Capitalism adapts to counter all forms of resistance to it. In that process, the authorship of the people’s social force is erased by the State’s co-optation, so we should anticipate and plan for exactly that scenario. The State co-opts what’s popular and working, setting the boundaries of what’s legal and ensuring their middleman position.
The electoral process is an extension of the State, and since all the mechanisms of the State contribute to the perpetuation of domination, electoral parties are also part of the broad system of control. This is the same for oppositional and minority parties. Big swings (from liberal – conservative, left –right) are better for the system; they make it look accommodating and open to change. This presents the State as a neutral container for holding all the decision-making in society. When the tides turn, it gives people the impression that it’s possible for them to win by using the State’s mechanisms. Elections contribute to the perpetuation of domination by promoting passivity and spreading a sense of helplessness. Creating the impression that anything that needs to be done is the State’s business and nobody else’s.
The State presents itself as the only institution capable of providing a future in which people have everything they need. But it’s the people themselves who continue to invent new social functions that the State adopts later on. This inventiveness isn’t a function of the State, which has to steal new ideas and experiences from others while pretending to be on their same side and claiming to share their same perspective and interests.
