WHY DISPLAY A PDR STICKER
If you display on your backpack or purse, etc. this PDR sticker and ask the random people you encounter in the course of your routine day if they think the message on the sticker is a good idea or a bad idea, you will discover that the vast majority say it is a good--or even a great!--idea (as illustrated in this video of person-on-the-street interviews). You will then come to know--REALLY KNOW!--that you are literally surrounded by people who, like you, would love an egalitarian revolution (even if they also think it is impossible.) Click here to read people's experiences buttoning. See photos here of more than 500 people in my zip code (02135) displaying a sign saying they agree with the message on the button. Most people are, in fact, in agreement with the button, as you can read about here.
If you persuade others to do the same thing with the button, they too will learn that it is the vast majority, not a tiny and hopelessly weak minority, of Americans who would love an egalitarian revolution.
Here's why displaying the PDR sticker and giving them to others is a terrific way to help build a popular egalitarian revolutionary movement that one day can actually remove the plutocracy from power. Read in more detail here about how you can help organize this movement where you live.
Millions of Americans know that we are living in a fake democracy that is really a dictatorship of the rich. Millions of Americans would love it if there were an egalitarian revolution to, as the PDR button says, "Remove the rich from power. Have real not fake democracy, with No Rich and No Poor."
AND YET, HARDLY ANY AMERICANS KNOW THAT IN FEELING THIS WAY THEY ARE PART OF A LARGE MAJORITY, NOT A HOPELESSLY SMALL AND HENCE IMPOTENT MINORITY.
The ruling class's #1 method of social control is to prevent this majority from KNOWING it is the majority and thereby to keep people paralyzed by hopelessness. This is why one never sees egalitarian revolutionary aspirations expressed in the mass (or alternative!) media even though most people share these aspirations--the plutocracy that owns these media censor such views to ensure that we will think that hardly anybody else shares them. (Click here to read how I learned about the explosive result--a political sea change!--that happens when people who know their anti-establishment goal is morally right ALSO learn that they are the vast majority in having that goal. And click here to read what happened when I contacted the Gallup Poll Co. to pay it to find out what people think about the message in the button/sticker.)
To build the kind of mass egalitarian revolutionary movement that can eventually win over a critical mass of rank-and-file soldiers to its side (they didn't enlist to keep the rich in power, you know!); and to persuade these soldiers that the revolutionary movement is large enough and determined enough so that if they support it and refuse to obey orders to attack it they will likely be on the winning side and not executed as a traitor for going over to the losing side; and thereby actually to remove the rich from power, the first step is to help the majority of Americans who would love for this to happen to see that they are in fact a majority. This is what is required for millions of Americans to gain the hopefulness and confidence to build such a revolutionary movement, to create explicitly egalitarian revolutionary organizations that enable people to act together on a very large scale.
HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP THIS HAPPEN. Order some PDR stickers (click here to do this) and display one and keep others in your pocket or purse. As you go about your routine day, ask people you see if they think the sticker's message is a good idea or a bad idea (most people won't read it unless you call their attention to it). Ask the person who operates the cash register and rings up your groceries, the bank teller where you bank, the person who hands you your prescription drugs when you pick them up, your mail delivery person, the person standing behind you in line whenever you're in a line, your friends and co-workers, and anybody else you happen to come in contact with. You will discover that practically all these people say the sticker's message is a good (or a great!) idea. Then offer them a sticker (most will gladly take it, and when they do give them this flyer) and encourage them to visit the PDRBoston.org website on the sticker. And be sure to tell them that this is a serious campaign (because of the hopelessness, many people will assume it's just a joke.) Doing this is what we call "buttoning" (because originally we used more expensive buttons.)
By the way, if you want to see how people will react to the sticker before "buttoning" on your own, simply watch how random people on the streets in Boston reacted by viewing this video.
Remember, the purpose of "buttoning" an individual is simply to find out, for one's self, whether or not that individual thinks the sticker's message is a good idea or a bad idea. The purpose is not to find out what that person thinks about any "ism," which is an entirely different question; so it's best not to mention any "ism" yourself. (If a person says something such as "Are you talking about socialism [or Communism]?" just say "No; it's different and I call it egalitarianism.") Also, the purpose is not to persuade somebody that what the sticker advocates is possible. If the person jumps over the question of whether it's a good or a bad idea and starts talking about whether it is possible (most think it is not), ask him or her if they would be happy or sad if, by some chance, it did happen.
After you have been "buttoning" for a while you will know (deep in your bones, not just intellectually) that you are literally surrounded by people who, like you, would love to see an egalitarian revolution. You will know that such a revolution is therefore possible and worth devoting time and energy towards making it happen--by helping others discover what you have discovered. (Further evidence: about 80% of the random people in public places such as grocery stores who read "This I Believe" sign it.)
Just think! You can help make this happen without even changing your normal everyday routine, just by displaying a sticker and keeping some handy in your pocket or purse. It's legal. It's very enjoyable (seeing the smile on people's faces when they read the sticker will make your day.) It's cheap. And it's an effort that is based on acknowledging the ugly reality of power in the United States, not on wishful thinking that electing somebody will make the plutocracy step down. (For discussion about voting click here.)
This strategy is also based on the fact that mass movements against the ruling elite that don't EXPLICITLY aim to abolish class inequality (i.e., to have no rich and no poor) end up often winning what they do explicitly aim for, but they leave the ruling elite in power. As a result things don't get that much better, and what is won gets taken away later. For example Jim Crow was abolished by the Civil Rights Movement but got replaced by the New Jim Crow of racist prison incarceration. Until we remove the rich from power we will remain on the treadmill of defeat: we may win some improvement one day but the rich use their power to take it away the next day in one way or another.
Are you ready to build an explicitly egalitarian revolutionary movement? If so, click here to get your PDR stickers.
And one last thing. After you have begun asking other people if they think the button's message is a good or a bad idea, please share your experiences with others by joining the NO RICH AND NO POOR email group (click here to see how.) This is important because some people are nervous about displaying the stickeer and hearing about yours and others' experiences will help them decide to do it.