Emails I sent--page 2 (page 1 is here)
August 25, 2025
Hi Neighbors (all 40 of you now),
A while ago I wrote an article, "Fear, Yes. Paralysis, No," addressing the fact that there is indeed reason to be fearful if one does anything aimed at building a movement to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor. Please tell me if you think this article is relevant to what is on your mind. Just a "yes" or a "no" in your email would be appreciated.
This fear has always been present but is perhaps greater today than in past decades because of the things that Trump is doing that are aimed precisely at making us fear the government. I wrote about this recently here in connection with the persecution of illegal immigrants.
My Substack post tomorrow (you can subscribe to my free daily Substack by going here and then clicking on "Subscribe") will be titled, "What Can We Do to Thwart Palantir's Invasive & Oppressive Surveillance? Tin foil remedies won't cut it. We need a more permanent solution to this problem."
Please email me a "yes" or a "no" as I requested above.
For your convenience I am posting all of my past emails to you, starting with the first one, here. The first one, sent July 21, 2025, is introductory and I hope you will read it if you haven't already. I will add future emails to this website page also.
Thanks and all the best,
--John
August 29, 2025
Hi Neighbors,
One of you recently told me that where they work people fear to speak freely about things and can only talk about approved topics. Fear of speaking out is a real concern, and it is why I wrote "Fear, Yes. Paralysis, No" and discussed it in my recent email to you August 25.
Making us afraid to speak openly is just one of zillions of ways that the rich treat us like dirt, routinely and openly. In a decent society people can speak freely while they work! I give 25 other concrete examples here of how the rich routinely treat us like dirt. We will be treated like dirt this way, not to mention other people being treated MUCH worse, until we remove the rich from power.
Is not surprising, therefore, that most people would LOVE to remove the rich from power. Most of you have seen with your own eyes that the response (at the CVS) to the sticker I've been passing out, saying "Let's remove the rich from power; have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor," is overwhelmingly positive. The people shopping at the CVS are typical of people everywhere. They would love to remove the rich from power.
And yet, as you also have seen with your own eyes, any expression of wanting to remove the rich from power, etc. is totally censored in all of the media, mainstream and 'alternative' both. One never sees or hears this desire--what I call the egalitarian revolutionary aspiration--expressed anywhere in any of the media: print, radio, billboard, magazine, you name it. Why not? All sorts of other viewpoints are seen, even those that relatively few people endorse: vote for so-and-so; tax the rich, support Israel, medicare for all, and so on.
The rich don't just censor all expression of the egalitarian revolutionary aspiration in the media. The rich also do something to ensure that reform organizations never express that aspiration even though their rank-and-file members want to remove the rich from power, and even though their reform struggle would GAIN, not lose, support from the general public if they declared this aspiration to the public (as I show here.)
The way that the rich prevent reform organizations from ever saying they want to remove the rich from power is by funding these organizations with strings attached; the main string is that they are not allowed to talk about removing the rich from power.
One of the main ways that the rich fund reform (progressive, left) organizations is with the Tides Foundation, which gets money from the very rich and uses it to fund zillions of progressive organizations. You can read all about this (who are the Big $ donors and who receives the funding) in enormous detail here. The result is that virtually any progressive (left, reform) organization large enough to have an office and some paid staff very likely relies on Tides Foundation or similar foundation (Big $) funding. The leaders of these progressive organizations know that if they pursue a policy that actually leads to removing the rich from power then they will lose the funding they rely on to operate. So they don't. They never even hint that they want to remove the rich from power.
One example of how this Big $ control works is the Jewish Voice for Peace organization that avoids doing what is required to actually win over the great majority of Americans to oppose Israeli violence against Palestinians, even though that is its stated purpose. I wrote about this here (based on my personal experience) and here (about the larger issue.)
The result of all this is that most people, even though they themselves would love to remove the rich from power, think that hardly anybody else feels the same way. I have asked people at the CVS who liked the sticker, "Do you think most people agree or disagree with the sticker?" Some said "agree" and some said "disagree" but nobody was at all sure what the truth was and they told me so. People may hope and wish and sort-of believe that others also want to remove the rich from power, but they have no evidence to make them truly confident that this is so, not confident the way people are confident that when they drop a stone it will fall down and not up. Lacking this confidence, most people self-censor because they fear that if they said out loud that they want to remove the rich from power then others would react negatively, even think they were crazy or dangerous.
This combination of the rich censoring the idea of removing the rich from power, and regular people self-censoring any spoken desire for that to happen, makes people think hardly anybody else wants to remove the rich from power and therefore that goal is impossible. This creates the hopelessness about the possibility of removing the rich from power that currently prevails. This is why, when people at the CVS see my sign, they often chuckle at what they believe is my foolishness in thinking that it is possible to remove the rich from power. People say things like, "Good luck with that" or "Not gonna happen."
