The Case for a Citizen’s Union
In the 2014 film, The Imitation Game, Benedict Cumberbatch, playing the role of Alan Turing says “it takes a machine to beat a machine.”
Turing was making the case for building a computer to defeat the German’s enigma machine, which he did, successfully, and so saved western democracies.
In 2016, Donald Trump, a failed casino operator and reality TV star with no prior experience in government or of holding any public office was elected President of the United States. He was able to do this because he took control of a machine. In this case, the machine was the then fairly new mechanism of social media. By successfully using Twitter, Trump was able to bypass the traditional routes to power, ultimately personally taking control of the Republican Party and effectively owning it. That was the power of the machine.
Following the 2024 election, the Democratic Party and many Americans are at a loss as how to respond to Donald Trump. The answer is not finding a new leader for the Democratic Party. The answer is not more investigative broadcasts by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Rachel Maddow reaches 1.4 million viewers, out of a country of 340 million. 99.5% of the country is not watching her, and those who are already agree with her. X (Twitter) on the other hand reaches over 100 million people, and people are paying attention to it. The average person spends 2.5 hours a day, every day, on social media.
The answer is to seize control of the machine; the social media machine. And how do you do that?
On December 30, 1936, General Motors workers at the Flint, Michigan plant went on strike. There had been limited and largely ineffective strikes before, but this one was different. Instead of walking out, the workers occupied their work-stations. Until then, there had been no union amongst auto workers. By taking over the factory, the workers effectively seized control of the machine. On February 11, 1937, GM not only agreed to their demands, but they also recognized for the first time the UAW, the United Auto Workers, and the right to collective bargaining.
By their actions, the workers demonstrated that without them, the factory was worthless. It was just a building. They were the ones making the cars. Without them, there were no cars.
On Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, we are the ones making the content. We are the workers in the X factory or the Facebook factory. Without us, there is no Twitter, there is no Facebook, there is no Instagram. We can do what the auto workers did in 1936. We can seize control of the machine. The way we do this is through a Citizen’s Union.
How would this work?
In 2024, 77 million people vote for Donald Trump, while 75 million people voted for Kamala Harris. Trump may act as though he had a landslide victory, but in truth, he barely squeaked through. There are 75 million people who opposed his election. If they were to unionize, say 10 million or so, you could create an incredibly powerful machine to effect change.
Isn’t this just another political party?
Political parties are a remnant of the 19th century. They are passive. Except for voting every two years, they don’t engage their power. They don’t really exercise their power. But like Enigma or Turing, technology has provided us with a new and powerful machine. I am thinking pro-active. You could have your 10 million union members ‘down tools’, that is, refuse to contribute content to (let’s read that as work for free), Facebook or X, it would not be very effective. However, taken to the other extreme, it becomes very interesting. Have all 10 million members upload, on the same day, the same message, in text or video. Say they object to the illegal firing of all Inspectors General in the US government, (just as an example). Then flood X or Facebook with that message in text or video. All at the same time. Overwhelm the system. That’s the power of a Citizen’s Union in an age of social media. That’s how to own the machine.
In 1936, auto workers had to physically seize control of a GM factory in Flint. In 2025, the factory is disaggregated. There is no X factory. There is no Facebook factory. X and Facebook already exist in your phone. That’s where they really reside. You are already inside the factory. You already control X and Facebook, you just don’t realize it. You already own the means of production. It’s in your hands right now.
Aside from taking control of social media, (which is a pretty big step), it’s only a beginning. Trump may use X (along with Elon)) but he is but one person. The Union would be millions. (And, one could assume millions more would join up). What else could a Citizen’s Union do?
Donald Trump has been very effective in taking control of the Republican Party by threatening to primary out anyone who opposes him. In 2022, Kari Lake won the Republican primary with only 409,000 votes. Not many people actually vote in primaries. A concerted Union focus would also have the power to ‘primary’ out people we didn’t particularly like. By taking control of the machine, you can do a lot of interesting stuff.
In the early 19th century, Napoleon came up with the novel idea of everyone serving in the army. Before Napoleon, the armies of Europe numbered around 20,000 or so. Highly trained, dressed in beautiful and colorful uniforms, marching in precision, but small in number. Napoleon’s army numbered 800,000. A Citizen’s Army. He conquered most of Europe.
The important thing to remember here is that X and Facebook and Instagram are not really Elon Musk’s or Mark Zuckerberg’s. They are us. We are the workers (albeit unpaid) that create the product that they use to sell their platforms to advertisers. And we are all working for free. (Why do you think they are billionaires? Imagine a factory where everyone worked for free — OK, for Likes). Without us, X and Facebook are empty shells.
I don’t want to be branded a ‘communist’ here, but workers of the social media, unite. You have nothing to lose but your authoritarian ruler.
