The nationwide “No Kings” actions were a nice start—but we need to shut down the oligarchy we have, not the monarchy we don’t if we expect to make the US a democracy
The recent “No Kings” rallies struck me as an authentic outpouring of popular discontent with the Trump administration. Despite the murky origins of the 50501 movement behind a related series of calls to action since Trump took office, I thought it was good to see large numbers of people taking to the streets—including here in Massachusetts … some ludicrous Boston rally crowd estimates being merely zesty sauce for a very successful PR goose round these parts.
Because it’s healthy for people to exercise their collective action muscles en masse from time-to-time since making the US into an actual democracy is going to take a lot more than just “voting blue” in the years to come.
Problem is, as with the 2017 Women’s March, there is no direct path from “No Kings” to actually doing more than that one very limited thing: voting Democratic in upcoming elections. Which, as we saw under the Biden, Obama, Clinton, and Carter administrations, does nothing to stop the decades-long consolidation of power by the rich.
And that is why the US has become an outright oligarchy run (in an unsurprisingly irrational and fractious way) by a small group of extraordinarily wealthy people. An oligarchy that controls the commanding heights of both major political parties: the Democrats as much as the Republicans.
Meaning that the threat Americans and Americans-to-be face has never been that Trump (or any conservative successor he may or may not have) will become a king. The threat is that capitalism’s tendency to lead inevitably to the economic dominance of huge monopolies controlled by their owners results in those owners seizing political power to game the entire political economic system to their advantage. And we are now seeing the conclusion of that process in this country.
So it seems to me that regular people at the grassroots of our society need to organize a wave of “No Billionaires” rallies. Like the “Fighting Oligarchy Tour” organized by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but aimed more at actually mobilizing people to genuinely fight that oligarchy than (with all due respect to two popular and populist politicians that can’t seem to find it in themselves to go the last necessary mile) just talking about it until it’s time to vote the same corporate Dems back into federal power again.
“Avengers” star Mark Ruffalo, not coincidentally a longtime Sanders supporter, definitely pointed in that direction at the NYC “No Kings” rally when he told the assembled press that “We get to see who is really making our lives unbearable and making us so desperate. It’s not the immigrants, it’s the billionaires.” Then concluded by calling for “a beautiful, burgeoning democracy that works for the people, not just the very wealthy.”
A fine sentiment. More like that from more (and more famous) public figures would be excellent.
But making the leap from occasional aimless one-off stand-outs, however large, to vast and constant protests against bought-off politicians leading to the general strikes against powerful corporations that will be needed to bring their oligarch owners to heel and pave the way for a mass movement for democracy that can sweep the two capitalist parties aside—changing the global political equation for the better in the bargain—is going to be a much heavier lift. As keeping such a grassroots upheaval scrupulously nonviolent will be. Which I strongly believe is absolutely necessary.
Anyhow, food for thought. Just putting that notion out there and letting it bounce around in readers’ heads for a time. If enough people decide that holding “No Billionaires” actions nationwide is a solid idea (and I know that I am far from the only person thinking this way) then those actions will happen.
Because a great many of us will make them happen.
Apparent Horizon—an award-winning political column—is syndicated by the MassWire news service of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. Copyright 2025 Jason Pramas.
