Countervailing Power: The Resistance Must Organize Now Before It's Too Late

Bringing balance back to America

Countervailing Power is a term coined by the economist, John Kenneth Galbraith

in his 1951 publication titled, American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power.

To be honest, the first time I heard the term was from a different author. The former Labor of Secretary under Bill Clinton, and former professor of public policy at UC Berkley, Mr Robert Reich.

Robert Reich's book, The System: Who rigged it, how we fix it, talks about how America had, not so long ago, a system of unions, corporations that looked out for all their stakeholders and not just the shareholders, and laws in place that when enforced helped build the middle class.

It also created good paying jobs, and gave people the sense that if they worked hard they could create wealth for themselves and their families. This counter balancing force has all but died out in American society in 2025. No longer do We The People have any say in how our government operates, how much of the economic pie we receive, and there is no one looking out for the interests of the working class.

For the last several decades the 1% have used their extreme wealth to rig the rules of the game in their favor. The ultra-rich, mega corporations, and wealthy foreign interests have been allowed to pour money into our elections, largely due to Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling, that incorrectly says corporations are people too.

The dark money that is poured into our elections has reached staggering proportions. Altogether, the last presidential election cycle of 2024, where Trump became the president for a second term, reached an all time high of nearly $16 billion dollars, according to Forbes Magazine. They have used their great wealth to bend the rules of the market to favor them, and to purchase candidates who will do their bidding.

It's worked too. Trump has become the most corrupt politician in the entire history of the United States. He's given favors to anyone who's donated or given his family money. That goes for foreign investors and ones inside the US. Trump has sold pardons, given donors exclusive access to himself and the govt. His DOJ has dropped several lawsuits against these donors, signed govt contracts with these corporations, and lined his own pockets to the tune of billions of dollars.

Welfare is very real, and it's almost entirely used by corporations who take subsidies, government bail outs, and keep themselves from going under when they make bad decisions. It's socialism for the rich and powerful, and harsh capitalism for the rest of us, according to Robert Reich.

The power that these Oligarchs and corporations have over the rest of America has grown so distorted, every American knows it. Because the rules of the economy have been tilted so far towards such a small group of very wealthy people, the rest of us are left feeling cheated.

It's not a mirage, and it's not a bad dream. The rules of the game have been rigged. Our vote and our opinions on political matters, have an almost 0, non-significant effect on public policy. There was even a study done about it by Princeton University, where they took 20 years of data and discovered that the average American's view on a policy or subject does not matter to congress.

On the flip side, when wealthy Americans want a law or a bill to pass, they have a much better chance of having it become law, even if 99% of us don't want it. Their vote is worth more than ours, and that's not democracy. It's oligarchy, and it's authoritarian.

So the game is rigged! We all know it, and we are now seeing the effects of what happens when a country allows the inequality gap to grow too large. The wealthy stop paying their fair share of taxes, which forces the rest of us to pick up their slack. After all, just because they lobbied the govt to give them huge tax breaks doesn't mean the bills don't need to still be paid.

So, you and I are stuck paying for the billionaire's share of taxes and the debt grows larger. It's corporate welfare! The larger the debt grows the weaker the dollar gets. When the dollar gets weaker, prices go up. When people can't afford the things they used to be able to they get pissed, worried, and scared.

That fear turns to anger, and rightly so. The entire system is now pulling money from the bottom 95% of us to give to the most wealthy of us. That's corporate welfare, and it's at our expense. The measly $6 a day most people who receive food stamps get is a drop in the bucket compared to how much money the billionaires get in welfare and socialism, while the rest of us get shoulder shrugs and are told we need to work harder.

Now how do we stop this?

First, we must end corruption, but that's never going to happen in a system where the people who have been bought with dark money are the same ones we need to pass bills to end the dark money.

Why would the people who created this system suddenly stop, they're the ones who benefit from it. Represent US has a GREAT idea! I suggest you check them out and if you can donate time or money, they actually have a real plan to start changing and eliminating the corruption. (By the way I receive no compensation from anyone for suggesting them. I just believe in their cause, and I think if you check them out, you will too.)

I fear that it's not enough though. We need a way to bring balance back to the system. We need a way to use our strengths against them. The strongest weapon we have is our numbers. They fear us because they know when the people are organized and together, nothing can stop us.

Enter, Countervailing Power. We are every day Americans, who feel like they are helpless but want to act. We are The People, and unless we organize like never before, we may not recognize America in 4 years. This is not hyperbole. Trump has declared war on the left and anyone who disagrees with him is the left, whether we like it or not. By saying liberals, and crazy leftists are, "the enemy from within," he has announced he's going to eliminate us.

He's following project 2025 exactly. If you don't know what project 2025 really is, I urge you to take a look and see for yourself what it entails. It is the destruction of our democratic system of government and the replacement by Trump's authoritarian regime.

Unless we can organize and bring together every American who refuses to allow democracy to die, he will continue his authoritarian power grab. If you aren't yet convinced Trump is going to do EVERYTHING he can to never leave the White House, you are either not paying attention or you are in denial.

Countervailing Power is about bringing balance back to America. It's about using what we have, which is our strength in numbers, to band together to form unions, groups, and coalitions who balance out the massive economic scale that's been largely ignoring average Americans for years.

The idea is a simple one.

1. We reach every American who cares about democracy; Every scientist, healthcare worker, every group, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, or any entity that cares about preserving democracy, and we join together. All of us on one platform that isn't owned by a billionaire, but instead a non-profit organization which consists of average Americans who aren't looking to become billionaires but want to protect America.

2. We join groups within groups for whatever reason we want. Unions, local charities, religious communities who aren't Maga, mens groups, women's groups, any others you can think of. We communicate with each other. When members need us, we offer our help. We can't just be about stopping Trump. That's not enough. We have to be about stopping Trump, and then un-fucking America.

3. To do this we need to use our numbers to convince corporations to work with unions. We push every company we work for to unionize. We work with local union chapters to help modernize and update union creation, union laws, and spread information about unions to other Americans.

4. We track and watch where ICE is going, if they are breaking laws we create a system to report them. We work with law offices to help anyone who's been victimized by them to file lawsuits and help protect them against possible threats, doxxing, and other violent rhetoric the extremists on the right continue to do without consequences.

5. We must democratize this group and work like our govt should be working. We vote on the direction we will go. We empower local groups, churches, families, non-profits, and others to be safe places for anyone who is not breaking laws and just trying to exist.

6. We organize anti-racist, anti-nationalist, and anti-hate marches to show them for every town you pull your stunts in, we'll beat you by 10x in the amount of people we can bring.

7. We create local places young people can go to learn about their agenda and what they are really all about. Charlie Kirk has done a lot of damage to the youth in America by spreading his hateful speech. We need to counteract that by showing young people that message is not one you should follow. It breeds hate, division, and has no place in Christian faith.

8. Click the link below and join today. Help take back our country.

Join Countervailing Power as a group or as an individual today.

We are looking for anyone who cares about American democracy to join our movement. We need to organize now before it's too late. No more sitting idly by and hoping the democratic party saves us from this mess!

Tell your family, friends, co-workers, anyone who's not still wearing a red a hat!

Robert Reich explains how we got here and how we can fix it. In his book he explains how the Countervailing power that used to exist for the average American has all but vanished.