# Take to the streets? How?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [February 17, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436 "2025-02-17T23:52:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/41 "2025-02-19T21:17:27Z")
Honestly, all that came to my mind was
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rxWPEdYCnI)
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/42 "2025-02-19T23:14:01Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> As for garnering attention of lawmakers, the Republicans in Congress have made it utterly clear that they have zero fucks to give about the interests of their constituents; some because they are MAGA true believers or opportunistic hangers-on, **others because they are (rightly) terrified of being primaried by well-funded candidates backed by Elon Musk**
(bolding mine)
I’d love to play mindgames in which a filthy rich billionair would call a huge press conference and offer all GOP congresists $10 - 20.000,000,- at their disposal for evtl. primaries in their state, just to equalize/neutralize the ~~threat~~ extortion from Musk to fund alternative candidates should the congresists fall out of lockstep. No questions asked, no strings attached - vote what is truly best for your country.
If I were filthy rich, I would do that, probably a billion well spent if you can get 20-50 senators or housemembers out of this extorsion situation and save 'merica.
a man can dream
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/43 "2025-02-19T23:27:23Z")
> [@StringsandHammers](#):
>
> A great deal of those federal employees are receiving severance packages or otherwise have some amount of discretionary saving. When that well dries up which will be sooner rather than later they will become desperate.
this!
they have a skill-set that might not be relevant outside of federal government and have a hard time finding (similarly paying) jobs, especially the 45+ age cohort.
but those 200.000 (arbitrary number) unemployed have:
- 200.000 spouses
- 200.000 brothers/sisters
- 400.000 parents
- 200.000 adult children
- 800.000 close-close friends
… that is a lot of votes for the mid-terms!
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/44 "2025-02-19T23:53:14Z")
> [@Al128](#):
>
> I’d love to play mindgames in which a filthy rich billionair would call a huge press conference and offer all GOP congresists $10 - 20.000,000,- at their disposal for evtl. primaries in their state, just to equalize/neutralize the ~~threat~~ extortion from Musk to fund alternative candidates should the congresists fall out of lockstep. No questions asked, no strings attached - vote what is truly best for your country.
They’re probably not only afraid of being primaried. They’re probably also afraid of having themselves and/or their families physically attacked. Not by anybody authorized officially, of course – at least, not yet.
Of course, the longer this crew’s in power, the greater the danger is; and everybody’s at risk eventually. But they don’t seem to be realizing that; they seem to think that if they just stay close enough they’ll be safe.
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/45 "2025-02-20T00:44:43Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> Strategically done labor strikes are extremely effective. Thats why both democrats and republicans worked together in a bipartisan way to make it illegal for rail workers to strike in 2022.
flight traffic controller? …
but I agree with what was said upthread: It is probably too early to do that … let’s give it 3-6 months when the shitshow filtered trhough to the avg. household
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### Author:  [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/46 "2025-02-20T22:56:16Z")
Obviously, South Korea is different from the US, but here is an article on how the coup there was stopped. Perhaps there are lessons for others.
> **[What the US can learn from South Koreans who stopped an authoritarian power-grab](https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/02/lessons-from-south-koreans-who-stopped-martial-law-coup/)**
>
> South Koreans reversed a martial law decree in just 6 hours, showing how ordinary citizens and politicians can take fast action to uphold democracy.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/47 "2025-02-21T02:18:46Z")
I’ve always wondered how the geography and population density of this country would affect both tyrannical governments and citizens who oppose them. It’s one reason why I’ve always been hard pressed to imagine how a United States with exactly the size and structure it is now, _but dictatorship_ would work.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/48 "2025-02-25T11:07:29Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> Thats why both democrats and republicans worked together in a bipartisan way to make it illegal for rail workers to strike in 2022.
The **[Railway Labor Act - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Labor_Act)** dates to the 1920s. And prohibits railway workers from striking without jumping through a bunch of hoops first. And even then, after labor has carefully and slooowly jumped through all the pre-strike hoops, the President can unilaterally issue a no-strike order at the last minute.
The same law was applied to the airline industry after WW-II. There has not been a significant railroad or airline labor strike since the 1960s; they’ve all been aborted by the pre-strike mediation process, or by the President.