The rich absolutely count on this hopelessness because they know that when we--the have-nots--gain confidence ("stone will fall down" confidence!) that in wanting to remove the rich from power we are in fact the vast majority, then--and only then!--will we have the confidence to do what it takes to remove the rich from power, as I discuss here.
The rich also count on hopelessness due to people thinking there is no better alternative to what we have now because the only alternatives are worse, such as the ugly experience of Communism in the Soviet Union and China in which "all the animals are equal but some are more equal than others." I discuss here how we can overcome this source of hopelessness as well.
This is why I believe that the most important thing we can do today is to do things that help people learn that in wanting to remove the rich from power they are the vast majority, not the tiny hopelessly weak minority that the rich want us to think we are. And we also need to talk about what the egalitarian alternative to the rich being in power is, why it is both practical and desirable.
I'm not saying that we can remove the rich from power in our lifetimes or that it will be easy. I'm saying, however, that we--small numbers that we are--can get the ball rolling for building a movement that can one day remove the rich from power, a movement that makes that its explicit goal. (Movements that don't explicitly aim to remove the rich from power can never do it, as I discuss here.) We can do what is currently not being done: say we aim to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor, and start the process of building this very new kind of movement that will grow because it is saying what most people already believe, people such as these 500 people in Brighton.
What do you think?
All the best,
--John
September 1, 2025
I forwarded my Substack Labor Day Songs Substack post.
September 4, 2025
I forwarded my Substack post titled, "Here's How the Rich Divide-and-Rule the American Have-Nots, In Three Easy Lessons:
All it takes is three key lies and censorship of the truths that refute them"
September 8, 2025
Hi my 41 neighbors,
Yes, this is a rather long email, so take several days to read it if you like, and do not feel obliged to read the linked articles that are there just in case you're curious to read further about something. All of my emails to you are, by the way, posted online here.
I would like to share with you some more about what I am hoping to accomplish by passing out the stickers at the Brighton CVS.
I think of it this way. There is a community that I'm going to call Brighton CVS-ville. The population of Brighton CVS-ville consists of the people who shop at the Brighton CVS or walk by it often or who make deliveries to it or work at it, plus the friends and relatives and neighbors of these people.
What is the size of the population of Brighton CVS-ville? Well, the population of Brighton, MA, is about 48,000, of which something like 40,000 may be adults. Not everybody who lives in Brighton is in Brighton CVS-ville; let's say half are. Then maybe there are, let's say, 20,000 people in Brighton CVS-ville.
I want to make Brighton CVS-ville different from virtually every other community in the United States. Here's what I mean.
First, let me say how Brighton CVS-ville is the same as most other communities in the United States. It is same in this respect. The great majority of people in most American communities, just like in Brighton CVS-ville also, would LOVE to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor--what I call an egalitarian revolution. I know this is true about Brighton CVS-ville because the people I encounter at the CVS overwhelmingly say they agree with the sticker; they say things like, "I agree with all of that!" and "Perfect!" and "Yes!" "Thank you for what you're doing!" and so forth. Not to mention people have given me, unsolicited, a total of $29 plus countless bottles of cold water or other cold drinks on hot days. And people have been repeatedly asking for more stickers to give to friends and relatives, etc. And people have been telling me they love my website.
Furthermore, in all the time I've been handing out stickers since April, about three days a week, during which time I've handed out close to 3,000 stickers, only five individuals have told me they disagreed with the sticker. In contrast, thousands have told me they agreed with the sticker.
Brighton CVS-ville is typical of most other communities in the United States in terms of racial composition and economic status and education status and so on. I am quite sure (based on some personal experience in rural New Hampshire) that if I handed out the stickers in virtually any other U.S. community I would have the same experience as when I do it at the Brighton CVS.
After handing out almost 3,000--and counting--stickers (which is already a significant proportion of the total 20,000 people in Brighton CVS-ville) it is now the case that a very substantial proportion of people I meet at the CVS have already received stickers from me. I'm getting to recognize the regular shoppers and have had great ongoing conversations with some of them. Forty-one of you Brighton CVS-villians have provided me your email address to receive these emails of mine.
Here is how I hope to make Brighton CVS-ville different from other communities in the United States. I want Brighton CVS-villians, unlike people elsewhere, to KNOW that most of their fellow Brighton CVS-villians agree with them in wanting to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor. In other communities people do not KNOW that they are the vast majority in having this egalitarian revolutionary aspiration. How would they know it? The mass media and alternative media censor any and all expressions of wanting to remove the rich from power, etc. (Think about it. Have you ever seen or heard this aspiration expressed in any newspaper or magazine or radio station? Sure, you can hear 'Tax the rich more' but that is not at all the same as removing the rich from power to have no rich and no poor, is it?)
