. A union that centralizes information, manages dissent, treats members as turnout assets, or converts dues into institutional fog begins to imitate the managerial class it was built to oppose. The cure is not weaker unions. The cure is a labor movement so democratic, transparent, member-led, and materially accountable that workers can once again say, without irony: this is ours.

There is a quiet hazard to doing good.

When an altruist steps into a chaotic field, whether social, political, or spiritual, they become part of the system they hope to heal. The turbulence that drew them in can, if not approached with care, recoil upon them or those nearby.