Cognitive Coup

If it’s a good week, I employ democratic principles in my personal life without having to consider them at all. This is my hope. Simultaneously, however, I actively seek to dismantle them at the same degree. This is the cursed cycle we Americans find ourselves in; democracy for the individual – individualism that forces us to abandon the good of the entirety, of the whole, of our communities. The microscopic aspects of democracy – the things we practice in our daily lives – are certainly mundane, but simultaneously prolific in their importance. 

In theory, I am a believer in a strong democratic nation where all voices are heard and all people are equal. In practice, in my daily life, I so desperately want to be a dictator. Moment to moment, it’s a battle of control. I’m a cognitive coup d’etat.

This seizure of control is most likely a symptom of a much greater problem: Repression. The authoritarian “practice” (as if it’s yoga or baseball) thrives on repression. I harbor deep resentment towards the things I cannot have or cannot be. The hate I feel when I see a man open up and eat a bag of chips in the checkout line before paying for them is a strong and powerful feeling. When this happens, I am bearing witness to a person whose gratification cannot be delayed thirty seconds, an individual whose needs do not align with the system in place, a human form publicly manifesting the American values of life, liberty, and the truest pursuit of happiness. And I resent this man, because secretly, he is my hero.

Americans compromise democracy in exchange for control in other areas. For me, my Netflix account is a great example of the American political system. I am fully aware, every evening, that my girlfriend commands the TV. While I have the ability to nominate a title to watch for the evening, I must reluctantly accept that I ultimately have no decisive power, should she choose a different movie. She has expansive executive authority. There are no checks and balances. And while many might call this a dictatorship, the unfortunate truth is my money pays for the Netflix account, and unless I refuse to fund it, it will continue to be used against my interest. I do concede control over the content we consume for the evening, because I know this is a compromise that maintains diplomatic peacekeeping. 

I’m not surprised the United States is in such dire democratic upheaval, because for many of us, the virtues of democracy do not innately trickle down to our daily lives. In theory, training Americans how to uphold democracy sounds like such a simple, patriotic task – unfortunately, we can’t even manage the smallest parts of democracy without minor civil unrest.

In school, they try to teach you about democracy in associated student body organizations, or Student Council for those whose schools are in jurisdiction of the Galactic Senate. Running for student body will be many teenagers’ first time realizing that politics is a spectacle that the general population is beholden to despite the political elite’s failure to deliver any comprehensive initiatives. 

In high school, I did manage to rise the ranks of our organized student body and surrendered myself happily to the arms of political elitism. My senior year, I was elected student body president, beating out our incumbent’s try at a second term, and squashing a radical opposition campaign steered by my best friend. We all made the same empty promises. Prom will be dope. Vending machine will be dope. Any individuals aiding and abetting the flow of marijuana into the school will immediately be detained and all substances and/or paraphernalia will be confiscated and distributed amongst the President and his friends. 

We participated in the “democratic” process not because it was a full representation of the wants and needs of the student body, but because it was cool to think you have control, and it looked good on college applications. This is how most of us view our democracy now, because Americans are driven by self interest, which in turn becomes self-sabotage. And then, one day, we hit a real iceberg because we didn’t heed the warnings of the guides before us, and instead of taking decisive and collective action, we write a self-important essay on an email newsletter that vaguely summarize the collapse of a capitalist system that was never supposed to work for us anyway.