It is more than just not getting up for work. It is about refusing to be dutiful consumers for the elites. They do not amass their wealth without us. We make them rich, and we can turn the tides on them very easily if we use our consumer power.
[NOTE: Please go to Events to see actions for 2019/2020]
Years of conditioning and advertising have made Americans notorious consumers
Americans love to consume, whether they can afford to or not. All you have to do is spend time in a mall at Christmas. We have lost all perspective on what the season is about, and corporations and merchants have created that change in perspective in order to feed the never-ending, debilitating cycle of consumption and debt. Most people do not even recognize that this is going on. Consuming is a way of life for most.
I work in a hardware store with a television in the background and I hear the mind-numbing infomercials run every single day selling face creams that remove wrinkles, reduce eyebags, and make you look like Cindy Crawford. And for the men? Well, we can watch Larry King every afternoon as he peddles his prostate support vitamin pack where he trots out a variety of snake oil salesmen. In between, we have various legal firms representing plaintiffs against big pharma in any number of drug cases. If these drugs were safe, these firms wouldn't exist. And if these infomercials weren't working, they wouldn't be running them. Someone is buying this garbage.
But there are some who do recognize it to varying degrees. These people may not realize how much power they have to change this situation. There is more than one way to shut this system down. While not every person would support a nationwide strike (and in this climate it would be near impossible to pull one off), enough of us refusing to consume would send a message. There is nothing that elites understand (or fear) more than falling profits.
We want instant impact but have long-term goals.
If you're thinking this is going to be a bang-bang revolution and we're done, you'd better think twice and you'd better plan on being in for the long haul. So, while we're trying to upend this mess, there are things we can do to change the landscape. For most, these are not small changes, but nothing good comes out of this mess with out a price for everyone:
We know it is an uphill battle to get Americans to turn off the "consume" button, but it is something that gives us instant leverage in this battle with minimal pain. (There is no change worth pursuing that will ever be pain free.) Think about it. Every time we spend money, we are voting for the kind of world we want to live in.