Everything here is designed to be printed at home on a standard printer. Buttons can be cut out and pressed into 1.5" button blanks. Flyers are letter-size (8.5×11"). The brochure is a tri-fold on a single sheet. No permission needed. No cost. Just print and go.
Designed for standard 1.5" (38mm) button makers. Print on cardstock, cut along the circle, press into button blanks. Available at most craft stores or online for under $20 for a starter kit.
Standard 8.5" × 11" — print on any printer. The dark version looks best on cardstock or high-quality paper. The amber version prints well on standard paper in grayscale too.
Designed for 18" × 24" printing at a copy shop, but scales to any size. The number dominates. The message is visible from across a room.
Print double-sided on letter paper (8.5" × 11", landscape). Flip on long edge. Fold into thirds with the cover facing out. Six panels total — three outside, three inside.
1. Find your number. Go to youandafew.org and use the calculator to find 3.5% of your community.
2. Have the conversation. Talk to one person this week. Share how you feel and what the research says.
3. Build your few. Bring 2-3 people together. Over coffee. Over lunch. Over drinks. Just start.
4. Target the pillars. Ignore the spectacle. Focus on your local institutions: legislators, businesses, media, courts.
5. Maintain discipline. Nonviolent. Evidence-based. Empowering, not shaming. This is how it works.
youandafew.org
#YouAndAFew
Political scientist Erica Chenoweth studied 323 resistance campaigns from 1900–2006 — the largest dataset ever assembled on civil resistance.
She found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts, attract four times as many participants, and produce more durable democratic outcomes.
Most importantly, she found a threshold: every campaign that achieved sustained participation from 3.5% of the population succeeded. No exceptions.
In the U.S., 3.5% is about 11 million people. But in your workplace of 200, it's 7 people. In your school of 1,000, it's 35 students. In your town of 30,000, it's 1,050 people.
You don't need everyone. You need you, and a few.
Every nonviolent movement that reached 3.5% participation has succeeded. Every single one.
Double-sided tri-fold for the Coffee Conversation guide. Six panels: the 5 steps, exact scripts, objection handlers, the psychology, and what to do after. Everything someone needs to start their first conversation this week.
1. Open with honesty. Start with how you feel, not a pitch. "I've been watching what's happening to our democracy and I realized I've been keeping it to myself."
2. Listen first. Give them space. Any admission of concern — even cautious — is an opening.
3. Share the research. The 3.5% finding reframes everything: every nonviolent movement that reached it succeeded. Localize the number.
4. Invite, don't recruit. "What if a few of us just started talking honestly about this?" Invitation creates agency. Recruitment creates resistance.
5. End with a next step. "Could we grab lunch Thursday?" Specific, small, soon. Vagueness is where good intentions die.
youandafew.org/guide-coffee-conversation
#YouAndAFew
Pluralistic ignorance: Everyone privately disagrees but nobody says so — because they're reading everyone else's silence. You're not alone. You just think you are.
Social cost anxiety: You worry about being "that person." But the cost of silence compounds every day. The first person pays the highest cost — and creates the most change.
The bystander effect: The more people witness a crisis, the less likely anyone acts. A single dissenter breaks the spell. Be that person.
What if they say no? That's okay. "The door's open." You've planted a seed. Some people need time. Move to the next conversation.
You're not starting a revolution. You're having coffee. And that's how every movement begins.
Double-sided tri-fold for the Pillars strategy guide. Six panels: the 7 pillars, how they fall, why the leader is the distraction, one action per pillar this week, and the strategic rule.
⚖️ Judiciary — Support independence. Amplify judges who rule against overreach.
🏛️ Legislature — Flood with constituent contact. Phone calls > tweets. Show up at town halls.
📰 Media — Subscribe. Pay for journalism. Share reporting, not opinion.
💼 Business — Make courage profitable and complicity expensive. Consumer pressure works.
🛡️ Security — Personal relationships matter most. Veterans, families, retired officers create internal doubt.
⛪ Religious — Appeal to stated values: "Does this align with what we teach?"
🏫 Bureaucracy — Protect whistleblowers. Normalize documentation. Celebrate oaths upheld.
youandafew.org/guide-ignore-leader-target-pillars
#YouAndAFew
Every outrage, every norm violation, every shocking statement is designed to keep your attention fixed on one person. This is strategy, not incompetence.
When you focus on the leader, you amplify his message, trigger tribal loyalty in his base, and change nothing structurally. You become part of his communications strategy for free.
No leader governs alone. Every authoritarian depends on pillars of support — institutions and people who choose, every day, to cooperate. When enough defect, the regime cannot function.
The rule: For every minute reading about the leader, spend two minutes acting on a pillar. Call a legislator. Subscribe to a paper. Show up at a hearing. That's where the leverage is.
The leader is the lightning rod. The pillars are the grid. Knock out the grid.
Double-sided tri-fold for the Nonviolence guide. Six panels: the evidence, 198 methods sampled, myths debunked, the 4 mechanisms, and the discipline protocol.
Protest & Persuasion: Petitions, marches, vigils, teach-ins, op-eds, symbolic acts, social media campaigns, street theater
Non-cooperation: Boycotts, strikes, sanctuary, divestment, civil disobedience, slow-walking directives, mass resignation
Nonviolent Intervention: Sit-ins, blockades, occupations, parallel institutions, overloading courts, alternative markets
Discipline is everything. Any violence from the resistance triggers threat narratives, justifies crackdowns, alienates moderates, stops loyalty shifts, and fragments the movement. Deny your opponent that gift.
youandafew.org/guide-nonviolence
#YouAndAFew
Erica Chenoweth studied 323 campaigns from 1900–2006. The findings are unambiguous:
2× more likely to succeed — Nonviolent campaigns vs. armed conflicts. No category of conflict where violence outperforms.
4× more participants — Anyone can join: grandparents, teenagers, professionals, parents. Size is the strongest predictor of success.
53% vs. 26% — Nonviolent success rate vs. violent. "Violence is the only option" is a feeling, not a finding.
More durable outcomes — Countries that transition through nonviolence are significantly more likely to remain democratic 5, 10, and 20 years later.
It's not passivity. It's not weakness. It's force — applied with discipline, backed by evidence, proven by history.
Buttons: Print the button designs on white cardstock. Cut circles to 1.75" diameter (standard button maker size includes the wrap). Use a 1.5" button maker with clear mylar covers. Kits available for ~$20 on Amazon.
Flyers: Print on standard letter paper (8.5" × 11"). For the dark version, use high-quality paper or cardstock and a color printer. The amber version also works printed in grayscale on any printer. For posting outdoors, use a laser printer (ink won't run in rain).
Poster: Take the file to a print shop (FedEx Office, Staples, local copy shop) and print at 18" × 24" or 24" × 36". Cost is typically $3-8 per poster in black and white, $8-15 in color.
Brochures: Print double-sided on letter paper (8.5" × 11", landscape orientation, flip on long edge). Each brochure is 2 pages — Side A (outside) and Side B (inside) — for 6 panels total. Fold into thirds with the cover panel facing out. Works in color or grayscale. Each brochure is self-contained — it gives someone everything they need.
All materials are free to reproduce and distribute. No permission needed.