Can We Bend Reality Better?

Ursula K. Le Guin has a powerful quote, often shared via Instagram-quote text, about power and reality:

"We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. But so did the divine right of kings."

In grim times, I like to remember this: from overthrowing kings to securing labor rights, "impossible" victories are only impossible until they happen.

Yesterday, Bernie Sanders went full Le Guin in the Senate, reminding us that systems that seem immovable can and must be changed.

He didn’t quote Le Guin directly, though it’s a similar sentiment, though he did quote Nelson Mandela—"Everything is impossible until it is done."

Great speech, etc, etc, etc.

But I have to admit that I found this to be a strange sentiment — the kind of thing I desperately wanted someone to say on the Senate floor as a weirdo teen in the 2003 Bush era, that I’m far less concerned about in our current times.

In 2025, I do not doubt that things can radically shift in a few hours.

CLEARLY, centuries-old systems as we know it can be turned to dust: we’re seeing this in real-time as a far less visionary South African dismantles the American social safety net for profit.

At the same time — it’s grimly funny how much change—toward authoritarianism, economic collapse, and a systemic attack on POC, immigrants, queer/trans people, disabled people, and the poor—has to happen before we remember that reality can shift.

The authoritarians are much better at "reimagining" the future.

So the real question is: can we bend reality, too?

If they’re dismantling the rules and structures we are so determined to adhere to, then can we finally:

🔹 Build worker-led institutions that actually counter billionaire power?
🔹 Push policies that put economic control in the hands of the people?
🔹 Do more than just react— using every tool available to not just weaken their grip and build a future worth fighting for?

The coup is already unfolding. They’re setting the terms.

They’ve already bent reality.

Can we stop reacting and start bending reality in the time we've got?

More importantly, because I’m sick of every “rah rah let’s organize” take that doesn’t acknowledge our profound lack of capacity or the intensive amount of work already being done by many —

What will it take?

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This picture of Le Guin is of her with Harlan Ellison at Westercon in Portland, Oregon in 1984, and was chosen because she looks both tired and annoyed.