There is a broad and fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the state in our society today.

The state is not merely elected politicians. As we’re (re)learning in real time, the state is an incredibly deep far-reaching apparatus of 3 million people who carry out the functions of the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

It’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it’s USAID, it’s the Pentagon, it’s FEMA. It’s the IRS and the EPA. It’s 438 federal agencies and sub-agencies.

Speaking of USAID…

The state is an instrument of the class that rules. And what class rules, you ask? Well, spoiler alert, it’s not the working class. The Trump administration is funneling state control to an even fewer number of billionaires, but the reality has been (and will continue to be, should the nation be able to flip flop back to Democratic control in 2028):

Which all goes to show why this tweet is a great example of our miseducation as a class:

I hope you’re getting the point here – even before the intensifying and direct billionaire takeover of the state now playing out before our eyes, the politicians were “an executive committee to manage the affairs of the [capitalist class]”

The guts of the state apparatus are being exposed for the first time in our lifetimes. Let’s learn the right lessons, and not allow the billionaires to continue to confuse us anymore about the role of the state.

Stay tuned for part 2: Why I Don’t Believe in Comparing Social Change to Science Fiction where I will look at some current and historical examples of the state working in the interests of the vast majority (true democracy) rather than in the interest of a tiny minority.