Is power really in the hands of the people, or is that an illusion?

Question

OneViewpoint · Answer

Power in the hands of the people? That has always been the dream. The reality is it has always been more like an illusion. Why? Because wealth can always but power. And once a given human has obtained power they are umm... reluctant to give it up.

How does it really work? There was a corrupt Irish American politician who summed it up very succinctly and clearly.

From Wikipedia...

Boss Tweed was convicted for stealing an amount estimated by an aldermen's committee in 1877 at between $25 million and $45 million from New York City taxpayers...

AI Overview

William M. "Boss" Tweed (1823–1878) was a 19th-century American politician who controlled the Democratic Party's political machine in New York City. He and his corrupt associates, known as the "Tweed Ring", embezzled tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers through padded city contracts and kickbacks.

Rise to Power
Tweed began his political career as a New York City alderman and eventually rose to lead Tammany Hall, the powerful Democratic political organization that dominated New York politics. He later served as a New York State Senator and held various city positions, such as the commissioner of public works.

The Tweed Ring and Corruption
Using his control over Tammany Hall, Tweed exercised immense power through:
Patronage: He handed out thousands of city jobs to loyal supporters and immigrants in exchange for their votes.
Embezzlement & Kickbacks: Tweed and his allies forced contractors to inflate prices for city projects—such as the construction of the New York County Courthouse—and pocketed the difference, which cost taxpayers millions.
Bribery: He bribed judges, police officers, and politicians to ensure his illegal schemes went unpunished.

Here is Boss Tweed's explanation of why your vote doesn't matter and Democracy is an illusion.

On nominations: "I don't care who does the electing, as long as I get to do the nominating."

On vote counting: "As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?"

If the people in power choose both candidates it doesn't matter who you vote for. You can only vote for a person they control. If the people in power are counting the votes they can do pretty much whatever they want with your vote.

So the "power" of your vote is a cruel illusion. The truth is that the only "power" the masses have ever held or will ever hold is the power of armed insurrection and dragging the rich into the streets for execution a la the French and Russian Revolutions

The trouble with revolution that is it only starts the cycle over again with a new group of wealthy Aristocrats replaced by wealthy Capitalists, or whatever comes next. That is human nature.

sawno · Answer

The power is in the hands of the people of most countries should they choose to do something with that power. Getting them to actually wield that power seems near impossible, they do not actually give a shit and are fine living in a world war 2 style society or one that has overt slavery or barely any freedom.

Learned it the hard way that this is the case, and once I did world war 2 made so much more sense. They will all fall in line, make excuses for the authoritarianism, blame it on the jews in that case and life their lives as best they can because "Look at how good we have it".

Then after the fact when the evil is defeated they will all claim they were against it all along, how much they are against it, how much they don't want it to happen again. They will even advocate for the exact same mindset out of "Combatting nazi's" or something odd like that.

Nobody actually learns anything and the 20% that actually are willing to resist are not enough.

In that sense even though it would be very easy to overthrow a tyrannical establishment if everyone agreed to it I don't think that will ever happen. And only the powerful will ever wield that power. We will loose all our freedoms completely, and 80% will be fine with that like last time.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

definitely illusion. Like I know in Europe, people vote for the party rather than for the individual.

And in the U. S., a candidate can have the popular vote and still lose because of the electoral college. We also don't get to vote on issues. Well we technically DO, but it still has to get signed off on. Like in CA, many years ago, people voted THREE times against gay rights and the government still passed them. I asked a question on here before, "Why didn't the American people get asked if we're okay giving our money to Zelensky". Several people commented, that's what we elect senators and congressmen, to serve our interests. "Serve our interests" my ass! The majority of Americans were against their tax money going to Ukraine.
So NO. The only people who have power are the elite. The only power we have is to put forth initiatives and to elect people that will hopefully serve our interests, but most of the time, they don't. I don't know if there is any country where the general population gets to make the decisions

HawkPerception · Answer

It really is in the hands of the people. It's just that most people are afraid to group up and revolt against the governments when their governments are being unfair, abusing their power, or using taxpayer money stupidly. But if the majority of people revolt against their government, the government doesn't stand a chance... at least that's how it was. But soon, technology will become so advanced and mostly only the government will have access to the tech... like drone warfare and smart dust and wifi recon, etc... the people won't have a chance.

Still-alive · Answer

if we all banded together hell yeah we are unstoppable and the ultra wealthy in the world know this hence why they love to keep us divided through various things such as race or religion etc. They want to keep their power but i feel a strong powerful force coming soon where they may not have all the power any longer. i'm hopeful.

This world war ii war dept documentary shows how the nazi's did it and how people like musk or stephen miller do it now:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/v6VPJ0CHvgw

BCRanger10 · Answer

If the people are virtuous, mature, and well-formed, then they have the power. The problem is... well... they're very often not...

Zack-Bann · Answer

It’s not only an illusion it’s also impossible to achieve.

Because “people” refers to a large group of unique individuals who will never come to one single consensus about any topic

So power always required a smaller group to make sure something gets done

RavVid · Answer

Every so often the great commonsense of the common people asserts itself and governing class gets very upset and yells about populist politics which they hate because that means the common people are making decisions and selecting items not on the menu they have provided.

In other words every now and again.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

Most people are too underqualified to be able to handle 'power'.

Power is real, but it's a bitch that's handed around. It is not permanent, and not universal.

The idea that it's ''in the hands of people'' is not so much an illusion, but rather a lie.

Shiprex · Answer

It is in the face to face world we individually live in. In the bigger picture, it's consensus and political entities who control power

sage2021 · Answer

If I say yes to the people - that means the good AND the bad people.🤷🏼‍♀️

genericname85 · Answer

It sure is in the hands of "certain people" more than other people. It's strongly correlated with the amount of money you have.

exitseven · Answer

it is an illusion. The one with the most money has the most power.

Staximus · Answer

Maybe in the hands of the people with the most money

Cidknee · Answer

No it's there. It's hard to control and guide. A lot of voices and opinions.

AgentG111 · Answer

We are getting more back and we will be pushing even more for it to be back in our hands!

msc545 · Answer

It's a total illusion meant to keep people quiet.

Kingofkings1992 · Answer

Power is in the hands of the one who refuses to break. Control is an illusion. Control is for the weak

DirtyOldMan777 · Answer

the 2nd says otherwise. but we will have to use it.

FreyaRed · Answer

Yes, but it's few people among billions

Paige2006 · Answer

With the people

Anonymous · Answer

It's in the hands of the RICH people...

Agape93 · Answer

It's an illusion

Xawyx-2 · Answer

It's pure illusion.

Is power really in the hands of the people, or is that an illusion?

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