The Wart Was Just the Warning
Trump isn’t the disease—he’s the symptom. The cancer was always there.
A lot of people have it twisted. Trump isn’t the problem, he’s just the grotesque wart that finally bubbled to the surface. He’s the signal flare, the tumor you didn’t know you had until it started to hurt. The disease? That’s been brewing for centuries.
We got seduced by the optics of progress. Obama. Then Biden. A glimmer of equality peeking from behind the curtain. We danced in the streets, married who we loved, thought maybe—just maybe—we were evolving. But while we were celebrating, the rot was festering. It was organizing. Strategizing. Waiting.
The truth is, we never fully reckoned with what America really is, a country founded on racism, misogyny, and colonialism. That’s not ancient history. It’s the bedrock. And too many people thought crossing the street and smiling at someone of another race made them not racist. Then Trump and Stephen Miller came along and said the quiet part out loud. And suddenly, those same folks found themselves… nodding. They found their tribe.
It’s wild, really. We love to say “be yourself.” But when some people finally did, when they showed us their true, ugly faces, we acted shocked. It’s like chain-smoking for 40 years and gasping at a lung cancer diagnosis.
Healing from this won’t happen at the ballot box alone. Our issues are systemic, deep, and decades in the making. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about corporations, those soulless beasts that have stopped pretending to care. They don’t want to pay you to make their products anymore. They just want you to buy them. Automation isn’t inherently evil, but it’s being twisted into a weapon—like some late-stage supervillain flick where the genius tech that could’ve saved us ends up destroying humanity.
But there’s no lone hero coming to save the day. It’s going to take all of us.
I’ve written about this again and again, hoping it lands in the right hands. We need to fight; for homes, for food, for water, for dignity. And one of the most effective weapons we have is our wallets. It’s time to get radical about how and where we spend. About where we work. Yes, it’s scary. It’s meant to be.
Remember: a lot of Hitler’s soldiers were “just doing their jobs.” Fast-forward to now, truckers are being detained at U.S. weigh stations because someone told an employee to pull over anyone who looks Hispanic. Doesn’t matter if they’re citizens. Doesn’t matter if their papers are in order. The guy doing the detaining? He just needed to keep his job.
We’re so entangled in this machine, it feels impossible to opt out. But we have to find ways.
If someone walks away from their job on principle. We need to support them, fund them. Celebrate them. These are the people taking real risks to do what’s right.
Look at what’s happening in California. Military-style raids on farms. Why? To weaken one of the strongest state economies in the country. To stir fear. But the real kicker? Those raids are going to hit you in the gut when grocery shelves start thinning out. Tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, all targeted. But the media only wants to talk about the marijuana farm and “child labor,” which, let’s be honest, is probably just cover.
So grow your own food. Or band together and do it as a community. Skip the big box grocery chains, support your local farm stand. They’re going to need you.
That old pair of leggings with the torn seam? Don’t toss them. Fix them. Or find someone local who can. Every dollar you redirect is a dollar not feeding the beast.
I’m not telling you to stop paying your federal taxes, but at some point, we’re going to need a kind of courage most of us have never known. We have to stop fueling the very system that’s grinding us down.
This is a long fight. But we’re already in it. So the question is… what side are you really on?
10 Radical Moves to Starve the Beast—Starting Today
Unsubscribe from Corporate Email Lists
Cut off the marketing drip-feed from Target, Amazon, Walmart, etc. Stop the digital brainwashing.Cancel Your Prime Account & Streaming Subscriptions
Amazon doesn’t need your $14.99/month. Use that money to support indie creators or rent local.Switch to Local & Independent Retailers
Buy your produce at farmers markets. Get your soap from a local maker. It’s slower, but it’s real.Move Your Money to a Credit Union
Ditch the big banks. They fund pipelines, prisons, and politicians. Credit unions serve people.Support Workers Taking a Stand
If you hear of someone quitting on principle, donate to them or amplify their story.Fix, Don’t Replace
Mend your clothes, fix your devices, or pay a local to do it. Every repair is a rebellion.Opt Out of Mass Consumption Holidays
Don’t shop on Black Friday. Don’t fall for Prime Day. Don’t let marketing control your calendar.Use Search Engines & Platforms That Don’t Exploit You
Try DuckDuckGo, Signal, and ProtonMail instead of Google, WhatsApp, and Gmail.Grow Something—Anything
Herbs on your windowsill count. It’s not just food—it’s mental resistance to dependence.Talk About It
Share your choices with friends. Not preachy—just real. Show them what resistance looks like.You can also become a subscriber to mine or any other sub stack that inspires you and brings you joy. It’s even better if you can become a paid subscriber my subscription is just $2.50 a month.
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Honestly, I did it for years and while working for a major corporation. I declared I was tax exempt based on the fact that taxation by the IRS was never fully ratified by all states. And for me, it worked. I had my tabulated tax code book, wrote very clear and specific letters and managed it quite well. I could have, would have kept it up but decided I was spending way too much time and energy managing the deluge of paperwork needed. Oh and I'm fully paid up, so it is all good. I paid up when Obama was elected as a sort of celebration and my penance owed. And I am just one person, although I do believe there are plenty that keep it up to this day, their tax exempt status. If there were 100,000 tax exempts protesters, or even more, I think it would send a very large message.
None of what they are doing should be a surprise. They did and said the vast majority of what they want to do to the nation and its people out in the open. Bradley foundation and others funnelin money to 501c groups for decades, propping up riightwing AM radio, the Federalist Society took over the courts, Tea Party, Heritage Foundation, AFP, etc....while the rightwing built and MAGA built, Democrats proved they're cowards and didn't use the power to set up more defense to stop this authoritarian takeover from being able to take over proving their Judy to MAGA's punch. Meanwhile the left identifies into smaller and smaller bickering fighting identities and groups, more willing to shank or stab eachother in the back than actualy work together. Then so many apathetic nonvoters who consider themselves left of center who couldn't be bothered to vote or contribute to democracy. Im more piseed off at the left for this bullshit, we fucking failed everything they wanted to do laid out in front but hey we have Chuck Schumer right? Ffs!