Resistance Is Not a Vision
You may remember the Borg from Star Trek.
They would appear and announce:
“Resistance is futile.”
It was terrifying because it meant you would be absorbed into a system with no freedom, no individuality, no humanity.
Today, many people feel something similar.
- Our democracy feels fragile.
- Our economy feels rigged.
- Our media ecosystem amplifies outrage.
- And 360-degree dehumanization trains us to see one another as threats.
So people say, “We must resist.”
And sometimes, yes—we must.
But resistance is not a vision.
Blocking harm is necessary. It is sometimes urgent. But it is not the future we are trying to build.
Increasingly, I hear people—across the political spectrum—say something important:
“Tell me what you’re for.”
That question deserves an answer.
The Vision: A World Where Everyone Belongs and Everyone Can Thrive
The vision is simple to say and demanding to live:
A world where everyone belongs and everyone can thrive — no exceptions.
This is not naïve. It is rooted in one of the oldest ideas in human history:
There is one humanity.
Across traditions, cultures, and philosophies, we find a version of this social contract:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Not just your in-group.
Not just those who agree with you.
Neighbor.
This moral ground is what makes civil society possible. It is the soil in which democracy grows.
Without it, politics becomes tribal warfare.
Economics becomes extraction.
Community becomes competition.
Bridge, Block, Build
If the vision is belonging and shared thriving, how do we move toward it?
We need three strategies working together:
- Bridge — Build trust across difference
- Block — Protect people from harm and defend core rights
- Build — Create new civic muscle and life-giving structures
All three matter.
If we only bridge, harm can go unchecked.
If we only block, we exhaust ourselves and harden divisions.
If we only build, without protecting what exists, it can be dismantled.
Blocking is a strategy.
It is not the destination.
Thriving together is the destination.
Over the next three posts, we’ll explore each strategy—and why we must support one another even when we are working in different lanes.
Because democracy requires belonging and civic muscle.
Both grow in the soil of one humanity and love of neighbor.