On Purpose and Voting

Today, I write to kill time. 

It is August 9th 2022, and I am currently standing in line to cast my vote. Every step I take, brings me closer to passing judgement on our candidates. And, as a result, I have barely moved an inch. Almost as if the powers that he know they have performed poorly and wish to forestall such judgement. In fact, my line has gotten longer somehow. So I write in an attempt to redirect my frustration and kill time. And today, I will be writing about purpose and voting. But not on the purpose, or necessity, of voting.

1. On Voting: Voting is messy. Not the act of casting a ballot, but everything leading up to it. Procuring the election technology, establishing the guidelines, enduring campaign seasons, waiting in line and hoping to God the register has your details. Consequently, voting is a lot of work. Perhaps even a thankless task. Simply because every voter knows that my vote will not oblige my representative to act a certain way. Nor will it determine the outcome of an election anyway. Instead, it is an exercise of theatre; the performance of choice to which all elections, and the very nature of democracy, have been reduced. Voting is all we have left to pass a verdict on your incompetent and selfish leaders; to punish them for that selfishness and elect someone whose capacity for greed is untested. In light of this information, it is incredible that people vote at all. But it is not surprising. After all, when the electoral completion is neither free nor fair, the means of civic accountability outside of the ballot box is decimated and the system so corrupted as to silence the masses, voting is the last refuge of democracy. Put simply, it is all we have left; save revolution. Even though the existence of a vote is not enough to call a political system a democracy. You need completion and meaningful representation. And Kenya does not have this. Perhaps Kenya has never had this if a Guardian article alleging British interference in our first election is to be believed. When you factor in external interference, mashing it together with internal fuckery, I have to ask: why vote? If the entire system of democracy is corrupt and deliberately mismanaged, then why vote? This is the question I tried to answer, as I stood in line for over 4 hours.

I could say I voted to exercise my democratic right, whether or not it makes a difference. People died to secure this right to me and I would be spitting on their graves if I didn’t exercise it. I could say I voted because voting is the price you pay to earn the right to complain about your government. I could say I voted because I care about my country. Or because I care about the issues on the candidate’s platforms. Or I could say I voted because everyone around me is doing it, and I didn’t want to be left out. But all of these feel shallow when laid against the reality that votes do not count. They are, primarily, a performance that gives the impression of democracy without guaranteeing substance. So why vote when it might not matter? When nothing ever changes? For me, because it is my right to vote. It is that simple.

1. On Purpose: While at the polls, I began reflecting on why I gave up my dream of becoming a stylish, competent, confident corporate lawyer. It was not because I found the law to be boring and alienating. I could deal with the monotony of the work, so it wasn’t this either. Nor did it have anything to do with my massive inferiority complex and fear of failure (although these were biggies). There was something else animating my rejection of a long held dream. At the time, it felt like I was rejecting an idea, not just a career path. Now, I understand what I was rejecting. I was rejecting fulfilling my purpose under capitalism; and that is to be the best gosh darn consumers we can be. Being a high paid lawyer, would have allowed me to do this splendidly!

Listen, if we are not determined, capitalism will assign us a menial purpose; the purpose of copious, conspicuous consumption. That is what we are made for under capitalism. It’s why we go to school, so we can get ‘nice’ (read well paying) jobs that allow us to buy nice things. It’s why our advertisements do not sell messages of contentment or finality, but ones of constant improvement, constant upgrades and ever present imperfections that can be fixed with a quick buck. Indeed, under capitalism, our purpose is to be conduits of capitalism.

We are reduced to mere clogs in the exchange of money; from the capitalists to the employers to employees back to capitalists. And in this system, the most efficient or most lucrative channels, as defined by how much consumption can be attributed to them, are to be praised. Irrespective of how they came to garner such efficiency or wealth or the lengths they will go to further secure that wealth (looking at you Amazon, James Finlay, and Starbucks). As a result, it is our job to define our purpose outside of this mindless consumption. And I say it is mindless because we do not consider our own consumption, critically. Do I really need a new iPhone every year? Or do I only want one because it’s cool? Or are the phones designed with a year long shelf life necessitating such upgrades? Do I really need new clothes every damn month? Or do I have enough clothes already? When you take the time to properly consider your consumption, you realize that most of it does not bring joy. Not true happiness. Instead, it provides a fleeting sense of accomplishment, because you have fulfilled your purpose under capitalism which is to consume. You could try to change what you consume, as my generation is doing - millennials spend more on experiences (holidays, concerts, activities) than on physical goods - and studies have shown that this does more for the human condition than focusing on the accumulation of physical goods. This is because it is consumption with purpose. The point is not to get the latest phone, to point is to build memories with friends and cement connections with loved ones. And at this point I should ask if consumption for consumption’s case is so bad? Even I will admit, that some of the things I have bought do fill me with an existential joy. But it is items that help me express a fact about my self, or help align the idea I have of myself with the expression of that idea in reality. It is mindful consumption. 

Thus we must return to our earlier question; what is so bad about mindless consumption? It is so bad because I believe humans are meant for more. And so does capitalism. It is why capitalism, as operationalised through advertising and marketing, couches any call for such consumption in terms of realizing a real human experience. "Buy make up to feel confident." "Buy this laptop to feel accepted." "Subscribe to this service to achieve freedom." Even in the 50s and 80s, where to consume was to be divine, this mindless accumulation of shit was couched as the civilian front in the fight against communism. The Soviets did not have American spending power and so were not free to consume on their terms. Therefore to buy was to be free. But is that still the case? Or is this the lie we have been fed to enable ever greater consumption? All I know is that we, as a species, are meant for more than capitalism and its designs for us. 

So go out and find your purpose! Even if capitalism will subsume it and turn it into a means of enabling mindless accumulation. At least you’ll be working towards something more than being a conduit for capital. At least, you’ll have a chance at humanity.