How Elections Are Engineered to Keep Power in the Same Hands
If the goal of an election were truly to serve the people, the process would look radically different. Instead, elections are built around managing public perception, maintaining the status quo, and ensuring that no true threats to power emerge.
Step 1: The Candidates Are Chosen for You
Despite the illusion of a democratic process, the reality is that by the time the general election arrives, both candidates have already been filtered through layers of corporate and political gatekeeping.
Party leadership, major donors, and corporate backers decide which candidates are “electable” long before the public ever gets a say.
Genuinely disruptive voices—those who challenge corporate interests, war policies, or economic exploitation—are weeded out early, smeared by media, or denied the resources to run a viable campaign.
The media plays its role by framing certain candidates as “fringe” or “dangerous,” ensuring that only pre-approved options remain.
By the time the public is given their so-called choice, it’s not a choice at all—it’s a selection between two pre-screened, power-aligned representatives who will uphold the same fundamental policies.
Step 2: The Illusion of a Left vs. Right Divide
To keep people distracted from the fact that both parties ultimately serve the same power structures, a spectacle is created—one where each side is convinced that the other is the ultimate enemy.
Social and cultural issues are amplified to keep people locked in ideological warfare, ensuring they never unite against their true common enemy: the ruling class.
While Americans fight over “woke” vs. “anti-woke,” corporations continue extracting wealth, the war machine expands, and billionaires consolidate even more power.
Every election is framed as a life-or-death battle, so that no one ever stops to question the system itself—only the individual figureheads placed in front of them.
Meanwhile, the wealthiest elites continue operating unchecked, unaffected by whichever party is in office.
Step 3: The President Becomes the Scapegoat for Systemic Issues
Once a president takes office, the entire narrative shifts to making them the sole focal point of all successes and failures.
Economic downturn? The president’s fault.
Geopolitical instability? The president’s fault.
Natural disasters? The president “failed” to respond.
Rising costs of living? The president “didn’t fix it.”
This deliberate oversimplification keeps people from looking at the actual systems that create and perpetuate these crises.
The economy is controlled by billionaires and financial institutions—not the president.
Foreign policy is largely dictated by the military-industrial complex—not the president.
Climate disasters are worsened by corporate greed and deregulation—not the president alone.
The presidency is a figurehead role—a way to consolidate public frustration into one person, while the actual machinery of government remains untouched.
This is why the outrage cycle never ends—every president is framed as either the savior or the villain, but the fundamental structures never change.
Step 4: The Cycle Resets and Nothing Changes
By the time a president’s term is nearing its end, the public has been whipped into a frenzy of frustration and hatred.
Instead of questioning why power structures remain intact, the focus is entirely on replacing the current figurehead with a new one.
The next election cycle begins with the same narrative: “This time, we really have to defeat the other side.”
The media, corporations, and party elites repeat the process—filtering candidates, fueling division, and ensuring that the final choice is between two people who will uphold the system exactly as it is.
And so, the machine continues running—untouched, unchallenged, unaccountable.
Why People Blame Individual Leaders Instead of the System
When Kamala Harris was blamed for losing the election, it was a textbook example of how the system protects itself by directing public anger toward an individual.
No one asked why the Democrats ran an unpopular ticket.
No one questioned why both parties refuse to address real issues like wealth inequality, healthcare, or war.
Instead, the conversation was about Harris as a person—her failures, her shortcomings, her electability.
This happens to every leader. When they are no longer useful, the system allows them to be sacrificed, blamed, and discarded—while ensuring that nothing actually changes.
Bush was blamed for the Iraq War—but the war machine expanded under every president after him.
Obama was blamed for drone strikes—but they continued under Trump and Biden.
Trump was blamed for wealth inequality—but billionaires made record profits under Biden.
The system survives by making people believe that the person in power is the problem, instead of the system itself.
The Reality: The President is Not the True Seat of Power
The people who actually control the country are not elected. They do not appear on ballots. They do not participate in debates.
The real power lies with:
Financial institutions that dictate economic policy.
The military-industrial complex that ensures endless war.
Corporate monopolies that control labor, healthcare, and housing.
Billionaires and lobbyists who write the policies that politicians rubber-stamp.
Every election is just a performance—one designed to keep people fighting over which figurehead gets to stand at the podium, while the actual rulers remain in the shadows, untouched.
Final Thoughts: The System Survives Because People Believe in It
If you feel like every election is a lesser of two evils choice, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. There is no real democracy when both options have already been chosen for you.
The greatest trick this system has ever pulled is making people invest all their energy into hating or defending politicians, instead of fighting the power structures that control them.
Until people stop blaming individual figureheads and start recognizing the entire system is rigged, nothing will change.
Because no matter who wins, the real rulers remain the same.
Source List
Pew Research Center – How Party Elites Shape Elections Before Voters Have a Say
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/07/10/party-elites-shape-electionsBrookings Institution – The Manufactured Illusion of Political Choice in U.S. Elections
https://www.brookings.edu/research/manufactured-political-choiceHarvard Kennedy School – The Presidency as a Scapegoat for Systemic Failures
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/research/presidency-scapegoat-systemic-failuresThe Atlantic – Why Every Election Feels Like a Choice Between Two Unpopular Candidates
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/unpopular-candidates-election-cycleThe Guardian – The Hidden Networks That Actually Control U.S. Policy
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/hidden-networks-control-us-policyForeign Affairs – Why Billionaires and Corporations Always Win, No Matter Who Is Elected
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/billionaires-corporate-power-electionsRolling Stone – The Myth of Democracy: How Elections Are Rigged Long Before You Vote
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/myth-of-democracy-rigged-electionsVox – How Media Manipulates Public Perception to Protect the System
https://www.vox.com/politics/2025/01/12/media-manipulation-protects-political-systemThe Intercept – Who Actually Runs America? The Unelected Power Structures in Control
https://theintercept.com/2025/01/14/unelected-power-structures-americaColumbia Journalism Review – Why the Presidency is a Distraction from Real Power
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/presidency-distraction-from-real-power
