Little Acts of Resistance

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” So opens Charles Dickens’ 1859 novel, “A Tale of Two Cities.” That one line beautifully conveys the confusion, fear, and lunacy surrounding the French Revolution. And boy howdy, does it sum up the madness of Trump 2.0 as well.

Tariffs are on one day, two days later they’re not. Elon and his DOGE Bros fire a bunch of essential federal workers, then send pleading e-mails for them to come back to work. The market is crashing, we’re making enemies out of allies, prices are out of control. The pace, noise, and fear are overwhelming, partly because of incompetence, but partly by design, a tactic to wear us down and keep us from fighting back.

The thing is, “fighting back” doesn’t have to be a big gesture. Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat on the bus.  A lone student stood in the way of tanks rolling into Tiananmen Square. These Little Acts of Resistance (LARs, for short) had a much bigger effect in the end.

The American Revolution kicked off after boxes of tea were dumped into Boston Harbor.
During World War II, Dutch teenager Freddie Oversteegen (who just passed) was one of several young women who seduced Nazis, then killed them.  In occupied France, the Germans took over a car plant, forcing workers to make vehicles for their officers. Those workers sabotaged the gauges so that the Nazis wouldn’t know they were low on oil and the engine would burn up. Then there was the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-President GW Bush in protest of the Iraq war.

Little Acts of Resistance.

At this writing, Americans fed up with Elon’s government takeover and corporations towing the Trump line, are participating in boycotts. Tesla’s stock has dropped precipitously. Target and Amazon have lost billions in sales.

There are marches and protests nearly every day, from big groups to a single protestor holding a sign in front of a Tesla dealership.  Frustrated constituents are getting louder at townhalls, to the point where Republican leaders are avoiding them altogether (not a good look, guys).

Despite the firehose of frustration that we’re being subject to, we STILL have power. History has shown that abused people WILL reach a breaking point -- and it never ends well for the abuser. A Little Act of Resistance is what usually starts tipping that balance of power.

So, what will be yours? Indivisible is a great resource for getting involved. Change.org also has great resources for boycotts, petitions, and more. Choose your weapons.

“The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.” – Thomas Paine

Cindy Grogan is a writer, lover of history and "Star Trek" (TOS), and hardcore politics junkie. There was that one time she campaigned for Gerald Ford (yikes), but ever since, she's been devoted to Democratic and progressive policies.