I guess my underlying assumption was that a dictatorship is not in play, but rather a gov elected by the people to represent them. I don’t see how the idea would come from the gov. The gov would be carrying out an idea from the people it represents.
Otherwise, what would you envision with the rejection of consumerism coming from the people? Do you mean individual actions like boycotts? I’ve been boycotting Black Friday for years but it’s not working.
I’ve also switched to a bicycle but this does nothing to get people out of cars. In fact by going to a bicycle, I made the street less crowded so car drivers are rewarded by my action. My individual actions don’t scale well enough. Nonetheless, I still take individual actions like consuming like a vegan more and more. And I hope it catches on. I hope the thread would inspire readers to boycott Black Friday. But I have little confidence it will make a dent.
EDIT: one thing I think I under-emphasized, which Europeans seem to pay attention to more than the rest of the world: Black Friday is a day off for non-retail workers. But retail workers don’t only have to work, but they also have a busy stressful and long work day while everyone else has fun. Those workers should have equal rights protections. I speak theoretically in a sense, because BF is a not a day off for anyone outside the US anyway.