(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What Are You Doing This May Day? [1] ['View Profile', 'Chloris Creator', 'Greg Dworkin', 'Meteor Blades'] Date: 2026-04-29 I am going to stay home. But it’s not a hard decision for me to make as I’m still unemployed being an early casualty of Project 2025’s chainsaw. However, out of work or not, what are you planning on doing this May Day as a national General Strike is coming up in two days? Since you are reading this on Daily Kos, I’m going to assume that you understand why this general strike has been organized. Every day in the US since the baby tyrant’s second inauguration brings a new headline of more power grabbing while his party stands by and lets him do it. This is not a partisan fight, however. And I’m going to argue that we need to look at these last sixteen months as not just a realignment of national “policy” but as an erasure of the last 113 years of trying to modernize the U.S.’ financial and public services to ensure our country works for as many Americans as possible. Not news to you? Well, good! What are you doing this May Day? Why 113 years? An arbitrary date chosen by yours truly based on the passage of the 16th Amendment to enact a permanent income tax to push back on our Gilded Age of inequality. Everything after this date that was passed with the words “all men are created equal” in mind is under assault from Trump and his cabal of self-righteous, greedy people. After the 16th Amendment came policy and newly established departments and entities to offer some semblance of a social safety net to mitigate the harsh reality of “free market” capitalism. Just to name a few, there were: – the Social Security Act of 1935 (don’t you dare fall into the trap that “we won’t see a dime”. This is a trust fund set up for our garnered wages as a retirement account. Let me repeat: that is our money, not some tax incentive. But I digress). – the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – the Medicare and Medicaid act of 1964 – and the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979. There are many more, like the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was just gutted by SCOTUS today too. The “Originalists” that are in power want to argue that our Founding Fathers didn’t envision a truly free society for everyone. And they may be right. However, that doesn’t mean that their interpretation is just law. It just means that they subscribe to a class system where the rich get to be free to do what they want and the rest of us are free to struggle in their brutal world. It’s time for democracy to push back. I haven’t even gotten into Trump’s assault on our commons for a little bit of money for his cronies. If you haven’t seen the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for yourself, as just one example, go now and see what may be devastated soon by a mining lease to a foreign held corporation. My point is that our taxes should be returned via a government that helps us live a life that includes clean air and water, government services to help us when life gets tough, and an understanding that our public lands and untapped natural resources are owned by all, not just a handful of powerful people to do what they want with them. What we are experiencing now is a tactile assault on all these policies and institutions. If we sit by idly, shrug and say “that’s just the consequence of the election, we’ll get them next time” it might be too late. Smashing things is a lot easier than building them in the first place. The fascists are systemically dismantling it all so they can line their pockets and double-down on labor exploitation. If you think you are unscathed by all of this, just wait. Don’t assume either that Trump and his cabal are just going to let us vote easily. They will try very hard to keep us from voting out this do-nothing Congress. Though maybe a cliché of our current era “if you wondered what you would have done in 1930’s Germany, you’re doing it now” is a true one. Think that calling in sick on May 1st is an inconvenience or puts you at risk?; just wait until Trump’s surveillance state is firmly in place. So if you want to send a message to Congress and those in power that are still doing nothing about this dismantling of the people’s government and trashing of our commons, I’ll leave it here by asking again: what are you doing this May Day? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/29/800029988/community/what-are-you-doing-this-may-day/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/