Action in a time of helplessness

Is it perfect? No; nothing is.

Feb 28, 2025

Think today’s economic blackout is designed to make corporations feel financial pain?

It won’t. And that’s just fine, because that’s not the objective.

Today, people across the country are participating in an economic blackout. They’re conscientiously (rather than accidentally) not spending any money. Anywhere. Some even followed suggestions from sites like The People’s Union USA to pre-pay anything that was due today, February 28. For example, one woman, who had pre-paid her hairdresser for today’s appointment, called into Boston Public Radio this morning. She said her hairdresser had told her that every one of today’s clients had done just that—pre-paid.

Today is not the first economic blackout. It won’t be the last. Did it work? Depends on your objective. Depends on how you see your mission.

People who see the blackouts as a way to make corporations feel financial pain are focused on the wrong thing.

Helplessness

How many times have you found yourself ready to pull your hair out in the last few weeks? Now, consider whether your frustration is more from the irresponsible and even cruel actions of the Trump administration, or from the feeling that there is absolutely, positively nothing you can do about it. Your scalp hurts more each day.

And then you see a friend’s post on social media about an economic blackout, a day in which no money is spent. Anywhere. You enter a comment.

“What good will that do? We’ll just spend it on a different day.”
You see this response from someone you’ve never heard of: “This time, it’s not a question of ‘it’s the economy, stupid.’ This time it’s about sending a message.”
You’re skeptical. You reply, “Really? Sending it where?”
You see: “Right now the message is to each other. Maybe after several blackouts, the message will be to everyone.”

“To each other.” What does that even mean, you wonder?

Again, consider the helplessness. No doubt, you know you aren’t alone; you know millions of people feel as helpless as you do. And what do helpless people do? Complain. And that’s understandable, but it does nothing to mitigate helplessness.

What happens if they do more than complain? Here’s what: When a helpless person takes action, they feel less helpless. And if they see millions of other people taking the same action, they begin to feel less and less helpless.

The more action we take, the less helpless we feel—and the more action we feel we can take.

I saw an article in The New Republic in which the author, Timothy Noah, protests the protest. His main point is that before he boycotts any organization, he wants to know why. He takes issue with organizations (he refers to The People’s Union USA specifically) whose extreme positions are merely mirroring the extremism on the other side. He’s not wrong about either point.

However, what I think he’s not understanding is that in taking an action (like an economic boycott) that can’t possibly have a perceptible financial outcome, it’s not to hurt capitalism, which he rightly dismisses won’t be affected (and, he holds, shouldn’t be, but that’s a topic for a different discussion). The perceptible outcome has nothing to do with money.

So I’ll summarize it for him and for any other skeptics.

The Objectives

#1: Solidarity

Bring together in one action the millions of people who deplore what’s happening in our country, putting a large dent in the feeling of helplessness of nearly half the voting public, thereby encouraging them to take further actions, as a group and also independently

#2: Power

Repeat consolidated actions to solidify a base that can shore up the institutions that support democracy and reverse the damage being caused by the current administration

Maybe it’s called an “economic blackout.” But that’s just so people will know what to do. It’s not to hurt the economy; it’s to save the democracy.

And while we’re at it…

The objective of business is profit. It has to be, or it won’t succeed, and we need it to succeed to bring us the goods and services we depend on. The profit itself benefits only those individuals who own and/or invest in a given business.
The objective of government is commonwealth. This objective is diametrically opposed to profit, because commonwealth is just that: benefit to all.

I invite anyone who feels helpless right now to join in on the actions that we can take together, actions that—for now—speak loudly to each other in a way that goes beyond complaining. And if you participate in some or all of the upcoming actions, or even if you just think that maybe this is a good idea, please share this information with your friends, in person and on social media:

February 28: No spending for one full 24-hour period
March 7-14: No purchase at Amazon (including Prime) or at Whole Foods
March 21-28: No purchase of Nestlé-owned brands due to their water exploitation, child labor, and corporate greed
March 28: No spending for one full 24-hour period
April 7-13: No spending at Walmart due to their price-gouging and worker exploitation
April 18: No spending for one full 24-hour period
April 21-27: General Mills blackout

Once you start, you’ll begin to see more and more participation, and you’ll see more economic actions listed over time. Watch for them on social media and on the FAQ page of The People’s Union USA, even if—like me—you don’t go along with their more extreme positions.

Shed helplessness. Come with us.

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