Fate has not been written yet.

I read an interesting Medium article by Aletheiesthenes that tracks closely the information I've been gathering about the strategic dismantling of our democracy.

Like many writers have noted, what we're witnessing in the U.S. follows the classic playbook of an authoritarian coup. It's been in the works for decades, gaining momentum through efforts like the Project 2025 authored by the Heritage Foundation and its ideological alignment with a cohort of technocrats (Peter Theil, Curtis Yarvin) who envision the U.S. being run like a company with a CEO-style leader and unchecked executive power, a style also lauded by our VP.

The article points to the end of April as a critical tipping point - specifically April 20th - as the end of a 90-day window in which the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security are expected to deliver their assessment of the Insurrection Act. Under the guise of border security, this would allow the president to declare martial law and deploy the military domestically.  and allows the President to call Martial law and deploy the military domestically.

I had already bookmarked this date after hearing that the Heritage Foundation had set a 90-day target for enacting key parts of Project 2025. But the article goes a step further, laying out what could unfold if we don’t wake up - and if we fail to avoid falling into a trap that justifies a crackdown.

It describes a chilling possibility: mass protests infiltrated and escalated by provocateurs, a “false flag” event used to justify martial law, arrests of journalists and liberal opposition leaders, militias deputized to restore order, internet blackouts in urban areas, and even the suspension of future elections. 

The author noted that this reads like dystopian fiction, but it’s drawn directly from the playbook of historical authoritarian takeovers and, as we are in the midst of one right now, makes it worth taking seriously.

But that said, this is only one possibility.

This is the warning Frodo saw in the Mirror of Galadriel, what may come to pass if we fail. 

There is still time.

We must not give up hope.

Let this not serve as a prophecy but as a rallying cry - a call to mobilize while we still can: Boycotts. Strikes. The Digital Exodus.

Let's reclaim our power and our sovereignty that we've given away to the Big 5 companies complicit in the breakdown of democracy.

We start now, and we go public on Earth Day.

Read the rest of Aletheiesthenes' (think Galadriel) warning here:

I’m sorry for the urgency and the persistence, but something is happening right now, both in the US and globally, that requires a different level of action we've never seen before. I’m reaching out now because I believe we are at a critical crossroads, and what we do in the next year, could decide the future of the earth and its inhabitants.

In my a past post, I shared why a Digital Exodus from the Big 5 (Meta, Google, Amazon, X and Apple) may be the most powerful leverage point we have right now to stop the dismantling of our democracy. 

These companies are not just monopolizing resources and squelching competition. They're shaping the future of society, steering it toward an authoritarian, surveilled, screen-addicted and deeply unequal world.

What we need is more voices at the table. Women's voices. Diverse voices. Voices that have been silenced. But to do that, we have to take our power back. These companies operate in the currency of today: attention and convenience.

What we're asking people to do:

• Stop using the Big 5: Meta, Google, Amazon, Apple, and X (Twitter)
• Don't worry about being perfect: reducing your current usage by 80% or more is fine
• Delete apps, cancel subscriptions, migrate to alternative platforms (links below)
• Do a little each day until Earth Day, April 22. (I’m hosting free online zoom calls for people who need support or help with tech and setting things up).
• Forward this message (or a version of it) to at least 20+ people - if just a few of them join in and send the message on to others, we could reach 10 million easily by Earth Day.
• After Earth day we hold until we are heard.
  

It is not just me advocating for this. I shared this idea on a LinkedIn Post a week ago and received more support and responses than almost anything I’ve shared online before - from lawyers, teachers, engineers, writers, environmentalists. Even a tenured Wharton professor commented that this idea makes sense. Wired has also been sounding the alarm about migrating off these same platforms.

Regardless of your political leaning, the consolidation of power in those 5 companies is extremely dangerous - something I’ve heard concerns about from conservatives and liberals alike. And now that their surveillance technology is being actively used in collaboration with an authoritarian government, the downside of this kind of consolidation of power has come into sharp relief. The time for implicit trust in technology and paternalist figures has ended. The spell has broken. And we need something different. But to create something different we need to come together and take our power back first.

