#1029: An Act of Resistance
It’s now been slightly more than 60 years (!) since the Free Speech Movement began at the University of California at Berkeley, long the nation’s number one public university. Those were incredibly heady days, which turned a generation of young adults into lifetime political activists. For those of us who were around at the time, the names Clark Kerr, Mario Savio and Bettina Aptheker (not to mention Jackie Goldberg, Art Goldberg and Michael Rossman) are as indelibly engrained as John, Paul, George and Ringo. Personally, my political memories of the ‘60s include attending large rallies, warming up crowds singing songs of protest penned by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger, blocking highways and speaking at innumerable protest rallies. For the most part, we were protesting the war in Viet Nam (Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, NLF is gonna win!), the military draft (Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?) and then, in 1969, the closing down of Berkeley over what has been historically known as The Battle for People’s Park. Those who were around at the time will long remember Alameda County Sheriff Frank Madigan, Santa Rita prison and the guards, who we nicknamed The Blue Meanies, named after the villains in the Beatles’ movie Yellow Submarine. You may also remember the name James Rector, a student activist who was killed when teargassed from a sheriff’s helicopter . . . which we called a “whirley pig.”
By the summer of 1969, I’d chopped off my pony tail (which has returned every few years), trimmed my beard, purchased a couple of Brooks Brothers suits and went off to Washington, D.C. where I put my political energy to work as an intern in the United States Senate. Over the next several years I worked for Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), former California Assembly Speaker Jess “Big Daddy” Unruh (where my boss was Fred Taugher, who has been a longtime reader of this blog), and California Governor Jerry Brown, where I worked in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research under Bill Press, one of the best political writers and pundits in the business.
One of the most important things political activists of the Viet Nam era managed to pack in their luggage of life was - and still is - the need for resistance. Yes, I know, most often, it’s the people with the megabucks who generally call the shots. Let’s face it: ever since the Supreme Court’s horrific 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections, electing and controlling both the Congress and the political agenda has been even worse and more brazen than at any time since the Gilded Age. Just look at the financial statements (if you can find them) of those who sit in our current cabinet, or he who serves as the "shadow POTUS.” At first glance, there are really only 4 things that can stop the autocratic oligarchs from turning the United States into something that has only one goal: to enrich the already stinking rich and making the rest of us pay for it. What are these four entities?
The United States Congress, which currently contains a majority of invertebrates. Even if the Constitution is on their side when it comes to controlling the purse strings, without a collective spine it really doesn’t matter.
The Federal Judiciary, which of late has begun showing a bit of spine. In a 5-4 decision this past Wednesday, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined Justices Sonia Sotomayor. Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson backing a federal judge’s power to order the MUMP Regime to pay $2 billion to USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) contractors but did not require immediate payment. This was the first DOGE test for SCOTUS; they are not happy campers. As a result, MAGA extremists have targeted Justice Coney Barrett. claiming that she is a closet liberal. One conservative media personality, Mike Cernovich, posted on X. “Another DEI hire. It always ends badly.” When confirmed, she became the fifth woman to ever serve on the bench. Somehow I have my doubts about the federal courts being our saving grace. The response to Justice Barrett shows just how rattled and unprepared the right-wing marching and chowder society was for a setback. Please note: although the federal court system is potentially the “last best hope” for stopping IT and his team in their demonic tracks, it will require POTUS and his BFFs to obey the court’s ruling. Whether or not he/they will obey what the majority of the court rules is anyone’s guess.
Wall Street: We have already seen what a couple of disastrous days for the Dow Jones can do to force Felon47’s hand. Already well known for waffling, IT tabled tariffs against both Mexico and Canada after the market lost more than a thousand points and both countries announced their own tariff proposals against the USA. There is already quite a bit of talk on “the street” (a polite way of saying “among investors”) about POTUS’ economic policy vis-a-vis inflation, higher prices massive job losses. If the titans of wealth lose faith in IT, he will have to change gears. He has no concern about being accused of inconsistency; everyone on Wall Street knows who and what he is.
