From Brad Rourke: "20 Things You Can Do to Throw Sand in the Gears" in Those Public Entries

Originally published here, September 27, 2025.

20 Things You Can Do to Throw Sand in the Gears

As the authoritarian regime continues its march to undermine constitutional democracy, it is clear that only through solidarity and action can we have a hope of retaining the American way of life. We need to get off the sidelines and take action.

Writing in postwar Germany in 1951, poet Günter Eich wrote a 5-play cycle, Träume (Dreams), aimed at jolting people out of dangerous complacency. The final play, Wacht auf (Wake up) ends: “Be troublesome, be sand, not oil, in the gears of the world.”

This is our task, too.

Many of us naturally wonder: What can I do?

Here are 20 things that everyday people can do to throw sand in the gears:

1. Go to community meetings — Show up so you can listen, learn, and speak up about what matters.
2. Film ICE and police abuse — If you see police brutality or threats, record it and share it so others know what happened.
3. Subscribe to independent journalism — Support reporters who tell the truth by paying for their work and passing it along.
4. Join peaceful protests — Add to the numbers at demonstrations that stand for justice.
5. Use encrypted secure apps — Use safer tools like Signal for your texts and emails.
6. Join a mutual aid group — Connect with neighbors who share information, food, money, or other help.
7. Boycott — Spend your money at places that do not help fund oppression.
8. Take part in civil disobedience — When you can, join actions that break unfair rules.
9. Learn and share your rights — Know the basics of what the law says you can do, and make sure your friends and family know too.
10. Demand transparency — Ask questions at town halls, write letters, and use public records requests to bring hidden actions into the open.
11. Share with your family — Let family members know why it matters to stand up.
12. Support whistleblowers — Stand with people who risk their jobs to tell the public about wrongdoing.
13. Fly a rainbow flag — Show that there is room for many voices and views.
14. Turn off propaganda — Refuse to give attention to media that spreads lies and hate.
15. Share satire — Use art, humor, and memes to expose what is happening.
16. Connect with neighbors offline — Build trust and community in small, personal ways that are harder to disrupt.
17. Use tools that block surveillance — Protect yourself online by stopping companies and governments from tracking what you do, like with a VPN.
18. Give to legal defense funds for activists — Contribute so people who resist do not face the courts alone.
19. Call out authoritarian enablers — Speak up and disrupt when you hear authoritarian talking points repeated.
20. Publicly support targeted communities — Show up for trans people, immigrants, and others.

Maybe some of these seem risky. Everyone is in a different situation, and no one should feel like they have to put themselves in danger. Only do what feels safe.

But we all need to do something. Maybe one of these speaks to you. Maybe they spark a new idea. What would you add?

Maybe it can start today.

I like this list. Also, as a former federal employee (from June 2021 to very late April 2025), if you know any federal employees, ask them what you can do to gum up the gears, or what they’re doing. They’re not allowed to strike, per 5 U.S.C. §7311, and the Hatch Act prohibits “partisan political activity” (adds both to list of “things I’d reform if I were president”), buuuuuuut they are allowed to do malicious compliance.

Believe me, federal workers, and all government workers, for that matter (I was also a state government employee in Indianapolis, from 2018 to 2021) know the laws and procedures inside out, or know someone who does, and when we want to, we will do everything to the absolute letter. “When we want to,” meaning “someone is being an asshole and, frankly, I don’t make enough to put up with them.” Plus, it’s unassailable: If someone complains or tries to get you in trouble, you can just point to the law/guidebook (whichever the case may be) and say, “I was going by the rules.” And if you’re doing everything correctly and lawfully, no one can touch you: Your boss can’t write you up, because it would make them look both petty and ignorant. The asshole requesting it can’t complain, for the same reasons. (And no, feds don’t “try and make life difficult” for people; we know ways around the red tape, and we’re often just as frustrated by all the procedural bullshit as you are.)

Personal example: In my fed position, I was an administrative assistant and the office purchase card holder. Technically, I was only supposed to order supplies for the employees in my division, and only my division. But, since my office hosted [my division] and a Taxpayer Assistance Center (henceforth, TAC), I would take orders from TAC employees and, when I had to justify it (because I had to justify every single order, so my plan manager would approve it), I would write “[item] is needed by [Pretend Mulling’s office] for [reasons].” I mean, the orders were all sent to me, and I was the one who signed for them, so it didn’t really matter who was ordering them. And so it went for the first two years.

