ANOTHER WAY TO PROTEST

Feeling depressed about what’s going on in Washington? Feeling powerless? Feeling like there’s nothing you can do to stop the onslaught?

My buddy was feeling the same way but now he has a solution.

“I’m tired of marching in No Kings Day protests,” he told me the other day. “It’s useless. I’ve been marching and standing on overpasses waving signs since I was 16 years old. I’m done with it.”

This was not good. It sounded like he was giving up. It was hard to believe this pillar of resistance, this man of principle, would be surrendering.

“Nah, I’m not giving up,” he said when I accused him of being a wimp. I’m just going down another road. I’m going to hit them in their pocketbook. That’s something they can understand.”

He referred me to a link: www.resistandunsubscribe.com. It is a website that encourages anti-Trump protesters to unsubscribe from companies who have supported the current administration in one way or another.

My buddy told me he had already unsubscribed from ApplePay. “They’re no longer going to get 0.15% from me for every transaction. It’s a start.”

“Bravo!” I cried. “That will make them think twice before throwing their support to the current administration. “I’m right behind you!”

It was easy for me to say, mainly because I don’t use ApplePay. But I understood his reasoning and couldn’t wait to tell my wife that we were going to join the protest and help sink the corporations.

“A brilliant and noble idea,” she said when I relayed the new angle. “I’m a little tired of marching, too. Let’s stick it to those corporate weasels!”

We opened the website and perused the list of scoundrels. Naturally, Amazon and their unscrupulous funding of the “Melania” documentary topped the list. We’ll show them.

“I bought five things this week from Amazon,” my wife whimpered. “All of them showed up on our doorstep the next day. Miraculous.”

“And I’d hate to miss Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime,” I added, cringing a bit about my lack of resistance. “Let’s move on.”

It was fascinating to see how these companies ruled our lives. Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, OpenAI, AT&T, Comcast, FedEx, Home Depot, Lowe’s---they all had ties to the current administration. And we supported them all, conveniently and happily.

“There must be something we can do to show our resistance,” I said after we decided there was no way we could live without Netflix, AppleTV, Microsoft Word (writing on it now), Comcast voice control and other luxuries. This resistance thing wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

We were determined, though. Just like my buddy gave up ApplePay, we’d find some company we could do without. We looked at the list again and found our victim.

Uber.

Even the name sounds a little sinister. And we both remembered Uber giving $1 million to the inauguration and its CEO giving another $1 million. Uber was suddenly in our sights. We needed to take them down.

I’ve used Uber exclusively for years, mainly because it’s so easy and familiar. But now I thought about how many times they’ve lied to me about wait times (six minutes my ass) and how they gouged me during “peak” times. It was time to punish them.

We heard a rumor about Lyft and checked OpenAI’s Chat GPT (can’t dump every company) to confirm it. Sure enough, Lyft gave $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and nothing to the current administration. Our kind of company.

I was going to the airport the next morning for a short business trip. I downloaded the Lyft app and scheduled a ride. We high-fived, knowing that we were doing our part to resist. Uber was toast.

It’s not likely to topple the government, but every little bit helps. And I would have felt even more symbolic if the Lyft driver hadn’t shown up the next morning in a Tesla. A minor blip of our solidarity.

It still felt good, though. So, whether you’re on the right or on the left, unsubscribe to the companies that have gone political against your values. Unless, of course, they have next day delivery.

Contact Nick at nickhoppe61@gmail.com. For archived columns, visit www.hoppecolumns.com