Beyond the Ballot

UPCOMING RETREAT
Cuddle Therapy Retreat Immersive
August 7-10, 2025 in Upstate New York

There’s one spot left for this healing, long weekend retreat, where we’ll connect more deeply with one other—and tend to the parts of ourselves that need more love. In this sacred container, participants will experience platonic intimacy, loving connection, and trauma healing in community—and have the opportunity to practice mutual consent and boundary-setting with three Certified Cuddle Therapists. We’ll share nourishing meals and space with one another, with plenty of time for rest and relaxation. More details »

Photo by Ramaz Bluashvili

From The Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games to 1984 by George Orwell, we have plenty of examples of what government control looks like in the form of surveillance, dehumanization, and conformity. Or, we could simply open our front doors or Instagram feeds in 2025 and see it playing out right in front of our eyes daily.

The Trump regime is not simply a political project. It is a spiritual and psychological occupation, one that uses the tools of unrestrained patriarchy—control, dominance, and hierarchy—to keep citizens compliant, divided, and exhausted.

The left versus right era is over; this period is about authoritarianism versus humanity. And the truth is, calling your elected representatives won’t change much right now. Why not? Most of them—regardless of party—are too afraid, too compromised, or too visible to take meaningful risks. This is one of many ways that we know we are currently living in a dystopia.

That doesn’t mean we don’t have power. It just means we need to stop looking up and start looking across at each other.

The Authoritarian Playbook

At the heart of authoritarianism lies a patriarchal script: enforce control through fear, punish vulnerability, reward cruelty, and silence dissent. The Trump regime has played this script to the letter:

• Punishing the feminine and fluid: Whether it’s reproductive rights, trans rights, or expressions of empathy and care, anything coded as “feminine” is targeted and degraded.

• Dominance as virtue: Brute force is celebrated. Compassion is mocked. Intelligence is suspect.

• Loyalty over truth: Personal allegiance to a self-proclaimed dictator is demanded.

• Weaponized nostalgia: A mythic past—“Make America Great Again”—is not a policy, it’s a patriarchal fantasy where white, straight, Christian men ruled unchecked.

• Survival of the loudest: Noise replaces substance; chaos replaces debate; performance replaces policy. Check, check, check.

This isn't just about political ideology. It's about the suppression of higher consciousness—keeping us locked in survival mode so we don't imagine or build anything better.

5 Ways to Push Back (When the System Won’t Save Us)

We’re not waiting for permission. We’re building the future from the ground up—through choices that reconnect us to ourselves, each other, and the kind of world we want to live in.

Here are five ways to resist—not with panic, but with purpose and through a trauma-informed lens.

1. Create Micro-Sanctuaries
We counter authoritarianism by creating small, intentional spaces where people feel seen, free, and sovereign.

• Start a weekly dinner circle that’s politics-free but connection-rich.

• Host a somatic processing group in your living room.

• Offer your backyard for a neighborhood art-making or journaling night.

These spaces don’t need to be big or loud; they need to be sacred and consistent.

2. Refuse Isolation
Loneliness is a tool of control because people who feel alone are more easily manipulated. When we connect, we remember our agency.

• Check in on friends, even if it’s been a while.

• Attend community events of all sizes—and especially BIPOC and LGBTQ+ events as a participant or as an ally.

• Organize a walk-and-talk with people in your building or on your block.

Let people know they matter. Presence is medicine.

3. Tell the Truth Publicly
Propaganda thrives in silence. Speaking clearly—even imperfectly—reminds others they’re not alone.

• Share what you’re seeing and feeling on social media or in your newsletter.

• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper.

• Tell the truth at your school board, church, or town hall, even when it’s uncomfortable. (If you are white, it is especially important to leverage your privilege right now.)

You don’t need a massive platform; you need a voice and the willingness to use it.

4. Divest from Patriarchal Scripts
Internalized patriarchy tells us to stay small, stay angry, or stay numb. True resistance is re-patterning our lives around care, reciprocity, and embodied truth.

• Practice saying “no” without apology—and “yes” without shame.

• Commit to restorative rather than punitive responses in your relationships.

• Explore healing modalities (like somatic therapy, breathwork, or cuddle therapy) that return you to your body and your wisdom.

This is healing work for your highest good; it’s also political activism. The most radical thing we can do is to act as if we are already free.

5. Support Underground and Mutual Aid Networks
Not all resistance is visible. Some of the most important work is happening in kitchens, DMs, and basements across the country.

• Donate to abortion funds, migrant shelters, or trans support collectives.

• Volunteer with a local harm reduction org or housing initiative.

• Offer rides, child care, or groceries to someone organizing on the front lines.

Don’t underestimate your role; the resistance runs on warriors and water alike.

We Still Get to Choose

Authoritarianism is a system designed to convince us we have no options. That the world is too broken, that people are too divided, and that we are too small.

But that’s the lie. The truth is this: every act of consciousness—every moment you choose love over fear, presence over distraction, connection over despair—is a strike against the regime. Every safe conversation, every repaired relationship, every move to heal trauma ripples outward in ways the old system cannot comprehend, let alone contain.

Authoritarianism counts on our passivity. It feeds on our fatigue. But we are not powerless, and we are not alone. You don’t need to do everything. You just need to do something—and do it with intention.

So before you close this piece, take a moment to choose your response. Make it tangible:

• What upcoming events—marches, rallies, vigils, teach-ins, art builds—will you show up for in the next 2–3 months?

• Where might you donate, even modestly, to support those doing front-line work?

• Who will you reach out to this week to deepen connection or collaboration in your own community?

• What space might you create, online or in-person, for storytelling, healing, or creativity?

Write it down. Say it out loud. Commit to it. Invite a friend to do the same. History is shaped by those who dare to act when it’s hardest to hope—be one of them.

And, thanks for being here.

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