Several elections have taken place all over the globe, but none has been more closely watched than that of the United States. This makes sense for several reasons, not the least being that the images of “freedom” and “democracy” look wildly hypocritical at times like this. Instead of ending the quest for dominance and concentrating on its many problems, the United States has been running a campaign of interference around the globe. The story that its citizenry tell itself is that since the United States was the “savior of the world” in 1945, so naturally, the United States has been frantically looking for another opportunity to “save” someone else. This quest has become more frantic in the last 25 years, and the only issue left for the country to decide is which figurehead is more effective at projecting this message.
Since the beginning of the country, the only “appropriate” figurehead has been an older, white man. Patriarchy and racism has combined to maintain the mythology that the “founding fathers” were great leaders, so many people have been clinging to that imagery and fervently striving to keep it alive. The paternalization of the government began with the lies about the “founding fathers,” so naturally, no one could see anyone but an older white grandfather as being “full of wisdom and grace.” What would happen if people were told that the “founding fathers” were merely frat boys in England who chose not to pay bills, demanded that someone else do their work for them, and murdered anyone who said otherwise? Older white men might not have been the reigning champions as figureheads for the entire history of the country, but alas, no one likes that story enough to consistently fund the writers. After all, even after the “post-racial” candidates were chosen, they were sent to the ballots with an older white man to maintain the overseer ideology.
With Cult45–his name is not stated because it is bleated way too often–he was seen as relatable to so many of the majority population in the United States. Even though he had no plan and was unskilled in politics, he was rich and had a television show. That was seen as aspirational for poorer white people who keep repeating the idiocy of “hard work pays off,” but it also affirmed that money be the answer to all problems, so richer white people told everyone to just work harder for more money. The United States could more accurately be called the “United States of Dunning-Kruger because so many people have overestimated their abilities to the detriment of many, and Cult45 is merely the most obvious of these examples, but far from alone. Projecting failure as success and running away from one arena to project a different image in another is a very common tactic.
Other than being relatable, a figurehead must be portrayed as “strong,” and what is stronger than being able to escape the entirety of the justice system? What about escaping three failed assassination attempts? Everyone complains about how Cult45 is a criminal, but when everyone else has been lulled into complacency and believing that bullies are right, there is no chance for “justice.” There have been a number of racist presidents, and they were all legally elected by a populace that believed dominance was the most important aspect of leadership. The “righteous” now look like fools because they were too busy giving the benefit of the doubt to people who constantly cheat their way to “success.” Of course any other image will pale in comparison, especially when doing all the “right” things is seen as “weak.”
Biden’s tenure as figurehead was “effective” because he was seen as a nostalgic choice from the time of plenty, in addition to being the overseer to Obama. From the 1950s until the 1990s, there was a strong belief that “more” was just around the corner, so all conservation and equality decisions could be shoved further down the road. A lot of people got rich and stayed rich, so he appealed to those with control and resources, and they remain the largest voting bloc. So many of the same messages were repeated that neither worked for younger people nor had any hope of working in the future. Even Sanders had nothing new to say, because the idea of “everyone goes to college” means nothing to anyone struggling to close doors and feed themselves. Therefore, the collapse of the illusions was the only reason that Biden was finally talked out of running again for a position that he barely fulfilled.
While Obama was elected largely by the young and the poor, he also served as a very important image for the marginalized class: work hard and success will follow. He was partially raised by a single mother, was a stranger in a strange land, and took drugs in his past, but look at him now! This is the only story that marginalized people are ever given about themselves because if the truth were ever discussed, there would be less aspiring to be rich and more disengagement from the dominant narrative. Capital will not be conquered with “grit,” “passion,” or “determination,” and that was becoming increasingly evident, which is why the United States needed a “first” and a “hero” fast. Allowing Obama to remain president for two terms while not allowing him to change the status quo was a message that marginalized people just needed to “get it together” so that their lives could equal his. In truth, he never had a fighting chance to be anything more than a prop for the dominant narrative.
