In the red light of sunset,

       few people see

       that

       In our majoritarian system

       the majority don’t rule.

In the falling dusk,

       we need to observe more closely

       and keep peeling away the layers

       of this thing we call democracy

       to see inside.

On the first layer of “majority rules”

       we find that

       whoever controls the majority

       (at any given time, on any given issue)

       rules.

       Success in that game involves

       strategy, manipulation, attack, mobilization, noise…

Meanwhile, there is a deeper layer,

       where there is far less noise

       and less light.

       At that level,

       Those who control the “majority rule” game

       rule.

       They cultivate majorities and minorities for their own ends

       and reap a bountiful harvest,

       whoever wins the wars.

Deeper yet we find

       the “majority rule” game, itself,

       shapes what is possible and what is not,

       for everyone.

       At this level,

       even those who control the game

       are trapped.

This is where things are stuck.

       This is where change will make a difference.

       The “majority rule” game, itself,

       shapes what is possible and what is not.

Getting unstuck means changing the game.

       Changing the game means understanding the game

       from the outside in.

A friend showed me a key:

       Of all the interests battling in the “majority rule” game,

       the least well served is the general interest, the common good,

       We the People,

       the whole US.

       In fact, lost in vast deep sadness,

       We the People is nothing but a ghost.

       And I don’t mean We the Common People.

       I mean We the Everyone, the Whole.

But Why? I said.

Because the majoritarian system is intrinsically adversarial,

       divisive, corrosive of the Whole:

In the competition to control or become a majority,

       each viewpoint and voice can only be heard as a special interest.

       And any general interest

       — health, prudence, compassion, clean air —

       must become a warrior

       and strive noisily for victory against The Dark Side, the Other —

       or be rendered invisible,

       unheard,

       unreal,

       a dream…

The system demands

       that the whole become parts,

       and that the parts masquerade as the whole —

       that each special interest act like it is The General Interest.

And the system demands, as well,

       that when a part wins, when it is a majority,

       we acknowledge it as the Whole, as US.

It is all fantasm,

       all a lie, I tell you —

       The Emperor’s New Clothes —

       a loudly proclaimed virtual nothing

       that drains into part-isanship

       all the energies and gifts we could use

       to co-discover our wisdom together

       as whole communities,

       as a healed and healthy world.