Bad guys are powerful because they are organized. Like you said: an organized 1% can wipe floor with the rest 99%. You can set up a nonprofit org funded by membership fees and call it say "a software engineering guild". That's very legal and very cool. Come up with the mission statement, rules (e.g. one vote per member), basic background checks for new members, figure how you'd protect it from bad actors, and get a few hundred people to join. I'd have no problem with 1k a year in fees. Make sure to provide plausible deniability to members. Maybe call them shareholders: we already own shares from hundreds of companies, nothing wrong with adding one more to the list. With those fees you'll be able to hire law firms and various lobbyists to rock the boat. Luckily, our gov doesn't permit private armies, so you won't need to compete on that front. You'll become the number 1 target for FANG, but if you set up the org right, it will survive even if you have to leave. This type of organizations act like lenses that focus energy of thousands of people into a laser beam.