Autocracy: government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority.

Democracy: government in which the supreme power is vested in the people.

In this moment, we live in a world of 7,907,527,888 autocrats; each individual believing they have uncontrolled or unlimited authority over their self and many believing they have uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others. Capitalism has driven us to this edge of insanity in which even those of us who proclaim an affinity with democratic principles must do so from an active position of autocratic fervor that serves to strengthen and perpetuate the status quo. An autocracy is me working to help me. A democracy is me working for and with others to help everyone. In this power-driven system of capitalism, as the other side of the wealth gap continues to fade from sight, I am so busy surviving the moment, autocratically, that I have no choice but to relegate my affinity with democracy to the rhetoric of my soapbox. It is no wonder that, in this century, democracy has taken a back seat to the impunity of corrupt autocrats not only the world over but also in these (so-called) United States.

In this world today, anything that impedes democracy serves autocracy. This makes divisiveness and diplomacy tools of autocracy. In this country where apparently we the people are too stupid to choose beyond either/or, we can either choose the republicans who are divisive and openly serve autocracy or the democrats who are divisive and diplomatic and whose rhetorical democracy serves to subvert actual liberal democracy thus also serving autocracy. Consider any level of government or any arena of politics (i.e. anywhere there is a struggle for power) including the workplace, civic and social organizations, transactional dynamics, family dynamics, and even the decision-making process within one's self, and you will find an autocracy at work because one perspective is nearly always working to maintain self-serving status quo. And because tradition or the old guard is typically where the power resides and/or because no change often seems easier (and often is easier) than change, more often than not autocracy wins. When I couple this understanding of our resistance to change with an understanding of our urgent need to change I find the impetus for change. Autocrats, (all 7,908,057,226 of us), driven by capitalism, see resistance to change as a good thing especially when we are in-the-moment comfortable and even more so when we perceive our self as having some power. And I have said before that “I believe our deification of capitalism has spread and entrenched this belief in power by creating layers and pockets and far too many small ponds from which almost anyone can exude ego.”. I can't say it enough: we are all autocrats.

Obviously, autocracy is not compatible with democracy. Which means that the force, capitalism, driving us to autocracy is also not compatible with democracy. I don’t believe democracy and capitalism have ever been compatible, but they were at least on friendly terms until, in the last 40 to 50 years, an explosion of technology and population combined to revitalize and exponentially strengthen their incompatibility. Today I cannot have uncontrolled or unlimited authority over myself and act for democracy. To sincerely claim an affinity with democratic principles I must give some of myself over to the will of the people and the will of consensus science and the will of consensus fact; all the people and all the consensus science and all the consensus fact. A democracy is not a democracy when it only serves specific factions or groups, even when those groups are the majority and/or hold the majority power/wealth. The idiocy of the verdict in the Rittenhouse trial this week perfectly illustrates the autocratic favoritism (in custom, culture and law) afforded certain groups. The stupidity of allowing unsubstantiated claims of personal belief or religion to make a political statement that endangers lives perfectly illustrates the diplomatic lunacy helping to maintain status quo. The insanity of the either/or choice we are given forces us to choose between a delusion of control and ineffectual rhetoric; neither of which will lead us to progress or even survival. We live in a world, (and more specifically a nation, and most specifically I live in a state), in which autocrats with more power manipulate autocrats with less power by taking advantage of their ignorance and fear. For years I have voiced a confidence, an active hope, in the intelligence and wherewithal of upcoming generations to save the world. In recent months I have said more than once that I have never been more disillusioned by, more demoralized by, or more concerned with the continued lack of progress toward saving Humanity. And more than once I have asked the question: Is too late already here?

Finally, looking back at the definition of autocracy, (uncontrolled or unlimited authority), implying total control in the hands of an individual, this explains the more open, obvious compatibility of republicans and autocracy. Republicans openly serve autocracy by dividing groups into smaller factions that more easily provide an illusion or a delusion of control. Democrats on the other hand use words like inclusion and universal and we that not only infer a lack of control but also contribute to the divisiveness encouraged by republicans by reminding individuals of their fear of change and their desire for control. And (finally, finally) if the smaller the group the greater the likelihood of perceived control, then the individual, (as the smallest possible group), is most prone to (driven by capitalism) the siren song of autocracy.

Is too late already here?