Our new section, "Members' Corner," is ready to host your thoughts, comments, and articles for discussion with your friends at PSW. All topics welcome (and you don't have to be a Nattering Naybob to contribute). Please send your submissions to me at "ilenecapsw" at gmail. ~ Ilene
Courtesy of Nattering Naybob.
From a Naybob of IT… and I've also been saying this for years… with the electorates "choice" of idiot A or incompetent B, both being marionettes, Pinocchio's dream is becoming a delusion….
The sense of having a real say, and possessing actual agency, is very empowering, and very rare, for members of the lower-middle class and the working class today.
The premier strategy for retaining power is to give the powerless a carefully managed illusion of decision-making and autonomy. Having a say over one's life and choices is called agency, and it is the illusion of agency that makes democracy such a powerful tool of control.
The second most effective means of maintaining power is to limit the choices offered the powerless. Offering the powerless false choices, i.e. the choice between two functionally equivalent options, provides the comforting illusion of agency while insuring that the status quo Power Elites remains in charge, regardless of the choice made by the powerless.
For example, give the powerless a choice between Tweedle-Dum (Republicans/Tories) and Tweedle-Dee (Democrats/Labour). Whomever they elect, the self-serving Power Elite of entrenched interests and wealth remains firmly in charge, for the Power Elite speaks with one voice through two mouths, one Establishment Democrat/Labour, the other Establishment Republican/Tory.
Understanding Brexit: The Powerless Press Their Thumb in the Eye of the Power Elite – Charles Hugh Smith – Of Two Minds
