Power is Decided Before Votes Are Ever Cast

How influence, patronage, and institutional leverage shape outcomes long before legitimacy appears.

Most people think power begins when a faction captures offices. When votes are counted. When authority becomes official.

That belief is most convenient and beneficial to the powerful.

It keeps attention fixed on the final act, where everything already looks decided.

In reality, power settles long before legitimacy is assigned. Offices do not generate power…