This media censorship of the egalitarian revolutionary aspiration prevents people from having confidence that they are the vast majority in this aspiration. And it also makes people think that they should keep their mouth shut about wanting to remove the rich from power, etc., out of fear that if they spoke out then their neighbors and co-workers and even relatives might think they are crazy or even dangerous. So people self-censor, which even more makes it seem that nobody wants to remove the rich from power. This is how it is in virtually all United States communities.
I spoke with one of you (on Monday, Sept. 8) who has taken a lot of stickers from me to give to others where he works and I asked him, "Do the people you gave the stickers to agree with it?" He replied that he didn't know, because they avoided saying if they did or did not agree; they said things like "I don't know." I suspect that the reason people didn't want to say if they agreed with the sticker is the reason I described above for why people self-censor: fear that if they spoke out about wanting to remove the rich from power, etc., then they would encounter hostility from some people.
I asked (also on Monday) two others who have taken stickers to give to others this same question. One person said that the sticker "had good traction" with the people he gave it to (which means they agreed with it, I guess.) The other person said that the people she gave it to wouldn't say what they thought (more self-censorship.)
I asked (also on Monday) yet another person who has taken many stickers this question and he replied that he only had been placing the stickers at places where he works where others would see them, but that he hadn't actually handed them to people and asked them what they thought. I think people feel nervous about actually handing the sticker directly to other people for the same reason people self-censor: fear of getting a negative reaction.
So it is evident that lack of confidence that most people would love to remove the rich from power, etc., is causing people in Brighton CVS-ville to self-censor their egalitarian revolutionary aspiration.
But I think this is starting--just starting!--to change. People in Brighton CVS-ville are beginning to learn that their neighbors and friends and relatives AGREE with them in wanting to remove the rich from power, etc. This is happening because people see other people happily taking the sticker from me, and people see (sometimes, at least) that when they give a sticker to somebody else that person ALSO agrees with it. Additionally some people who never encountered me at the CVS are the ones being offered a sticker from somebody who got it from me and those people are learning that the person who gave them a sticker also wants, just like they do, to remove the rich from power (and they probably never earlier suspected this to be true about the person who gave them the sticker because of the prior self-censorship.)
What I hope to accomplish--what I hope WE accomplish!--is to make Brighton CVS-ville the first community in the United States in which not only is it the case that the vast majority of people would love to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor, but will ALSO (unlike in other communities) KNOW that the vast majority of people in their community agree with them about this desire.
The reason this accomplishment is so important to achieve is this. When people know with certainty--certainty as great as their certainty that when they drop a stone it will fall down and not up--two key things, then everything changes. The two key things are this: #1. That their anti-establishment aim is morally right and truly desirable and practical; and #2. That they are part of the great majority in having that aim. When people know BOTH of these things, then and only then do they have the confidence to begin seriously doing what it takes to win their aim. (I learned this in 1969 and wrote about how that happened here.)
Brighton CVS-villians already know that it is morally right to remove the rich from power, etc. and after some more discussions with each other about this I am confident they will see that it is also truly desirable (not at all what ugly Communism was about) and practical. That's the #1 knowledge.
When a sufficient number of Brighton CVS-villians have given the sticker to other Brighton CVS-villians and had good conversations with them about removing the rich from power, etc., then it will reach the point where Brighton CVS-villians also have the #2 knowledge--knowing they are not alone in their egalitarian revolutionary aspiration.
When this happens I think we will see a dramatic change. We will see Brighton CVS-villians taking the idea of building a movement to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor SERIOUSLY, for the very first time.
And when THAT happens, I think it will inspire people in other communities to do what it takes to make their communities also have the #2 knowledge.
This can eventually (maybe only in a long time, but 'So What?' as I write about here)
lead to people building an egalitarian revolutionary movement large and determined enough to remove the rich from power, like this perhaps.
If you have received this email then you are one of (currently) 41 Brighton CVS-villians who have received it. If you start (or keep) talking to other Brighton CVS-villians about how and why you want to remove the rich from power, then you will help make Brighton CVS-ville the first U.S. community in which almost everybody KNOWS with certainty that almost everybody else in their community would also love an egalitarian revolution. When this happens, it will be of enormous historical importance.
One vitally important step in this effort requires that people such as the 41 of you gain confidence--'a dropped stone falls down and not up' confidence!--that you're not alone, and that confidence only comes from knowing each other (at least some of you) face-to-face. As I wrote about here, "If it's not face-to-face, then it can be erased."
I want to make this happen somehow. I need your suggestions for how. We could meet at a local restaurant at a mutually convenient time, for example. (I propose something along this line here.) Please let me know if you'd like to do this, in which case we could then figure out the where and when.
What do you think about all of this? Please let me know.
All the best,
--John