A Recent Experienced Opened My Eyes
In September of 2023, I experienced an event that profoundly changed me. I was violently assaulted by a neighbor, an upper middle class man, someone I had known and trusted. That night, everything I knew about the world and my safety was turned upside down. Because I had no defenses up at the time (I genuinely believed in the best in people) when it happened I couldn't process fast enough and I froze. After extensive research, I learned this wasn’t because I lacked the strength or will to fight back - it was because of something biological. In moments of cognitive dissonance, the body can go into freeze mode as part of a predator-prey dynamic. Predators actually rely on their victims not recognizing danger until it’s too late and that freeze response is real.


I'm sharing this because what’s happening right now feels eerily similar, both in terms of the speed of the assault on our democracy, and in the lack of empathy and otherizing by those in power - they are moving fast, relying on people being too distracted, frozen, good-natured, or confused to fight, which mirrors my experience with my neighbor. I don't want us to make the same mistake I did and only register the danger until the harm is already done. The 900+ page Project 2025 playbook is the blueprint for an authoritarianism transition which strips women, marginalized communities, and workers of their rights. It's a rollback of humanity that feels like a return to the dark ages.

What people are capable of doing to others that they see as less than human - well, we only need to look at history. I’m sure you’ve heard and seen comparisons to 1930s Germany by now. They have been planning this consolidation of power for years, and in a terrible twist of fate, climate change, AI revolution, the Heritage foundation’s Project 2025, the consolidation of power in those Big5 companies, and a dictatorship ideology by major Technocrats (Theil, Yardin) are coming together in real time as we speak.

There's a Simple Solution to Take Back Our Power
We have to break out of the freeze state and start moving. The solution I’m offering is EASY and SIMPLE. Unless you are an influencer or small business who makes money off ads on social media or Amazon, everything about this strategy ultimately saves money and time. There’s a little bit of work up front required (e.g. canceling subscriptions, migrating browsers, forwarding Gmail to Proton. etc.) but it doesn’t have to be perfect and you can do it in bits and pieces leading up to Earth Day. Migrating off 80% of the Big5 platforms, in numbers, will be enough to make a difference. Europe has always been skeptical of the US companies and is already doing this naturally. We just need to accelerate it.

I'm hoping that you will at least consider, despite my not being famous or powerful, that there just might be something to what I'm saying. And I do have some expertise: I studied public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, chemistry at Reed; I've worked in energy law and sustainability consulting. I know the science, I've seen the numbers. The stakes are high. Yest what is being asked of really doesn't cost that much, but a little bit of time and the rewards are potentially immeasurable. 

And the worst case scenario? If for some reason my assumption of this being a powerful leverage point is wrong? Then we have a long-needed digital detox from toxic. There’s really no downside. And it’s 100% peaceful and aboveboard.

The Stakes
Just to reiterate the stakes: Billions of lives on the planet and millions of lives in the US are on the line right now.

• They have already rolled back a key Civil Rights protection from the 1960s (not just modern DEI stuff) regarding segregation in businesses for federal contractors
• They are looking to relax child labor laws to allow overnight shifts, and re-introduce the 60 hour work week.
• Adjusted for inflation, wages for the same job 10 years ago are decreasing (except CEO salaries of course, those have risen) and AI is going to leave millions unemployed sooner than we know.
• The funding cuts for social services being proposed in the US is a systematic form of neglect and abandonment, what some scholars call “economic genocide” - weeding out the old, sick and disabled.
• An innocent person with protected US citizenship was taken, without due process, to a prison in El Salvador that’s being used as a sweatshop, and the administration is doing NOTHING because it will make them look bad to admit they were wrong.
• The rollback on climate change actions is setting us on a course for one of the worst case climate scenarios putting 4 BILLION lives at risk (starvation, migration, death) according to a UK Actuarial report shared by leaders in climate policy and echoed by the UN and all kinds of climate experts.
• Billionaires are building underground bunkers preparing for climate collapse and asking experts questions like - “how do I keep my security team in line when things get really bad and social unrest hits” with ideas for shock collars and biometric bonuses being given as solutions.

