My entire Political Economics degree is summed up here in this article. Amazing summation and entirely accurate. Just need to get people to understand that “discomfort” is “worth it” and the way this has all gone down is BECAUSE of the reliable indolent response of the people and convenience economy has been an inevitable slippery slope. Minor discomfort in an industrialized country is better than where this is headed here. Thanks for writing, I enjoy your stuff.
Thank you for this sharp and thoughtful take! You’re absolutely right—complacency, not discomfort, is the real danger. History shows that when people wake up, change happens fast. Here’s to more shaking and waking!
Grateful for your time and insight—thank you for reading!
This is an amazingly brilliant article. It’s obvious that our economic and political system is breaking down fast as the Republican Administration tries to wreck the world economy so the oligarchs can buy up (or seize) assets at bargain basement prices (The Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada for starters). But as I look around most people don’t realize it yet, except the poor beggars laid off by the Department of Greed Extraction (DOGE). My own experience with AI chatbots has been infuriating: an airline bot that kept directing me to my email for a non-existent e-ticket, with no customer service number to call; a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) bot, “Myles,” that told me there was no one available to take my call after endlessly sending me through a phone tree and ignoring my request for a “customer service representative”; and a health insurance bot that told me that “due to high call volume” there was no one available to take my call and to call back later. As discussed in the article, I had nowhere to go because I was locked into these services. Complaining, if even possible, would be a further waste of my time and energy. I have had to find alternative ways to find the answers to my questions. Furthermore, just today, I was informed that due to a “service interruption detected in my area,” I had no access to the internet, despite subscribing to an expensive internet service.
Elon wants to replace air traffic controllers, and just about every other government service, with AI. This can’t end well. I agree with Lady Libertie that right now is the time to stop this destruction of our systems that is intended to make us subservient to a few corporate monopolies offering maddeningly inefficient and inferior services.
What interests me is: what steps can I, as an individual, take? Stop shopping at Amazon, leave Facebook, block as much data as I can from Google….what else?
Oh, wow—this means the world to me. Thank you not just for reading The Rebel’s Playbook but for putting it into action. That’s exactly why I wrote it—to be useful, to be shared, to be a tool for real change. Knowing that your community is using it as a guide for resistance? That’s the highest honor I could hope for.
Keep organizing, keep fighting, and know that you’re not alone in this. We stand together, and that’s how we win. Sending you all my gratitude and solidarity!
I’m fortunate that my local electrical company is a true co-op. When shit happens, my area is often the first up and running. When our big gas company tried to make us pay for their screw up, regulators put a kibosh on that. Sometimes the system works as intended. For now, anyway.
I bought your book and am still waiting for it's arrival. It's two days past delivery date. I'm disappointed because I can't wait to read and implement some of the suggestions!
Oh no! Let me know if you still haven’t got it and I’ll check for you. My publisher has gone to a second printer because we were having so much trouble with the first. DM me.
We've all heard the quote that history doesn't repeat itself but often rhymes. How closely. will it rhyme this time? To play devil's advocate a bit here - one thing I think is different now from the turn of the 20th century is that living conditions at that time were indeed hellish for many workers and work was often deadly. Today work can be deadening and mind-numbing for a lot of people but not life threatening, although those kinds of jobs are still there. We have a lot more distractions now and can zone out scrolling on our phones or watching TV. How many of our fellow citizens hate their jobs but are fairly content to do them, come home and watch the new episodes of "Naked And Afraid" or any of the other two thousand available shows on their TV?
How satisfied are people with the choices of food, clothing, recreation available in their neighborhoods? We seem to have a plethora of cheap food (or pseudo food), clothing, toys, tech, etc. available all the time. How many people are satisfied with what the choices they have now? What will it take for enough people to demand something different?
Yes. Our comfort levels make us much more complaisant. Sadly, I think we’re all about to get very uncomfortable. Then let’s hope that rouses the middle class to join the working class in demanding change.
