a large resistance—we have millions of people in the streets protesting. We have a big vibrant nonviolent movement working to counter the fascists and impede their violence.

This works because people everywhere understand and fear fascism. And the violence and cruelty of the regime made them (justifiably) angry. They wanted to know what to do.

This is true across a wide spectrum of people. At the national protests, you find communists and moderate democrats along with anarchists and others.

Indivisible and FiftyFifty.One did something critical—they created and continue to maintain a BROAD coalition of MILLIONS of people. This is the first step and everything that follows will depend on that.

But I think the organizers are stumbling now. I think they are talking about subluxations while the back pain is returning. And they may be treating diabetes without insulin.

This isn't evil. Indivisible and FiftyFifty.One are the heroes of this story—along with the people they have inspired. But they are flawed heroes and we need to correct course together.

The Strategy

The coalition organizers recognize that protests alone won't do the job. So, they are continuing the protests and adding education. Both Indivisible.org and FiftyFifty.One are offering training and attempting to train as many as a million people online to be more effective dissidents.

They want us to start community-based groups to work from the local level to cripple tyranny by strengthening our ties with our neighbors. We need to learn to care for each other and impede the violent, evil regime.

I agree with all of this. I am getting the education. I am trying to create and inspire a resistance group in my local community. And yet there is a mistake.

This approach is too slow. It feels like we have stalled. People are starting to wonder what's next? What do we do NOW? Why are will still protesting when it hasn't done any visible good?

Yes, we need to build local resistance groups. Indeed, they WILL be critical going forward. But our emphasis must be to make it increasingly difficult for the authoritarian regime to function NOW.

Discouraged, some people are starting to drop out. Others out of frustration are radicalized—they are thinking we must have a violent revolution. Of course, apathy and violence both play into the hands of our opponents.

Erica Chenoweth and other social scientists have discovered that nonviolent movements succeed twice as often as violent ones. And, of course, most of us know that violence is wrong.

The education teaches a theory of movements. These ideas were created and promoted by smart activists and strategists of the past—particularly Gene Sharp. He spoke of Pillars of Support that keep authoritarians in power. He spoke about how people can destabilize these various pillars of support. This can be a useful analogy to help us think about what we need to do and why.

But it's also a bit like the ideas of subluxations. I think that this education is potentially useful, but maybe we shouldn't be in school when we need to be out in the world—working.

We need to be destabilizing the fascist regime, not studying the theory. We need the minimum amount of information to take effective action now.

We need a field manual to carry with us, not a series of courses and a degree. Theory teaches that there are many pillars of support—the Courts, Business, Religious Institutions, etc. But I think it's simpler and probably more accurate to say that there is only ONE pillar of support: We The People.

Because WE do everything and the authoritarians and the other pillars don't even exist without the active support of ordinary people like us. We The People DO everything; the so-called powerful people and institutions merely give orders.

When we stop taking orders, they are quite literally nothing. So, withdrawal of support for the regime and taking care of each other instead of our enemies—that's the key.

Oh, and sabotage.

The Way Forward

I found a manual written by the OSS during WWII. It offered instruction to the people of occupied countries, nations ruled by fascist invaders. It taught people how to sabotage the occupiers.

I like to share this (free) document. I am planning to write a similar manual for us, for people living in the United States under today's despotic regime. We need a manual that explains why and how to resist—alone and in groups.

We need to empower people to act, and to act effectively right now and every day.

In the meantime, download and read THIS:

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What The Saners Add

Our group, The Saners, is dedicated to supporting and strengthening the resistance. But we also want to add to these efforts.

In particular, we offer a vision of a new, better civilization—one that values LIFE and OUR EARTH. We intend to end most labor—all but the most useful—and nothing is ever done again for money or profit. There will be almost no opportunity for greed, enabling us to live as human beings instead of as human resources.

This new civilization is built on a foundation of good humane values that nearly every person understands. Even ICE terrorists wear masks because they know what they are doing is wrong. Even the fascist regime hides their complicity in child abuse and other crimes, because they know it is wrong.

Our new civilization will not encourage, conceal, protect, reward or allow the terrible abuses we see in the world today. This can be the most beautiful revolution in history, saving our species and our planet and freeing people everywhere to fully live.