Transport sector labor strikes are _de facto_ illegal in the USA and have been for about 100 years.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/49 "2025-02-25T17:24:11Z")
Not all transport sectors . Local public transportation has often gone on strike. Here in the Bay Area, BART has gone on strike several times in the 40 years I’ve been living here.
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/50 "2025-02-25T19:00:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> The same law was applied to the airline industry after WW-II
how about Airline adjacents? … A.T.C., “luggage-transport-personell”, etc…? … or are they lumped in as well?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/51 "2025-02-27T17:53:33Z")
Nope. Railway Labor Act is railroads & airlines, period.
I’m not sure what “luggage transport personel” means exactly, but by definition, only unionized entities can strike. In most of USA commerce of any kind, _nobody_ is unionized. The railroads and airlines are one of the shocking anachronisms where a sizeable fraction of their workers are unionized.
There are different laws that apply to unions not in the railroad/airline biz. Those laws are much less restrictive on who can strike when. And are also much less restrictive on the ability of companies to fire all the strikers and hire new workers.
ATC is owned by the federal government and altogether different rules apply. Not ones I’m qualified to discuss.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/52 "2025-02-27T18:21:54Z")
Yesterday I decided to email some GOP legislators in swing districts to encourage them to get their shit together, but they don’t use email anymore, they use a web interface that asks for details on your name/address to verify that you’re in their district. Which makes sense, but I still want some way of applying pressure to them.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/53 "2025-02-27T18:27:45Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> …but I still want some way of applying pressure to them.
Become obscenely rich and threaten to fund primary challengers who are even more radical than they are. I’d say you can also get some photo/video evidence of them in bed with a live boy or a dead girl but I think we’re beyond that being any real source of shame.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/54 "2025-02-27T18:34:18Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> ATC is owned by the federal government and altogether different rules apply. Not ones I’m qualified to discuss.
ATC, and the rest of the federal government can not strike. We have a union in my section, the same one the ATC uses, but there doesn’t seem like they can do a whole lot. We lost 15% of the people in my section because they were in a probationary period. We were already about the minimum to do our work, and now there’s been some talk of cutting charts so we can keep up.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/55 "2025-02-27T20:06:59Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> but they don’t use email anymore
Um… how about the good ol’ US Postal Service? While we still have it.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/56 "2025-02-27T20:13:11Z")
What? How dare you besmeech me!?
I suspect if I sent a snail mail from MA to some legislator in AZ, it would go straight in the circular file. Unless you think there’s something I could say that would work? I’m certainly open to it.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/57 "2025-02-27T20:19:31Z")
That old canard needs to die already. Pete Buttigieg has campaigned with his live boy by his side.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/58 "2025-02-27T22:44:58Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> I suspect if I sent a snail mail from MA to some legislator in AZ, it would go straight in the circular file. Unless you think there’s something I could say that would work? I’m certainly open to it.
I don’t think so. I absolutely do not think that congresscritters throw away paper mail.
I don’t think it matters so much what you say as long as you establish what your stance is. Back in the day when I worked with organizations that launched letter-writing campaigns (before email), we were given to understand that the recipients literally weighed the batches of letters, pro and con. I frankly think a snail-mail letter would have a lot more impact than an email. Write one every week. Or send the same one in every week. JMHO.
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/59 "2025-02-27T22:56:53Z")
I have to disgagree. Years ago at a community fair and craft show, I ran into a local politician. He greeted me warmly and asked if I voted. I answered “I never miss an election!” He smiled and asked where I lived. I told him. He said “That’s nowhere near my district.” He bid me good day and walked away.
It was the most honest thing I have ever seen a politician do.
Why would a politician care what somebody outside the area they represent thinks? Why should they care? OTTOMH The majority of Pennsylvania is deeply conservative. Philadelphia is very liberal. If you want to be mayor you need the vote of black groups, brown groups, and LBTQ+ groups. Voters from the rest of PA could write in demanding that LGBTQ+ rights be removed from city laws. As politicians in the Philly are elected by people living in Philly, and it is their purpose to represent the interests of those voters, the correct thing to do would be to ignore all those letters.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-to-the-streets-how/1014436/60 "2025-02-27T23:07:08Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Back in the day when I worked with organizations that launched letter-writing campaigns (before email), we were given to understand that the recipients literally weighed the batches of letters, pro and con
This is why I scribe my protest letters in clay tablet form.
Stranger
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