The takeover of media outlets has been extensive. Oligarchs have spared little expense in buying up newspapers, media outlets, and social media platforms. Musk spent more than the GDP of Paraguay on acquiring Twitter - a platform notorious for its poor revenue potential. While this tells us of their intent to control the masses, it also reminds us that they need to control us if they are to acquire more power for themselves.

All power comes from the people. If it were not for human cooperation there would be no wealth. The masses working together is the fundamental power that has led to humankind’s dominance in the world. Crucially, such shared intentionality has allowed many of us to rise above mere survival considerations and, as such, we all have a vested interest in its continuation.

We would not be reading this article now if it were not for this power. We would have no phones, cars, electricity, medicine, or Twitter, Amazon.com, Walmart, BP, or any other conglomerate if it were not for the agreement at the root of human civilisation. Every luxury we enjoy would not be possible if it were not for ‘the people’ working within the very human civilisation that our ancestors forged.

It is this power that has created millionaires and billionaires. No one has reached those heights on their own. All wealth is built on the backs of the people. No wealth would exist without us.

It is this truth that oligarchs would prefer us to forget. It is this truth that they hope to exploit to attain even more power.

In democracies, the people must actively choose to submit their power. Political leaders must ‘win’ the power of the voters by, in some way or another, agreeing to what the masses want. The basic premise goes: we work collectively, pay into a shared pot, and then these shared resources are redistributed to improve our security, health, education, sanitation, justice system, and generally anything that will help the masses achieve a better life. Given that these are our resources, we have a say in how they are spent. Oligarchs don’t want us to have a say in how we spend the wealth that we create.

Authoritarian governments around the world are working on possible solutions to force the masses to surrender their power to them. Ideas include restricting who can and who cannot vote; having voters take exams before voting; using a foot-vote (where you vote in person by walking to one side or another); shrinking the pooled resources and simply relying on the free market to exact the will of the people, and other such democracy-diminishing ideas. But here’s the thing. Even if the oligarchs manage to wrestle democracy from our grasp - effectively forcing us into submitting the power granted to us through democracy -, we will still hold the power.

Greed is one of the most destructive forces on the planet. We have discussed the neuropathological basis for it before. As destructive as it is, there is a predictability and desperation that allows the people to hold onto the power. Whatever method these new oligarch-owned, authoritarian governments manage to put in place to limit our democratic power and limit the extent to which the collective will is to be realised, they will r

emain slaves to the market. Their greed will keep them dependent on capitalism.

Capitalism requires cheap labour provided by the ‘lower-class’ to produce products that are then marked-up and sold to the middle-class, all so the wealthy can achieve even greater wealth. [FYI, I am not anti-capitalism, merely against exploitation of the people]. Whichever way you slice it, they remain dependent on us to achieve their wealth. Whether it’s the workers agreeing to work cheaply, or the middle-class deciding to buy their products, the choice very much remains ours, the people, to make. We decide if they gain more wealth or not. We decide if they get a slice of the power that we create.

I do appreciate that the system is very much rigged in their favour. Money makes money. Tax breaks, off-shore accounts, and various loopholes will keep the rich rich. But how rich? How powerful? That most certainly still depends on us.

They have to lie to us. Each time you see them lying to us remember that is because we have the power and they know we have the power. When they lie, smile. And then spend your money wisely.

The Antidote is a reader-supported publication. Support if for $2 per month.

Get full access to The Antidote at dangoyal.substack.com/subscribe

Episode: https://dangoyal.substack.com/p/they-lie-to-us-because-we-still-hold

Podcast: https://dangoyal.substack.com/podcast