The Circus of Democratic Politics
Democracy, much like liberty, has become an empty slogan in an otherwise undemocratic and oppressive society
Iconic shouting matches, quirky election campaigns, and debates that put reality TV to shame are all hallmarks of so-called democratic society. Of course, that is in addition to a stunted political compass, that pits virtually identical candidates against each other for pure entertainment value. Not to discount the importance of political machines, designed for the youth’s indoctrination into parties they don’t understand.
Beautiful.
Truly, the pride of the democratic ideal, the dream of the ancient Athenian, and the vision of Enlightened Humankind.
As bitterly hyperbolic as I may seem, the above is not that great of an exaggeration. We live in a society that so profoundly believes that it is somehow democratic, dazed by the rhetoric of a media machine acting as the echo chamber of the elite. However, we’ve strayed far away from the democratic ideal many of us seem to hold, and the way back is barred with a blockade of the elite’s self-interest.
“Define Democracy!” you say.
Well, democracy, from the Greek word Demokratia literally translates to “the people rule” or “the people power”
Quite vague. We can draw out that democracy is a structure where “the people” play a major role in the process of governance. The exact nature of this role is ill-defined, despite some clarification from Plato and Aristotle modeled around the Athenian Direct Democracy.
Fine.
Let’s look closer in history. Abe Lincoln gave us a bit more context. “Democracy,” he said, “is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Wow. That doesn’t help one bit, aside from adding a few lofty words, Ole’ Abe keeps us in the dark (perhaps purposefully) about the true nature of “Democracy.”
Fine.
The modern idea of a representative democracy is flawed too. It gives power to the people during election seasons only to give the representatives free rein in between.
And thus is the (un)democratic conundrum: Democracy itself, in its entirety, is ill-defined in modern terms, and, as such, is often manipulated by the semantics of dictators to fit their authoritarian vision.
Similarly, the elite co-opt democracy to fit their neoliberal vision of postmodern capitalist society, where people are similarly exploited albeit under the veneer of freedom and liberty.
Long gone are the days when privilege was overt and a virtue to be proud of, yet privilege itself has endured in a subtler form. It appears as though we are so thoroughly convinced by the proposition that we live in a merit-based society, and that all forms of privilege have been eradicated and chased away into the coffers of the past. Many of us legitimately believe that hard work ultimately pays off.
And it does. For the profiteer.
Your hard work pays off for the employer reaping the surplus value of your labor, no matter how generous and luxurious your salary may appear. It will always be less than the true value you provide your company with. Are you satisfied with having large swathes of your labor’s value stolen by a man who often does not even know your name?
The idea that we live freely is an idea fundamentally rooted in delirium. What does it mean to live freely? If you define freedom as waking up, going to a nine-to-five job, paying taxes, and consuming products as true freedom then yes, we might live in a truly free society. But I hope none of you define freedom as such.
To live truly free is to live with the ability to act, without infringing upon others’ true freedom, without facing consequences.
On these grounds I ask: are we truly free?
Enslaved by the industrial empires in the shackles of waged labor, the working people must come to their senses and unionize, resist, and fight for their rights!
People of all identities, colors, and ethnicity must set their differences aside and realize that they do not live in a democratic society. They live under the oppressive foot of multi-millionaires that do not care for the emancipation of the poor. This is not a democracy, nor is it a republic.
I do think it to be quite sad that working class people identify divides amongst themselves far more often than they do with their primary exploiters.
The dream of democracy that was born long ago must be fulfilled by the will of the working people such that all government becomes of the people, by the people, and for the people. Till then, democracy remains a soothing lie told by governments to secure their deniability in front of the world, as well as their own people.
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