And even if global climate wasn't at stake, and we just look at the state of US democracy - every day that goes by that this dismantling continues makes it harder to go back. Even if we put a new president in office tomorrow - rebuilding and refunding the agencies, and bringing neutrality back to the military and courts could take years if not decades. It's not that our government didn't desperately need reform - it was already heavily captured by the corporations. But what they are doing now is consolidating power into the corporation MORE not less. And it's going to make things worse for 99.9% of people, not just in the United States but around the globe because climate change knows no boundaries, and authoritarianism spreads. And once we pass the climate tipping point in a few years, there's no going back at all.

We Are All Connected
I realize that property owners, retirees, and people who aren’t in financial survival mode may not feel the impacts right now as much as vulnerable people and younger people that are watching jobs disappear due to AI. Some people may even be inadvertently benefiting from what is going on in the stock market. But studies show that life spans decrease as inequality and injustice increases across ALL income levels due to the stress of living in such an unjust world. And no one can outrun climate change.

Ultimately, I think we all are feeling the assault on ideals and trust in the justice system, no matter our specific political ideology. From beloved institutions like PBS and Sesame Street coming under fire -  to budget changes that are putting loved ones at risk of losing medical care - to the mass unemployment we are seeing from AI taking jobs - to the attacks on universities - to the inevitable social unrests that will follow if we do not act soon. Climate change is happening much much faster than scientists originally predicted. Climate migration is already happening. And once we hit tipping points, we can’t go back.

The Exodus Rally Cry
Meta, Google, X, Apple and Amazon are all complicit in this: silencing truth, extracting our data, addicting our minds, and quietly backing policies that destroy the future. Every scroll, every click, every view feeds the machine, and speeds up their consolidation of power. But we can take it back. It doesn't have to be perfect, we just have to act now. If you reduce your use of these platforms by even 80%, it will help.

I’m sorry if I sound like an alarmist, but this is real and I cannot, I refuse to, stay silent. Bernie has sounded the alarm on Oligarchy and he says we cannot wait for the government to protect us. It has to come from the people.  Financial experts have sounded the alarm on climate change and the economic impacts looming. Tech experts have sounded the alarms on AI replacing millions of jobs. We have to act now.

Please join me in the Exodus away from the Big 5: Meta, Google, Amazon, Apple and X that have hijacked our minds, our lives and now democracy itself.

• Information is here: Peaceful Return Digital Exodus or 
  
• You can go straight to the Exodus Guidebook here.
  

You can start by taking 10 minutes to do something today. You don’t have to do it all at once. Do a little each day until Earth Day, April 22nd. You don’t even need to delete your accounts, you can deactivate (though I recommend deleting the app on your phone because they still make money off of tracking your actions even when you aren’t on the apps). Start by cancelling Amazon, changing your Chrome browser to DuckDuckGo or even Firefox.

And PLEASE SHARE THIS with anyone and everyone who you know to be concerned about what’s happening. The Goal is 5 million people in the US by Earth Day. If each of you sent this letter (or some version of it) out to 20-30 people you know, and just five of them took action the next day and shared this with their network and so forth - we could reach 10 million in a week or two. This is not a long shot. The only thing it hinges on is enough people speaking up with their attention and taking action.

Worst case scenario? As I mentioned, if I’m wrong, we get a welcome digital detox and support smaller businesses. But if I’m right? We may have just created the leverage we need to fight back against corporate consolidation and dismantling of democracy through a practical, peaceful, and powerful act of defiance. Let's reclaim our power together.

History is watching us now. Together, we can make this happen. Our collective action is the key to turning this tide. Let’s not go quietly.

There are gatherings all across the country to speak out against the dismantling of our democracy on April 5th, coming in 2 days!

• You can learn more here: Hands Off2025
• Find a gathering near you: Hands Off April 5th Rally Locations

For other events follow 50501.

This is a great high level summary of what has happened between January 20 - April 3, 2025. It's a serious situation, but Bernie offers hope. Change is going to have to come from the people, and we can win if we mobilize. I love that several comments talk about how Bernie is the "greatest president the US never had."