And it will never happen because the people who control the resources also control the narrative. They promote their candidates, who change the laws in their favour, and progressively make things worse for your average person.
The system you describe is a pipe dream, and it’s a nice dream, but it’s not reflective of the world we live in today.
It’s literally the only possible system that could work. The alternative is just giving unrestricted power to politicians, and the people have no say at all.
Their power is ultimately derived from the voting public. That’s it. That is the power. You either have the ultimate power rest with the people, or the people have zero power.
It’s a cop out excuse to not put in the effort to be active and informed in the system. “It’s pointless anyway” is just defeatist bullshit.
I really wish I could believe in the system as much as you do. I think I’d be happier that way.
However, all the power lies with the capital. The capital controls the narrative, which in turn leads to people voting against their interest. The capital promotes their politicians. The politicians enact politics in favour of the capital. Then ultimately, capital controls the forces.
See for example how Murdoch and Thatcher completely destroyed the newspaper unions in England during the 80s. They went from having really strong worker rights and collective power, to being completely powerless and literally shot at by police within the span of a few years, all due to processes the workers were purposely locked out of.
It’s the only system we can have that the people will have any power. It’s either democracy, or being ruled over. And we will always trend towards the latter if the people abdicate the power they have.
There will NEVER be a time where we can just sit back and say “cool, things are good now, we don’t need to participate in politics anymore”. It will ALWAYS be either fighting to enforce our own power, or fighting to get that power back through revolution.
The power may lie with capital right now, but that’s because >1/3 of people (at least in the US) simply sit at home on their fat asses and don’t even try to participate in the system. And that’s for the biggest elections too. Where things really matter, at the state and local level, primaries where you get a say in who is even on the ballot, turnout is even worse.
Where I am, we have mail in voting, and a ballot is automatically sent to you, along with a booklet with everything on the ballot. The full text of what you’re voting on, a plain English explanation of what it will do, any tax changes that would happen from it, and arguments for and against. For primaries, if you’re not registered with a party you get both ballots and get to choose which one to vote in. It literally could not be any easier to vote. Our primaries this year? Thirty-fucking-six percent. 36%. And that was a “surge” in participation.
You can vote in your underwear at home, for weeks before the election date. And 64% of people still said fuck it, they don’t care enough. **That’s **entirely why the wealthy are able to control things. The people do not give a shit enough about it to even do their basic civic responsibility and exercise their vote, from their goddamn couches.
And it will never happen because the people who control the resources also control the narrative. They promote their candidates, who change the laws in their favour, and progressively make things worse for your average person.
The system you describe is a pipe dream, and it’s a nice dream, but it’s not reflective of the world we live in today.
It’s literally the only possible system that could work. The alternative is just giving unrestricted power to politicians, and the people have no say at all.
Their power is ultimately derived from the voting public. That’s it. That is the power. You either have the ultimate power rest with the people, or the people have zero power.
It’s a cop out excuse to not put in the effort to be active and informed in the system. “It’s pointless anyway” is just defeatist bullshit.
They’re calling it the falsest dichotomy of all time
I really wish I could believe in the system as much as you do. I think I’d be happier that way.
However, all the power lies with the capital. The capital controls the narrative, which in turn leads to people voting against their interest. The capital promotes their politicians. The politicians enact politics in favour of the capital. Then ultimately, capital controls the forces.
See for example how Murdoch and Thatcher completely destroyed the newspaper unions in England during the 80s. They went from having really strong worker rights and collective power, to being completely powerless and literally shot at by police within the span of a few years, all due to processes the workers were purposely locked out of.
It’s not about believing in the system.
It’s the only system we can have that the people will have any power. It’s either democracy, or being ruled over. And we will always trend towards the latter if the people abdicate the power they have.
There will NEVER be a time where we can just sit back and say “cool, things are good now, we don’t need to participate in politics anymore”. It will ALWAYS be either fighting to enforce our own power, or fighting to get that power back through revolution.
The power may lie with capital right now, but that’s because >1/3 of people (at least in the US) simply sit at home on their fat asses and don’t even try to participate in the system. And that’s for the biggest elections too. Where things really matter, at the state and local level, primaries where you get a say in who is even on the ballot, turnout is even worse.
Where I am, we have mail in voting, and a ballot is automatically sent to you, along with a booklet with everything on the ballot. The full text of what you’re voting on, a plain English explanation of what it will do, any tax changes that would happen from it, and arguments for and against. For primaries, if you’re not registered with a party you get both ballots and get to choose which one to vote in. It literally could not be any easier to vote. Our primaries this year? Thirty-fucking-six percent. 36%. And that was a “surge” in participation.
You can vote in your underwear at home, for weeks before the election date. And 64% of people still said fuck it, they don’t care enough. **That’s **entirely why the wealthy are able to control things. The people do not give a shit enough about it to even do their basic civic responsibility and exercise their vote, from their goddamn couches.