Getting Ready for Good Trouble
"Find a way to get in trouble: good trouble, necessary trouble. Make our country what our country should be." -- John Lewis, May 2014
It has become more and more clear over the last few weeks that all three branches of federal government -- executive, legislative, and judicial -- have become captured and are now controlled by Donald Trump and his representatives. We can no longer hope for Congress or the courts to save us. The law was always tilted in favor of those in power, but it is swiftly being converted from at least a possible means to resist fascism into a direct tool of fascism itself.
How about institutional forces outside the government? The "fourth estate" -- media -- have largely been cowed into silence or tepid underreporting under threat of expensive lawsuits. Campuses are eerily, meekly silent -- as the president of one of the seven Maine public universities told faculty recently, "the lesson of Germany is that you hide." Massive law firms have entered into agreements to help the administration squash dissent, and principled pro bono lawyers are so overwhelmed with case work that most people being hurt by the government can't find legal representation. The national Democratic Party is uninterested in promoting broad grassroots resistance, playing the sort of inside game and election fundraising reserved for normal times. A few of our local civic institutions (clubs, churches, school boards, libraries) are providing resources to help build resistance, but too many are hiding as well, insisting that because they have some members who support fascism, they must remain neutral.
When the law and our institutions are at best cowardly silent and at worst intentionally complicit in the destruction of our democracy, all that is left to us is... us.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation, a mission and a mandate, to stand up, to speak up and speak out, and get in the way, get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble." --John Lewis, November 2016
The Audacity has to date been working within the system of laws and conflict-averse norms to demonstrate the presence of dissent and on more than one occasion appeal to the system. We will continue to do so. But as the late civil rights icon and member of Congress John Lewis reminded us throughout his life, when the system of laws, government, and status quo are themselves twisted toward wickedness and oppression, speaking out remains important but is no longer sufficient.
"Good Trouble" is a phrase that John Lewis used to refer not only to declarations made in safe spaces, but actions that identify and confront the sources of injustices in society. "Good trouble, necessary trouble" involves getting in the way of the system. Directly confronting the system. Nonviolently obstructing the system. Causing disturbance of the system to provoke needed change. To commit to causing Good Trouble in Maine is to commit to nonviolent action that causes inconvenience to the status quo, to make the way things are unstable and the people who benefit from them uncomfortable. Making good trouble also means exposing ourselves to the personal consequences of our disruption. Are some of us willing to engage in good trouble? If we are, what steps must we take to make it happen?
What does it look like for good trouble to live on in these times, here in Knox County, Maine? What good trouble is needed here, and how do we bring it about?
On the five-year anniversary of John Lewis' death -- Thursday July 17 -- we are holding a community meeting to discuss this crucial question. All members of The Audacity and the broader public are welcomed to 345 Broadway Rockland at 7 PM.
Good Trouble Lives On, July 17 2025, is a national day of focus on the question of good trouble, and our community meeting is a part of that day. Creating a morally righteous, responsibly nonviolent, and practically effective campaign to disrupt the new American system where we live is not an overnight endeavor, and so this day marks just a beginning of a process in which we will:
1. Ask the question, "what does good trouble look like in Knox County, Maine?"
2. Listen for answers.
3. Form affinity groups based on different answers to this question.
4. Within the broad boundaries of The Audacity (nonviolence, support for diverse, equitable, and inclusive democracy, and opposition to authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption), support the work of these affinity groups to enact effectively disruptive good trouble.
When? Thursday, July 17 at 7 pm
Where? 345 Broadway (the Universalist Church of Rockland -- park across the street)
Who? You and three friends.
This meeting is a moral reckoning, marking a new step in the struggle for freedom. The meeting needs your voice -- so come. Bring three friends. Use your voice and open your ears as we find a way to our own authentic version of good trouble.