It’s ten in the morning and you're on the road. Traffic isn’t moving and you stick your head out the window. In the distance, you see an asshole with a sign. Maybe you agree with the sign, maybe not. It doesn’t matter, because whatever the sign is asking you to do — end a war, stop a pipeline, legalize this or criminalize that — is something only a handful of people with power can do, and you know they can’t see the sign from the cruising altitude of their private jets. It’s happened in LA, New York, Chicago, at Burning Man, and on San Francisco's Bay Bridge, just to list a few examples from 2023. It’s almost certain that by the end of 2024, we’ll have a new list.

But why?

Shutting down a highway or a bridge is a disruption to everyday life and commerce that conveys a sense of grassroots urgency and desperation. In reality, these events are almost always coordinated by longstanding, well-funded advocacy organizations, many of which are bankrolled by giant, billionaire-funded NGOs called “donor-advised funds.” Essentially, these are tax-exempt organizations that funnel money into donor-chosen causes, allowing donors to take immediate tax write-offs for money that can be distributed at a later date. Since money is usually pooled but can be earmarked, donor-advised funds also function to obscure exactly which organizations donors are personally funding. In recent years, donor-advised funds have been behind traffic shutdowns promoting BLM and environmental issues. For example, the 2019 “Extinction Rebellion” protests that shut down traffic in DC were partly funded by the Climate Emergency Fund, which has links to many wealthy donors, including members of the Kennedy clan.