Since the ascendancy of our corrupt, clueless and illegitimate dear leader and the evident unwillingness of the congress of the United States to corral his extreme tendencies, I have had a number of people remark to me that they don’t feel there is any action they can take to have any say in their government.

Oh, there have been marches and tweets and a lot of hand wringing, but none of these things really has any concrete effect. They largely serve to make us all feel better, but are not an effective demonstration of power in the face of a regime that lives by “alternative facts.”

There are the more mundane things we can all do, like get involved in local politics, inject ourselves into the redistricting process to insure that gerrymandering in the favor of an outdated minority of neanderthals (that’s you, conservatives) are kept to a minimum, and get-out-the-vote drives for the 2018 mid-terms; but none of these will have any immediate effect if they have any at all.

My own belief is that there is little short of violence that will address the situation (think 1860, my friends); but, if you are not willing to face that particular piece of music just yet, I suggest an alternative that may be less destructive and I am fairly sure will yield positive results fairly soon.

It’s called a “general strike.” Historically, the general strike has worked a lot of magic, although few history books mention it (since their contents are governed by people who have a vested interest in our not knowing the tools available to the citizenry to redress the wrongs done to it).

What is a general strike?

Simply put, it’s when a large portion of the populace does nothing. They stay home, they buy nothing, they strike by “calling in sick” to work– exerting their strength over an oppressor by not participating in the activities that drive the mechanism of their oppression, the broken vessel of society itself.

Now, vital services on which human lives are at stake, such as ambulance, police and fire should and would remain exempt from the strike. Emergencies should be addressed because lives and property matter. Doctors should also still see patients for non-trivial procedures. However, if it is not vital, an activity should completely cease.

What I recommend is that for 2 or three days, a week at the most, we don’t go to work; we don’t buy that book on Amazon, we don’t go for a drive nor go out to eat nor order take-out. Minimize our activities while yielding few valuable results to society at large– just enough to get by.

Actors will not act in or on any TV shows. Recording artists and athletes won’t perform. Uber drivers won’t drive, pizzas will not be delivered, food won’t be served, sold nor restocked. Planes, trains and buses won’t take anyone anywhere. No gasoline will be purchased. No profits will be made.

We’ll turn down our thermostats, skip bathing and laundering our clothes. We can even take all our money out of the bank (if we have any that the 1% have let us keep).

The message delivered to that asshole we’re stuck with for the next 4 years (at least) and his enablers is not to fuck with us. We can bring this lame system down if you push us too hard, and this little, limited-term strike is just a taste. We can do it anytime and for as long as it takes.

Fuck you, Trump! Take that, Ayn Randian Objectivists! There’s “going Gault” right back in your worthless faces! Makers and takers, indeed.

So what do you say “nasty women”? How about you, oppressed minorities? What about you disaffected youth?

What say you?