111 Years Later And The Illusion Remains For Many

Knowing how our society truly functions reveals the pathway for meaningful change. The world is waking up, even if slowly.

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In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt made several speeches during his campaign to become US president (which he did not win at that time.) Within those speeches are telling words I wanted to focus on today as part of recognizing the nature of our systems and the need for social change.

I’m not a US citizen, but I choose to focus on the US system in this piece because I recognize a few things of importance:

1. The US seems to be the country many fanaticize about as having the best governmental design. The “democracy that needs protecting” according to so many.

2. Like it or not, they remain a huge superpower, and much of the world follows in its path, good or bad.

3. Most other developed countries operate in much of the same manner anyway.

Here are some of Roosevelt’s words from that time.

“Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great staffs, both of the old parties have ganged aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them in martialling [sic] to serve their selfish purposes.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today.”

The Illusion

Perhaps this was once a pure system during the founding of The United States in 1776, but based on Roosevelt’s words, we know for the last century at least it has not been pure.

The pure story states that the United States is a Republic held by a government meant to represent its people via election. Each state had the freedom to operate differently within the country as a whole. The election process, at various levels, was meant to keep politicians accountable and thus limited terms would ensure authoritative and dictatorial rule was not possible. Layers of government including legislative, executive and judicial were meant to protect citizen rights and handle various aspects of power.

Guaranteeing freedom of the press, there would be the opportunity to allow a third party to expose the misdeeds and scandals of politicians without leaders silencing them.

No government can be perfect, but according to many, this was perhaps the best idea at the time.

The illusion here is that this pure idea is obviously not how US society functions. Believing in this illusion makes it so people are not living in reality, but a version of reality that doesn’t fit into earnest sensemaking.

Further, believing in this illusion often has the public believing that this pure story is under threat by one political side or another. To conservatives, it’s the progressives who are the problem. And to progressives, it's the conservatives threatening to steal democracy, and so on.

Breaking The Illusion

As I’ve stated in previous essays,

“Breaking The Illusion is coming to terms with the fact that our existing systems are not what we think they are. That what we believe about them is typically gleaned from years of propaganda and stories that act as wool pulled over our eyes so we cannot see or question the truth of what they are.

We learn The Illusion from family, friends, society, traditions, school, media and government. It is the world we are told to accept. "This is how it works and how it is."

It's true that The Illusion is just a story, but it's a powerful one that permeates our consciousness and our body. It's built right into our nervous systems. The good news is humans made up our society based on the culture and worldview we hold and uphold. To change it, we have to crack open that illusion to start wondering what else there can be.”

The purpose of this essay is to raise the observation of just how long aspects of our collective have been well aware of the illusion around governmental function, and how democracy as some believe doesn’t truly exist.

Thankfully, it feels like in the last 5 years that momentum is truly building to address the illusion and move on from it.

Back in 1912, Roosevelt knew the pure story of US governance was an illusion. The truth was clear to him, that unelected elites were running the show, controlling politicians and using media to control and manipulate the public via ownership of that media.

The primary role of government then, like now but perhaps worse now, seems to be the carrying out of duties on behalf of the elitist rulers who control them. Culturally, the government will do whatever is in its power to create a narrative that without them, things will be problematic. The government uses the media to sew this idea culturally, backed by the elitists who will impact both the government and the media.

While many are waking up to this obvious fact today, the question of what to do and what comes next is on the table. We can turn to Roosevelt again to explore another important detail.

Later in his 1912 speech, Roosevelt says:

“The great fundamental issue now before our people can be stated briefly. It is, are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are. My opponents do not. I believe in the right of the people to rule. I believe that the majority of the plain people of the United States will, day in and day out, make fewer mistakes in governing themselves than any smaller class or body of men, no matter what their training, will make in trying to govern them.”

I connect deeply with this idea of self-governance. Sure, a look at our culture today suggests people are so heavily reliant on the government and lack the ability to be responsible for themselves that it may seem impossible. But if we get certain things out of the way I think our natural ability to organize will be remembered.

Crisis after crisis, we are culturally convinced that we couldn’t survive without the parenting of elitists acting through government. But a close look at how social engagement within our nervous system (ventral vagus nerve) has evolved tells us that humans have survived the best when we cooperate and work together, not when we dominate and control. I know… hard to believe, but that’s conditioning at work. It has shut down our connection to our very nature.

Personally, I believe in the need for stewardship, not governance. Some form of organization that emerges so things like resources and shared infrastructures can be guided in a direction that serves all instead of being controlled and hoarded.

For example, today, we don’t see the stewarding of energy resources, we see the hoarding and control of them. Incredible technologies are hidden or destroyed while financial elitists push for carbon taxes to ring in a new era of primitive sustainability technologies like wind, solar and geothermal. In this process, they get to take with them the control and dominance they gained in the fossil fuel era to the new energy era.

While many see a future going back to limited energy, I am not a believer in going back in time, living with primitive technologies and working our asses off to live off the land. Technology and innovation are meant to work in our favor when properly stewarded and met with a different level of consciousness. But to move toward this future we must break the illusion that governments are telling us the truth, that their rulers have our best interests at heart.

I’ve seen energy technology with my own eyes that would free humanity from the grips of those who control energy infrastructure to dominate. I know it’s possible, and I know that with proper focus and stewardship, it could be made available to everyone at little to no cost.

The Good News

While it may seem bleak that after 111 years (in this example) we are still not collectively awake to the reality of our situation, I can say that a massive awakening to these ideas has occurred in just the last 5 to 10 years - and of course slowly prior to that.

I’ve said it before, 15 years ago it was a lonely place talking about many of these ideas, now the market is heavily saturated with voices, podcasts, videos, and books talking about the nature of our corrupt system design.

This lends to the idea that cynicism need not be held as a look at the nature of societal progress can be seen and felt while present. We don’t need to become weighed down and consumed by the nature of our reality, but allow it to simply be a signal of where we don’t want to go.

Roosevelt said about cynicism:

“There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement.”

That said, cynicism is a big part of our culture right now. The ‘black pilled’ belief that everything is always bad, everyone is always out to get us, change is impossible, and nothing can ever get better is rather common. In this mindset, often supported by our emotional being, we can’t see a solution nor are we prepared to help envision one. We feel powerless.

It’s here where I feel that while there is still a need for more discussion, framing and sensemaking on the issue of societal capture to help more come to terms with the nature of our society, a missing piece is still not getting enough attention…

Our ability to shape a new future not governed by the lust for power lies in our ability to heal from the conditioning and trauma our existing system has built into us. Focusing on shifting our consciousness, growing as individuals, finding wellness within and learning to come together again is the necessary piece that must develop next.

In my view, we’re fooling ourselves when we build our tribes of ‘awake’ vs ‘asleep,’ and don’t make an effort to see and connect to the humanity within ourselves and everyone else.