Day: June 4, 2025

Charles Johnson is CAPA’s Organizing Director.

We the masses in the U.S. are enabling a deadly illness. This illness originates from those in power, who actively spread it to the masses. Rampant throughout U.S. policies and narratives, this illness is “using force to gain and maintain power and control.” The epicenter of this illness is the U.S., under both Democratic and Republican leadership in coordination with corporate leaders. Effects of this illness harm the masses worldwide the most, as well as the masses in the U.S. – and the masses in the U.S. widely uphold and enable this illness. 

In fact, we the masses in the U.S. can help break through the illness, to bring about recovery and health – but how? Breaking through the illness could require the masses in the U.S. to leave behind a widespread belief system, the belief in using force. Upheld by disproven myths, the belief in using force resembles a cult, where a few leaders who benefit convince followers to uphold the belief system. We the masses consent to it, hoping for some benefit. Some signs of our consent include serving in and supporting:  

1.) Regional military alliances, like NATO.  
2.) National militaries, like the U.S. military. 
3.) Armed police forces/ local armed forces, like the Chicago Police Dept. 

 Support for the above is common among the masses in the U.S., including among those working for peace. We may think: “Without police forces, who would keep us safe?” And even if we aren’t personally in the military or police forces, we may think that these forces are at least partly needed, that they keep communities safe, that they help maintain order, that we could never totally eliminate them. We may think that there are no better alternatives, or that these alternatives have no answers to dilemmas like the “home intruder”, the “armed psychopath”, “organized crime,” “Hitler,” and so forth. 

In reality, alternatives and answers to these dilemmas are abundant. Lack of awareness of these alternatives and answers is similar to lack of awareness of cures for an illness — “there must be no cure” — rather than researching cures, testing them, and improving them. And there are already many well-tested cures to the illness of using force. A health breakthrough could involve a rapid, mass shift of thought away from the belief in using force, toward cures. Given the masses’ current belief in using force, and lack of awareness of altenratives, such a health breakthrough may seem highly unlikely. 

We may think – “a health breakthrough sounds nice, but the powerful won’t allow it – they’re too addicted to power and resources – they’re too successful at using capitalism and militarism for their goals. They can silence and kill off any alternatives.” Even so, the powerful need us, the masses in the U.S., to support and staff the militaries and police forces deployed by the powerful. We the masses in the U.S. do it for them, protecting their growing concentration of power. 

Often, those of us who support a move toward alternatives can’t manage to convince others to make a similar shift. How could peace-workers move public opinion away from the belief in using force? How could we do it rapidly and massively? A first step could be increasing our knowledge of these alternatives – not just knowing the alternatives’ names, but how they work in practice. We could learn how to easily explain these alternatives to others, with a few real-life examples and tactics. A second step could be convincing ourselves and others to no longer support or join armed forces – and to support and join alternatives instead. At 3 levels, this could include promoting, supporting, donating to, or joining:

1. Instead of military alliances:  non-coercive international coalitions 

2. Instead of militaries: unarmed civilian protection teams. 

3. Instead of police forces: community violence intervention teams. 

We may think that these ideas are “nice,” but not really a practical reality. Such a health breakthrough catching on may seem “unlikely any time soon”. This is especially true if we are still caught in the illness. Although wanting to leave the belief in using force, we may consider it impossible “at the current time”– like those who want to leave a cult, who’ve set our minds on leaving it, but are afraid to make the break: “Let’s wait until it’s safer to leave.” But waiting for the right time tends to prolong the time of leaving. The right time to leave could be right now.