First step is to get rid of this administration & correct the rigged electoral system. Then elect true progressives who will prioritize the common good over corporate greed & unrig the system that so heavily favors the billionaires & corporate powers that be, getting rid of Citizens United & similar awful decisions & the justices that made them.
You topics look like interesting reads. But I’m not reading you, because I don’t know who you are. I’m wondering, why the lack of transparency about your identity? There are tons of “real” self-identified writers here, plenty of good stuff to read. Why do you persist in writing in anonymity, and why should I read you if you continue to hide?
Hi Nancy, I appreciate your curiosity—it means you care about the integrity of the spaces where we share ideas.
I write as Lady Libertie because my work isn’t just about me—it’s about the movement, the ideas, and the historical throughlines that shape our present. Pseudonyms have a long tradition in political writing, from Publius to Silence Dogood to countless others who used a name to focus attention on the message rather than the messenger.
That said, I’m not hiding—I engage, I debate, and I stand by my words. If the content resonates, I welcome you to read and discuss. If the name on the byline is a dealbreaker, that’s your choice.
I walked away from a stable 15 year career as a software developer for several reasons. One was the excessive commodification of personal information. But the big reason was the attitude of "work fast, not smart" of corporate management. I took great pride in my code, it was almost never returned by the QA folks because something didnot work, or was incomplete. Management was continually on me because I was always 3 to 5 days late getting code to QA. Even when I pointed out that I had a 95% first time pass rate, and they did agreed had a phenominal passvrate, they kept telling me to just get the code out anf we will fix thr bugs later. Anyone who uses MS Windows can see how well that works.
I am a supporter of Open source, I have used Linux in various forms since 1995 (?) and still do.
My entire Political Economics degree is summed up here in this article. Amazing summation and entirely accurate. Just need to get people to understand that “discomfort” is “worth it” and the way this has all gone down is BECAUSE of the reliable indolent response of the people and convenience economy has been an inevitable slippery slope. Minor discomfort in an industrialized country is better than where this is headed here. Thanks for writing, I enjoy your stuff.
Thank you for this sharp and thoughtful take! You’re absolutely right—complacency, not discomfort, is the real danger. History shows that when people wake up, change happens fast. Here’s to more shaking and waking!
Grateful for your time and insight—thank you for reading!
—Lady Libertie
This is an amazingly brilliant article. It’s obvious that our economic and political system is breaking down fast as the Republican Administration tries to wreck the world economy so the oligarchs can buy up (or seize) assets at bargain basement prices (The Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada for starters). But as I look around most people don’t realize it yet, except the poor beggars laid off by the Department of Greed Extraction (DOGE). My own experience with AI chatbots has been infuriating: an airline bot that kept directing me to my email for a non-existent e-ticket, with no customer service number to call; a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) bot, “Myles,” that told me there was no one available to take my call after endlessly sending me through a phone tree and ignoring my request for a “customer service representative”; and a health insurance bot that told me that “due to high call volume” there was no one available to take my call and to call back later. As discussed in the article, I had nowhere to go because I was locked into these services. Complaining, if even possible, would be a further waste of my time and energy. I have had to find alternative ways to find the answers to my questions. Furthermore, just today, I was informed that due to a “service interruption detected in my area,” I had no access to the internet, despite subscribing to an expensive internet service.
Elon wants to replace air traffic controllers, and just about every other government service, with AI. This can’t end well. I agree with Lady Libertie that right now is the time to stop this destruction of our systems that is intended to make us subservient to a few corporate monopolies offering maddeningly inefficient and inferior services.
What interests me is: what steps can I, as an individual, take? Stop shopping at Amazon, leave Facebook, block as much data as I can from Google….what else?
I bought your book, Lady Libertie, and it’s terrific. Our community orgs. are using it as our resistance playbook.
Oh, wow—this means the world to me. Thank you not just for reading The Rebel’s Playbook but for putting it into action. That’s exactly why I wrote it—to be useful, to be shared, to be a tool for real change. Knowing that your community is using it as a guide for resistance? That’s the highest honor I could hope for.
