The Tyranny is already here (and has been)
This election is nothing new
They keep saying and have been for the past 8 years that every election since has been and is a “threat to our democracy.” This is the new fear trick, and It’s bullshit.
Democracy is not synonymous with freedom, and yet we are led to believe that voting alone secures our liberty. For decades, the political establishment has used fear as a primary tactic to coerce us into endorsing its authority, instilling the idea that our choices in elections are crucial for preventing societal collapse or tyranny. However, research suggests otherwise. A study out of Princeton University in 2013 concluded that the United States functions as an oligarchy, not a true democracy, and our voting rituals do little to alter the structures of power that operate behind the scenes.
Interestingly, the term “democracy” is nowhere to be found in the founding documents of the United States. This omission is telling: the founders were wary of pure democracy and more focused on checks and balances and protecting liberty from majority rule. Yet every four years, we engage in a grand performance, a “sorcery” of sorts, that convinces us the fate of our world hinges on electing the “right” president. Meanwhile, the unelected branches of government, from agencies to corporations and lobbying networks, continue unperturbed. The values and incentive structures remain unchanged, and the wheels of the system turn as they always have. Nothing foundational shifts; nothing truly changes.
What we’re left with is a sophisticated illusion, a spectacle of choice without substance. Each vote we cast is a vote that reaffirms the system’s legitimacy, as if to say we accept its rules and grant it permission to continue. But true freedom is not found in choosing from pre-selected options every four years. True freedom would mean reimagining our role in society, challenging the systems that bind us, and recognizing that the current model does not serve us but those who have always wielded power.
By participating in this ritual of voting, we give power to a mechanism that continues to function not by our consent but by our complacency. If we seek real change, we must question the game itself rather than accept its terms. We must reexamine what it means to be free and whether our freedom can coexist with a system that requires us to vote in order to legitimize its illegitimate authority to rule over us.
The only way this whole thing works is the perception of authority, the power to control narratives, use fear, and create false dichotomies and choices. But we can choose, not to choose, and to divest and reject the rigid binary illusions that have been manufactured to keep us playing scarce and afraid.