The Post-State Billionaire, Part 5B: Burn It Down or Regulate It to Hell?

Regulate if you can. Burn if you must. Either way, the billionaires won’t give up power without a fight. Pick your front. Apply pressure. Break the machine.

TL;DR

Do we fix Big Tech with laws or torch it with code and protest? The answer is yes. Use regulation to buy time and sabotage to build freedom. Reform and revolt are not opposites; they’re co-conspirators. The only unacceptable move is silence.

Every movement reaches the fork: reform or rupture? Should we fix the machine or kick it until it breaks?

The billionaires have made their choice — no reform, just domination. But what about us? Should we call the FTC? Or build bonfires?

Case for Regulation: Use the State Against Them

• Antitrust law exists for a reason. It broke up Standard Oil. It can break up Amazon.

• Public utilities were once private empires. We nationalized electricity, water, and transit. Why not broadband?

• Labor law can be weaponized. See the recent strikes at Amazon, Starbucks, and Google contractors.

• Europe’s GDPR and DSA are flawed, but they prove that regulation can bend tech’s spine.

In short, the state isn’t dead. It’s just been bought off. It's time to repossess it.

Case for Fire: Reform Won’t Save Us

• The regulators are captured. See Lina Khan’s uphill war against Amazon.

• The courts are corrupted. See SCOTUS kneecapping the EPA and campaign finance.

• The laws are outdated. They can’t parse algorithms, let alone preemptively stop them.

• And tech moves too fast. Regulation is always chasing a ghost.

Sometimes, the system is too broken to fix. Sometime,s you need to make it irrelevant.

The Real Answer: Both.

Regulation where possible. Arson where necessary.

We regulate to buy time. We burn to build vision. We file lawsuits and host seed boxes. We testify to Congress and build shadow infrastructure.

The goal isn’t punishment. It’s liberation.

Historical Echoes: Resistance Is a Spectrum

• The New Deal was born from the threat of revolution.

• The Civil Rights Act followed civil disobedience and urban riots.

• The breakup of Bell came after decades of monopoly lawsuits and consumer revolt.

Power doesn’t yield to politeness. It yields to pressure — from all sides.

---

Action (Even If It Feels Small or Impossible):

Pick your front.

• Run for office.

• File a complaint with the FTC.

• Build a censorship-resistant tool.

• Sabotage surveillance infrastructure.

• Fund a strike.

Just don’t be passive. The billionaires are betting you will be.

Go back to the beginning: The Post-State Billionaire, Part 6: Endgame – What Comes After the Empire?