It’s hard to take a breath these days without hearing about yet another injustice demanded by executive order. In fact, the amount of executive orders signed within the first 12 days of this administration are an injustice and abuse of power in of itself. 

As my chest tightens and my heartbeat rises, I remind myself that the fear mongering and onslaught of terror being inflicted by our own government are tools to keep us too busy to organize and overcome. Too distracted, overwhelmed, tired, and disconnected from each other based on our differences, unable to see the ways we are connected and our collective power.

The fact is, those in power need us more than we need them. In a capitalist system, those at the top leech off the energy, labor, and minds of those doing the work and then take home all the profit.  A year after leaving an abusive workplace where my contributions were constantly criticized and demeaned, the content added to their website is still based off my thought labor, passed off as their own. Unfortunately, my experience isn’t unique.

What I have come to realize as I healed from the trauma of my abusive workplace and a lifetime of internalized powerlessness is that the harder the war waged against you, the more indicative it is of your strength. If you were easily defeated, they wouldn’t need to try so hard or expend so much energy to hold you down. It is precisely because of your grit, determination, and light that those in power come against you so strongly. They wouldn’t have to fight so hard if they weren’t afraid of being overcome by the power that you hold.

Clearly, the current administration can see how powerful we are, and they are absolutely terrified that we might not remain too distracted and at each other’s throats to see it too.  And while we may be different in a million wonderful and fascinating ways, we are all the labor and the market that drive the system. And without us, they have NOTHING.

So as the executive office wages war so immediately and intensely, driven by capitalist motives and a class war tactically disguised to drive us apart by our differences, I say THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENT.

To all of you I say, let’s use our different strengths, perspectives, and talents to come together in the most powerful resistance this nation has ever seen.