Elections aren't Real

Finally, elections are over and I can return to thinking and worrying about myself and not getting angry about ads, lies, and corruption. Back to the church.

I have been thinking about the elections, rhetoric, and how the whole process is in some very real ways a construct but not a reality (chew on that for a moment). I have recently read two essays by Michel Foucault from his work Madness and Civilization in The Foucault Reader – "The Great Confinement" and "Birth of the Asylum." In these essays, as best as I can understand them, Foucault describes the ways in which ideas of “madness” were construed based on the desires and priorities of society and in which the ideas of healing was construed based on the set norms and standards of society.

Madness was being idle, not working. Healing was agreeing with the terms and standards set by those in control. Granted, this is a very, very gross simplification of Foucault’s ideas and writings but it will serve my purpose. Think about the rhetoric of politicians in this whole process. “If you vote this way then you believe X” “If you vote for me then you are casting a vote for X” With these statements the terms of a vote are being created and we are pulled into making a decision not for a candidate based on his or her values and abilities, but for ideals.

This goes even farther when we are told what values we are supposed to have. The often used phrase, “Take our Country Back,” is loaded with implications. Our country has gone astray and we need to either vote to take it back, or vote to further lead it away.

Powerful rhetoric is nothing new in the process; in fact the whole thing is nothing new. Yet I think Foucault’s ideas offer a point of view of the role of power in the discourse. In this whole process the terms are set, the ideals are set, and the stakes are set. We (the people) do not have a choice to change for if we do we are “mad.” When we cast a vote we are relinquishing power. When we, out of disgust, abstain from voting we are relinquishing power. We are told that we exercise our power when we vote, yet I think that the whole thing is about the populous losing power and the leading class maintaining it.

Sad news – there is most likely no way out. Because I care so much about the consciousness and mental health of my readers I want to leave you on a happy note. Follow this link to one of the many inane videos of a cat doing something on YouTube.