The assault on democracy and freedom is intensifying. Cohorts of trolls and other assorted fauna chant their memorized slogans against “libtards,” “extreme individualism,” and “demonocracy,” in exchange for the next few cents per post.

They will not get rich. Most of them will not rise in rank either. They are needed exactly where they are—namely, as low-paid, noisy servants. The corporate model of oligarchy seeks economic efficiency; therefore, not every rank-and-file troll can be promoted and someday obtain what they hope for. There simply isn’t enough room or resources for that.

But this post is not about trolls. I began with them merely as an illustration of the contradictions embedded in a social order that is not based on competition and free initiative, but on submission and hierarchy.

This is the order they want us to live in. An order in which freedom, prosperity, success, and development are privileges reserved for a few, while the majority is subjected to brainwashing through ideology, religion, “traditions,” pseudo-morality, and other forms of mental poison—aimed at crippling consciousness, enforcing submission, and maintaining control. Ideas of democracy and equal opportunity are countered with concepts of determinism and predestination, designed to justify social inequalities and to suppress outrage over double standards and questions such as: “Why is it allowed for some, but not for others?”

But this alone is not enough. To achieve total control over economic and social processes, surveillance, informants, and repression are also required—sometimes “soft,” sometimes more brutal. This entire surveillance-and-repression apparatus must be installed both within society and within the consciousness of the individual. Social stratification is inevitable. Those who manipulate and spy on others—the service personnel of the oligarchy—cannot be in solidarity with those they manipulate and spy on. At the same time, ordinary citizens cannot be materially equal to or better off than this service class; otherwise, they might start lifting their heads, organizing, protesting, challenging the absolute power of the oligarchy instead of simply working. Therefore, the majority is by default economically suppressed and ideologically indoctrinated, while a minority is privileged.

Social processes must also be controlled in order to prevent the “blurring” of classes, leaks of information, solidarity among people, and the emergence of a genuine civil society. In other words, the system ensures that those who are not among the “chosen” will never succeed, remaining merely livestock for labor and reproduction. The methods used to achieve this fall under the umbrella of social engineering. In a state where a small group owns everything, this is not particularly difficult.

As a result, we end up with a state governed “from above,” where everything happens according to the will of a ruling caste, while the majority is deprived of initiative and reduced to obedience. The energy of society is wasted. It becomes inert, incapable of taking care of itself, lacking initiative, unable to generate ideas, to fight, to take responsibility, to self-organize, to act as its own corrective, or to possess morality and conscience. Success—or simply fewer problems in such a system—is achieved through submission, not through struggle. Servility, sycophancy, informing, betrayal, opportunism, and dishonor are cultivated.

Human relationships are no longer free; you never know who the person you are speaking with might turn out to be. Personal expression must not contradict the principles of the system; therefore, the individual adapts in order to survive. In short, we end up with counterfeit people and a counterfeit society. In such a system, people cannot be individuals with a free spirit. Everything is façade and imitation—a puppet theater directed from above. At the same time, the ruling elite lacks any real corrective mechanism, leading to the accumulation of errors, much like in totalitarian regimes.

In its attempts to control EVERYTHING, the system consumes ever-greater amounts of resources—to control the majority, to control the controllers, and so on. Contradictions inevitably increase, dissatisfaction and conflicts grow. Ideology and propaganda are no longer sufficient to divert public attention from social inequalities. Efficiency declines. The system is unsustainable.

The outcome is well known. Sooner or later, the system collapses.

Democracy and liberalism, on the other hand, do not require total control. They benefit from the initiative and energy of society, provided that laws are reasonable and promote a balance of interests. People self-organize according to their principles, pragmatism, and shared interests within civil society. Energy is not wasted, resources are not spent on division and control, and social processes develop organically. Progress emerges “from below,” as a result of competition among numerous ideas and activities, rather than as a function of the will of a small, unaccountable class.

The conclusion is that those who oppose democracy and liberalism either have not understood the facts, are victims of propaganda and ideology, or act (or believe they act) in pursuit of their personal interest.