the “We” might be in your head

A problem is that the left and other social changers keep doing this “we the people” thing.

“We” have these rights.
“We” should have the power.
“We” should get together and make our case.

When leftist people and social change people say these things they have in their own mind some big group. The problem is that there is no big cohesive group. There are many groups, but there’s no big comprehensive “We.”

So little is going to come of their righteousness on behalf of something chimerical.

It’s fine to propose legislation for the population. It will please and benefit Some, but rarely All. There is good legislation. That’s not the same as thinking that you’re a herald for a “We” in the scenario of “We the (good) People” against “Them” (the (bad) plutocrats, autocrats, exploiters, capitalists).

There are not two sides or two groups.

Yes, the generality of power elitism is a bad thing, and there are power elites, but they are divided into groups that don’t very much cohere.

Power elitism is a bad thing, mass society is a bad thing.

Delusions re: what can be done re: social change are a bad thing. If you suffer from those you’ll get disappointed, frustrated, burned out.

Do what you can for betterness at the macro level, but mostly focus on building local alternatives to manifest and model better practices. At a localer level there can be a real “We.”