Lately I've had quite a few small stakes sngos where I end up with around 6k chips with 3 other players and the blinds at like 20-40. Ive been playing tight and hoping the other players knock each other out but this never happens. All the other players tighten up too but protect their blinds like crazy. It seems pretty pointless to steal blinds at this point in the game but I dont know how else to get them to loosen up. How do you handle this?

Taking chips is never pointless, if you honestly beleive you can steal the blinds do it. The last thing you want as a chip leader is to leave the other stacks to battle it out, who-ever emerges as the victor will have a stack to rival yours, it's easier to attack them while they are still small stacks. This doesn't mean, however, to start raising every hand and play the table bully that so many people like to do when they are the large stack, all this will do is lose your stack as you run into hands. Just pick your spots, and don't be afraid to be aggressive when the time is right. The big stack has 2 advantages:

1) You are allowed to play your own game because you are not in danger of the blinds, so time is on your side.
2) You can take out any other player whereas no one can take you out, so a big mistake by you is not as costly as a big mistake made by your opponent.

If I'm a giant stack like the one you describe above, I have a little strategy I like to use to get the action going. For a round or 2 after I've become said stack, I play a little LAG, just enough for the others to notice. This gives them the impression of a lot of big stacks that I am going to be the bully. Then I tighten the screws and they find themselves calling me down when a lot of mediocre hands.