Be Like Chris Kluwe

“Local action has a national impact”

I’m often asked, “OK, I get it. Everything is terrible. But what can I do to stop this?”

Well, I have no idea, because I’m not you. However, I can give you examples when I see them.

Remember all the school board meetings where MAGA cult members would yell about vaccines, or CRT, or whatever meme was going around at the time? That was all part of a strategy summed up by Mike Flynn’s favorite slogan: “Local action has a national impact.”

In the wrong hands the slogan means terrorism. It means ripping apart the fabric of democracy from the bottom up. But it can also be a force for good.

Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe stood up for gay marriage over a decade ago and it cost him his career. Last week, his local city council in Huntington Beach, CA wanted to put up a plaque celebrating the library with a MAGA acrostic that described it as “Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous.” [Archive]

Chris Kluwe objected, and exercised his right to free speech as an American citizen.

Tuesday at the Huntington Beach City Council meeting, he gave this 60 second comment:

Hi, my name is Chris Kluwe, 15 year H.B. resident. I'm here to speak out against both the plaque and the current city council. As a community made clear at the library commission meeting last Tuesday, everyone is in favor of a plaque to celebrate the library, but the vast majority are against including a MAGA acrostic.

Unfortunately, it's clear that this council does not listen, so instead I'm going to take my time to say what MAGA has stood for these past three weeks.

MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence.

MAGA stands for resegregation and racism.

MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing.

MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal.

MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling research on veteran suicide.

MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children.

MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy, and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement.

You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat but that is what it is. I will now engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.

As I’ve written, the kryptonite of the enemy is empathy plus strength. They see caring about human beings as weakness. They assume anyone who believes in basic human rights is weak. They are wrong, but we need to show them.

Chris Kluwe is not weak. Chris Kluwe is a patriot. Be like Chris Kluwe.

---

I have never hidden important information behind a paywall, so I rely on my readers for support. If you haven’t upgraded yet, please consider it! I will keep saying the quiet parts until they take me away in shackles.

I have a Zoom call each Sunday for my paid subscribers to answer any questions. Thank you for reading and sharing!

If you’d like to help me with living expenses, here is my DonorBox. 💙

If you’d like to help with my legal fees: stopmikeflynn.com.

My podcast is @radicalizedpod & YouTube. We have a livestream Thursdays at 7PM PST.

Bluesky 🦋: jim-stewartson

Threads: jimstewartson

TikTok: jimstewartson

Mastodon: toad.social/@jimstewartson