Keep organizing, keep fighting, and know that you’re not alone in this. We stand together, and that’s how we win. Sending you all my gratitude and solidarity!
—Lady Libertie
I’m fortunate that my local electrical company is a true co-op. When shit happens, my area is often the first up and running. When our big gas company tried to make us pay for their screw up, regulators put a kibosh on that. Sometimes the system works as intended. For now, anyway.
I bought your book and am still waiting for it's arrival. It's two days past delivery date. I'm disappointed because I can't wait to read and implement some of the suggestions!
Oh no! Let me know if you still haven’t got it and I’ll check for you. My publisher has gone to a second printer because we were having so much trouble with the first. DM me.
Got it! I just panicked!
Yay! Hope you like it!!
We've all heard the quote that history doesn't repeat itself but often rhymes. How closely. will it rhyme this time? To play devil's advocate a bit here - one thing I think is different now from the turn of the 20th century is that living conditions at that time were indeed hellish for many workers and work was often deadly. Today work can be deadening and mind-numbing for a lot of people but not life threatening, although those kinds of jobs are still there. We have a lot more distractions now and can zone out scrolling on our phones or watching TV. How many of our fellow citizens hate their jobs but are fairly content to do them, come home and watch the new episodes of "Naked And Afraid" or any of the other two thousand available shows on their TV?
How satisfied are people with the choices of food, clothing, recreation available in their neighborhoods? We seem to have a plethora of cheap food (or pseudo food), clothing, toys, tech, etc. available all the time. How many people are satisfied with what the choices they have now? What will it take for enough people to demand something different?
Yes. Our comfort levels make us much more complaisant. Sadly, I think we’re all about to get very uncomfortable. Then let’s hope that rouses the middle class to join the working class in demanding change.
First step is to get rid of this administration & correct the rigged electoral system. Then elect true progressives who will prioritize the common good over corporate greed & unrig the system that so heavily favors the billionaires & corporate powers that be, getting rid of Citizens United & similar awful decisions & the justices that made them.
You topics look like interesting reads. But I’m not reading you, because I don’t know who you are. I’m wondering, why the lack of transparency about your identity? There are tons of “real” self-identified writers here, plenty of good stuff to read. Why do you persist in writing in anonymity, and why should I read you if you continue to hide?
Hi Nancy, I appreciate your curiosity—it means you care about the integrity of the spaces where we share ideas.
I write as Lady Libertie because my work isn’t just about me—it’s about the movement, the ideas, and the historical throughlines that shape our present. Pseudonyms have a long tradition in political writing, from Publius to Silence Dogood to countless others who used a name to focus attention on the message rather than the messenger.
That said, I’m not hiding—I engage, I debate, and I stand by my words. If the content resonates, I welcome you to read and discuss. If the name on the byline is a dealbreaker, that’s your choice.
Either way, I appreciate the dialogue.
- Lady Libertie
We’re more than half way there in terms of corporate feudalism.
... and another thing that needs to happen when we've had enough is to reform politics: makel corruption illegal and strengthen democracy.
1000%!!
EVERYONE should be reading you!
I walked away from a stable 15 year career as a software developer for several reasons. One was the excessive commodification of personal information. But the big reason was the attitude of "work fast, not smart" of corporate management. I took great pride in my code, it was almost never returned by the QA folks because something didnot work, or was incomplete. Management was continually on me because I was always 3 to 5 days late getting code to QA. Even when I pointed out that I had a 95% first time pass rate, and they did agreed had a phenominal passvrate, they kept telling me to just get the code out anf we will fix thr bugs later. Anyone who uses MS Windows can see how well that works.
I am a supporter of Open source, I have used Linux in various forms since 1995 (?) and still do.
The putin owns the fucking cowards, tucker, laura, jesse, musky, the donOLD, gop who am I missing.
The religious right, right?
Have you seen this? Help make it go viral. I’m furious.