Stan Goff has been called “the contemporary equivalent of Smedley Butler”. He is also part of Insurgent American,

a “multi-modal, interactive intelligence and communications site. It is designed to be a practical strategic resource.

The name is not meant to call up visions of gun nuts in the back alleys. We like a bit of irony. The US government has for many years designed its domestic population control programs based on a military doctrine called counter-insurgency. The “insurgents” are now pretty much anyone who disagrees with the dominant consensus and does even a little bit more than talk about it… like the Quakers that the government “infiltrated” a couple of years ago.”

They’ve put together a 35-Point Practical Guide for Action that is full of terrific ideas that ordinary people can use to change their (political) lives.

If you’ve got any energy left after fighting over Clinton/Obama, one easy click gets you started.

CD stepping in and correcting this post so that you may read some of it here. Ahem, Bruce. [thanks mom]

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Insurgent American’s 35-Point Practical Guide for Action

(1) Make food. Even if its a windowsill or roof garden with a couple of tomato plants. Make a yard garden. Grow your own food, just a bit. You can expand on this later. Check out Food Not Lawns for inspiration. Start small, and don’t over stretch yourself. Succeeding early is important.

(2) Take “one more step” to oppose militarism. If you are not sporting a button or bumper sticker against the war, then start doing that. if you’re doing that, but not writing — Congress, letters to the editor, op-eds, email lists — then start writing. If you’re doing that, then give money to an antiwar effort. If you’re doing that, then start to attend local meetings. You get the idea. Take just one more step. Stopping this war will have unimaginably good ripple effects and empower all people’s movements everywhere. More ideas and up-to-date info at Bring Them Home Now!

(3) Create a blog. Blogs can be a lot more than vanity sites. They are a form of democratic communication that allow us all to be simultaneous teachers and learners, and they increase the density and survival redundancy of our communications networks. They are communications infrastructure. More blogs, more links, more sharing, more community, better coordination. Basic Blogging for Women is very helpful, for everyone, and we can also open a discussion thread here at the IA forums.

(4) Commit to study. One of the most common — and in our opinion, flawed — complaints we hear among activists and frustrated, impatient political junkies, is that there is too much writing and discussion and not enough action. Here’s what we have to say about that. Nonsense! Human agency is not simply in outwardly messing around with one’s environment. It is being a conscious agent of change. If we are walking around blindfolded, we are taking action; but if we want that action to be efficacious, then we need to see, figuratively speaking. Studying is a critical form of action. Commit to study something new, and expand your understanding of a topic or issue every chance you get. The criticality of this is the reason we include our Analysis-Synthesis section here at IA. New situations require new actions, which require new forms of understanding.

(5) Surf the Web Anonymously  Read more