Consider that in addition to being seen as powerful, the United States projects the image of having control over anyone who was not white. After all, the first time the word “genocide” was used was during the Jewish Holocaust; none of the other previously slaughtered people, including those killed by King Leopold II right before World War I, were deemed human by the annals of history. Therefore, the position as overseer was just as important to maintain as that of the dominant class. In 2020, all three of the major candidates were older white men who built their careers off of Black people, specifically Black men. Ironically, without Obama, Biden would have never stood a chance, which is why he felt comfortable telling any Black person who questioned his segregationist record that they were not truly Black. Cult45 rose to fame by taking out several full page advertisements lying about the guilt of the Central Park 5, and by pretending that Obama was not born in the United States. Sanders was able to have a successful political career only because someone captured his arrest with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a photograph. Without Black people, none of these older white men would have been deemed relevant as figureheads by a disillusioned populace.
Older white men have always been the figurehead preference, while white women have been cast only ever as the supporters-in-chief. In 2016, people tried to promote Clinton as loyal based on her standing by her philandering husband. She was seen as dominant over nonwhite people by declaring Black people as “super predators,” and she had a history of being a warhawk. However, the challenge in standing by bullies and other terrible people is that people either decide 1) the supporters are just as bad as the bullies; or 2) take the bullies, leave the supporters. If Clinton was supposed to support the status quo, the populace decided that it would stick with a white grandfather rather than transition to a white grandmother.
Harris was a last-ditch effort to appeal to the younger population that had been ignored ever since Obama took office in 2009. She had no biological children, she had been a powerful figure in the judiciary, and she was married to money. All in all, she was supposed to appeal to the single, childless women who spent most of their lives chasing careers. Unfortunately, it was also easy to paint her without enough compassion for reality and chasing power, just like a man, and therein lies the rub. Sadly, she claimed that the United States was not a racist country less than a year after the death of George Floyd, and she had no choice other than to support genocide based on her position. Being vice president is not really a position of power, but people are often more forgiving of men who dismiss their own bad behavior. Putting an overseeing vice president was not enough to make her palatable to older populations, and she was not seen as a compassionate enough figurehead to younger voters.
Honestly, none of the figureheads have power. In theory, they could attempt to exert some power, but the need to remain in charge is too strong to keep any figurehead accountable. The actual point of the United States is to continue to take while having the appearance of giving. No, the military was not forcefully working to steal fossil fuels and running smear campaigns to justify a war against Venezuela–it was spreading “democracy” and “freedom” to people under autocracy. No, the food and agricultural industries are not reliant on the consistent exploitation of Latin American migrants who it deliberately keeps vulnerable–the United States is giving people a chance to work hard and gain “a better way of life.” A figurehead needs to represent enough goodness to capture control, which is the point.
None of the parties offering figureheads had anything to offer anyone who did not already have financial stability. College has been a nonstarter ever since the pandemic dropped a lot of the jobs that were supposed to be available. Employers have been transitioning to AI and automation while screaming that nobody wants to work, so no one has been willing to pay anybody anything despite wanting everyone at work all the time. Basically, neither of the campaigns offered any hope to young people that their efforts were worth anything. Therefore, there was no reason not to become a “trad wife,” “passport bro,” or any other toxic personality. The middle class is dead because everyone with control and resources is relentlessly greedy.
The main reason that people are not participating as much in figurehead elections is because they do not want to be affiliated with those who make life harder for everyone else, but are able to effectively lie themselves into power. Marginalized people need more than emotional validation, and that is all that the dominant narrative offers. “Goodness” fails to acquire power, so the only people in the conversation are those who want power, not those who demand change. While so many people are depressed about how the United States behaved, it would benefit them to consider that clinging to a figurehead is what stripped them of their autonomy, and maybe idolizing any individual is the last thing a thinking person should do.
Chasing A Dying Empire 