The Oligarchs' Lost Letters: A Manufactured Democracy
A Letter On The Politicians Who Serve Us, And The Many Who Believe They Serve Them
To My Fellow Men,
The flippant nature of politicians in this age is quite advantageous for those willing to exploit them. A modern politician, while claiming to believe in a principle one day, will flip his opinion the next for the right amount of money or power.
This is unsurprising in this decadent age where men worship money rather than principles, where the only principle that matters is the amount of money donated to a political cause or candidate. It makes turning my own interests into the interests of the government of our society very easy.
Obviously this is subject to competition among those who have the resources to play the same game as I, but my own interests are relatively small compared to those who are my alleged competition, so collusion becomes not only predictable and easy to acquire but a necessity. This necessity is derived from the fact that I support the interests of those I collude with, and they support the interests I represent. This is only possible through the fact that those I collude with benefit from promoting my interests regardless of whether they like me as a person. These men understand that my own interests are somewhat tied to theirs, and if they were to break from me or I from them then the necessity may evaporate.
The fickle nature of the many is fascinating to watch. They see their politicians flip their opinions and become essentially a different character than they were a decade ago, and yet they still vote for those politicians. It truly makes one think, are the many truly so ignorant that they cannot see the game that is being run before their own eyes? Or do the many just love to be lied to constantly, do they only love to feel like they were heard, yet when nothing happens they do not withhold their vote but fall into the same mechanism as before. Even a man such as myself, who routinely takes advantage of the nature of this current generation of politicians who have no conscience, no morals, and no shame for their flippant nature and the constant betrayal of their promises, feels that men are either far too unintelligent and ignorant to understand what is happening, or they just love being lied to constantly without regret.
Or perhaps it is the romanticized idealism they inherit from their fathers about their society? Do they truly believe that democracy empowers them? Do they truly believe they are more free because they get to “choose” who is in power? Perhaps the ideals they cling to are so strong in their minds they will tolerate an inordinate amount of abuse as long as they believe their system still works. Although even the most idealistic among them has to be able to observe that the nature of their system is shaped and directed by those who have the resources.
The people they elect are chosen for them before they even cast a vote. And once those politicians are chosen, they give them two different options to pick from. There is no democracy in this society, only a controlled leadership class chosen by those who own the electoral institutions they trust in. We the powerful may have factional disputes from time to time but that does not matter when the politicians installed listen to us first and foremost. The many see two opposing viewpoints and we see agreement and the perpetuation of the status quo with minor deficiencies.
Perhaps they love their lie of freedom, perhaps they are simply too foolish to understand that politicians are not on their side, or perhaps they just love being manipulated constantly. Regardless of which of these options it is, the many are easily controlled, which in turn makes the politicians easily controlled. This is very advantageous for those who are at the top. Perhaps we have been entrusted with more because we are more wise. Perhaps we must lead the people in the correct direction because they cannot do it themselves.
Perhaps not, though, perhaps we are simply lucky. Maybe we are entrusted to lead, but the only way for us to truly lead is for our interests to be secured, even against the will of the many. So let us lead the way because we are the wisest among the many.
From,
The Modernist
The Oligarchs’ Lost Letters is a free PT series examining power, wealth, and control through the fictionalized private words of those who have always held it.
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Good read! Tyranny is easiest to resist when it arrives with chains. It is far more difficult to recognize when it arrives as a story everyone has learned to repeat.
Whether one agrees or not, the most valuable part of this piece is the invitation to distinguish democratic ideals from democratic practice.