People Power: This is something which has always existed in America . . . sometimes more, sometimes less. It includes such obvious activities as voting and contributing money to candidates and campaigns we favor, and the broad category of “volunteerism.” This latter category includes such things as knocking on doors, making phone calls or writing postcards to voters, and of course, corresponding with your member(s) of the House and Senate. Then too, think about attending “Town Hall” meetings in which your elected officials make themselves available. Over the past several weeks, these meetings have met with such a wave of angry backlash that Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chair of the House GOP’s campaign arm issued a stark message to the G.O.P. rank and file: Stop having in-person town halls with your constituents. Seems like something is beginning to get through. By cutting back on face-to-face meetings, Republican members of Congress are not winning any new friends . . . let alone keeping the friends they obvious have.
An Angry Crowd of Republicans at a Town Hall
Outside of ITs extreme MAGA base - which is cultic in its devotion - a growing percentage of the American public is finally beginning to catch on to his numerous character and personality flaws and utter lack of knowledge about oh so many things. Farmers in the Midwest are scared witless that his tariffs will kill their livelihood; families sitting around the kitchen table are asking why the price of eggs continues to rise despite his promise to fix it on day one. In the eyes of many, with each passing proclamation, ITs craven bullishness is becoming more and more apparent. As a result, his poll numbers - historically anemic - are dropping like a 300-pound skydiver who forgot to strap on his parachute.
Back in rabbinic school, we all had to take a course in what is called homiletics - the art and science of giving meaningful sermons. At Hebrew Union College our instructor was the delightful Lowell McCoy who, despite being an ordained Methodist minister, was, for many of us, our “favorite rabbi." He was a gentleman of the highest order and had a passion for the spoken word. The professor who filled us in on subject matter for sermons was the late Hungarian-born Eugene Mihaly, who taught both rabbinic literature and homiletics. One of the things Dr. “Mihomily” (as many generations of students called him . . . but never to his face) was that in order for a sermon to be both proper and meaningful, it had to end on a note of נחמתה (n’khem-ta) a Hebrew word meaning, roughly “consolation,” “comfort,” or “relief.”
So what in the heck does this detour have to do with this post? Just this: I’m going to take Dr. Mihomily’s advice and conclude with a bit of comfort. To wit, the situation involving a handful of brave government employees working for a largely unknown, infinitesimally-tiny agency whose annual budget - about $46 million - (which is less than 0.000022% of the $2 trillion dollars DOGE wants to eliminate from the federal budget) who bravely stood their ground against the forces of the MUSK Regime.
The agency in question is the United States African Development Foundation, whose mission is To support African-led development that grows community enterprises by providing seed capital and technical support. Over the past 5 years, USADF has invested more than $117 million directly into over 1,000 African-owned led SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), entrepreneurs, and community organizations and impacted over 7 million lives in some of the poorest countries in Africa. USADF was created by an act of Congress in 1980; its original sponsors were Senators Edward Kennedy and George McGovern, and began program operations in 1984, during the Reagan Administration. Throughout the 40+ years it has been in service it has provided financing to more than 1,700 small enterprises and community-based organizations.
This past February 25th, IT issued an executive order declaring that the “non-statutory components of functions” of USADF . . . shall be eliminated to the maximum. This past Wednesday (March 5), a couple of DOGE workers and Pete Marocco, the director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, arrived at USADF headquarters in order to get access and fire all the employees. The roughly 50 employees refused to let them inside. After about an hour of trying to enter the agency’s building, the DOGE squad left, threatening to come back the next day. But the next day did not come. On Thursday, March 6, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard j. Leon (appointed by Pres. G.W. Bush in 2002) issued an order hours after the filing of a lawsuit by the president and CEO of USADF. In his order, the judge agreed with the USAFD’s legal contention: DOGE and IT do not have the authority to shut down the agency, which was created by Congress. This ruling, and the legal basis upon which it was filed, may pave the way to keep the Regime from closing down other agencies such as the Department of Education, FEMA and the EPA.
Although a “David” of an agency in terms of size and relative influence, its 50 employees combined, through an act of resistance, to at least temporarily “slay Goliath.” If there is a G-d in Heaven (believe me, there is), their resistance should send shockwaves to all those in the United States and around the world who are afraid to turn on the news or read a headline. There is so much we can do to shut down FELON 47’s nihilists and true-believers. Keep up on what’s happening, no matter how depressing it is; always remember that together we can accomplish far more than we can a part; join your local Democratic Party club and lend support to those who make sense. And above all, remember the words of Teddy Roosevelt:
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
Copyright©2025 Kurt Franklin Stone