Until the TAC manager decided that she didn’t need to communicate with me for anything but supplies. Nao. I was also supposed to escort taxpayers to different parts of the office, because that’s part of the job description. And when I was called back in three days a week, I was aware that (1) [TAC Manager] had just had a baby, and (2) TAC was generally understaffed, and because of those, it was sometimes closed to the public. Knowing that, I asked [TAC Manager] if she could send me an email when TAC was closed, for whatever reasons. She said no, I could just check the sign at the door. So I did, and then I sent her another email, saying basically, “TAC was closed three days this week, but the sign didn’t reflect that. I can change the sign myself, but before I do it, I need to know if the office is closed, or else you’ll get complaints from taxpayers.” She still refused. Then the office closed for 18 months, due to a water main break, and while TAC was still “open,” I was working remotely, save mail runs on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

So there was one time, when I was coming in to distribute the mail and saw a couple waiting near the TAC entrance. I said hello and asked if they wanted to see someone from TAC. And they didn’t really understand me, because they didn’t speak much English, and I don’t speak much Spanish. So I said, “Uno momento, por favor, let me see if TAC is open today, I’ll be right back,” badged into my part of the office, and asked someone from GSA who was there full-time if TAC was open. They said yes, so I did my mail duties, went back out to the couple, and brought them into TAC… Where I realized the person who’d told me they were open was wrong. At which point, I said, “Lo siento, I think we’re closed today, no one told me,” and escorted them both back to the hallway. I left shortly after that, because at the time, we didn’t have internet at the office (our physical mainframe was completely fried during the water main break, and it took almost the entire 18 months to get a new one installed).

Only to be called by my supervisor the next morning, saying [TAC Manager] had told her I escorted a pair of taxpayers into the ~obviously closed~ TAC and left them there, unattended, for two hours. (Note: My manager didn’t believe her, she was just telling me because it was reported as a security breach, so it had to go up to the Office of the Inspector General, who would open an investigation and interview me… It was a whole thing, and it took six months to close it. Also, the two Inspectors they sent out told me, “We watched the video, we don’t know where [TAC Manager] got two hours from, but we have a job to do, so just tell us what happened from your perspective.” I was absolved of any wrongdoing, but god, that was annoying.) I told her that I had been told TAC was open, and that when I realized it wasn’t, I immediately led the people out. Furthermore, I told her, I had sent several emails to [TAC Manager], asking her if she could tell me when TAC was and wasn’t open (all of which I forwarded to her after our phone call), since “escorting taxpayers” is, in fact, part of my job description. At which point she said she believed me, she thought [TAC Manager] was completely out of line, and that I didn’t have to do another thing for TAC until this was resolved.

A week later, [TAC Manager] sent me an email, asking me if I could order some supplies for her. I emailed her back, saying, cordially, “Unfortunately, I was informed by my supervisor that I am only to order supplies for my division from now on. Please find attached the official outline of my duties. My apologies in advance. You are free to take extant supplies from the supply room.” When she called my manager to complain, my manager told her that if my official job description didn’t include ordering supplies for TAC, there was nothing she could do, and also, that me ordering supplies for TAC while I was under investigation for breaching TAC, it could be seen as a conflict of interest.

Make no mistake, [TAC Manager] knew that I was telling her to fuck off, and more importantly, why. And there was not one goddamn thing she could do about it. Now, when other TAC employees asked me what was going on, I told them, and they got mad on my behalf. I can only imagine the volume of blood that poured out of [TAC Manager]’s ears for the next six months.

I’d say there’s a moral to this story, but this isn’t about morals, it’s about methods. (Also, don’t treat admin assistants badly. We’re the people holding the office together, we know almost every procedure for everything our higher-ups do, and we’re paid at least 40% less than everyone else, despite doing most of the work.)

…If you need a Biblical explanation: “Turn the other cheek” is malicious compliance. Back in those days, you would slap a slave on their left cheek (everyone is right-handed back then), but you’d slap an equal on their right cheek. So “turn the other cheek”, in that case, isn’t passivity or pacifism, but a challenge: “Tell me how you really feel.” And it put the person hitting you in a lose-lose position: If they slapped you on your right cheek, they’re slapping an equal, therefore subject to punishment under the law. If they walked away, they’re admitting defeat.

I think we, as a species, need to learn the value of malicious compliance. Fortunately, the internet has tons of stories on it. My personal favorite? “My Food Must Be Salt-Free,”, in which an invitee to a dinner party, Sally, claims she’s on a salt-free diet and that the host must either make their food without salt or Sally won’t come… And the host makes Sally’s food without salt. Just like she asked. When Sally complains that her food has no flavor, the host assures her that she’s made her the same food as everyone else, just without salt. “It’s at this point that Sally has a moment of clarity. It’s painfully obvious on her face. She realizes she can’t complain about the lack of salt as she’s already told the table about her salt-free life. She also can’t claim it tastes terrible if everyone else is raving about the food. She literally looks like she was about to cry at the table.”

Become ungovernable, do malicious compliance, and throw sand in the gears of fascism. And keep your whimsy.