There is No "They" in a Democracy

There is no they in a democracy. It's all us in here.

One of the most consistent term in any conspiracy theory is, "They." "They are making up these numbers .."
"They set this up so that .."
"They don't want you to know .."

One of the less obvious things that conspiracy theories do is make you helpless. Some mysterious group is up to no good. We don't even know who they are. We are up against a conspiracy and there is nothing we can do.

Do you know who your congressperson is? Someone who is like you but decided to run for office.
Do you know who runs that big company? Someone who is like you but started a company or focused on a career and moving up the corporate ladder.
Does luck play into this? Yep. Are some people born on third base and others born walking up to the plate with three strikes? Yes. Variation in starting positions and reasonable aspirations are huge but they're more often thought determinant than they actually are.

The Republican Party never gives its base a ban on abortion and always gives its elites tax cuts. Every time they get into power. Why do these elites (who are so successful at getting their tax cuts) so hate people like Bill Clinton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? The thought that the son of a widowed hairdresser or a former bartender could actually have power and change laws outrages the folks who prefer to think - and prefer that you think - that only the rich can change laws. The success of these upstarts might actually undermine your sense of resignation.

But of course it's a democracy. Even a failing businessman whose only success in life was to play a successful businessman on TV, or a politician from a state college who stutters can become president.

So if some of the wealthy hate politicians who might embolden common folks to run for office and push for policies that work for common folks, why do so many lesser mortals hate it when commoners take office? It's a reminder that any one of us can become one of "them," and it is harder to take the thought that you could have but did not then the thought that "they" are in control and there is nothing much you could have done about it anyway. The notion of a "they" lets you reject the notion that you might be responsible for finding or creating a way to make a difference. The sense of helplessness that comes from an embrace of "they" being in charge is quite liberating. Even when life sucks, there is nothing you can do about it., so, "Oh well."

There is no "they" in a democracy, only "us," different people who started with and seized different sets of opportunities and possibilities. The bad news is that this truth makes you responsible. Of course that's also the good news. If you're responsible, you can also change things. And that is something that "they" definitely don't want you to realize.