De Facto, De Jure, Delusion

POWER—who wields it, how? What be its nature, how might we gain it? Enormous questions, & ancient ones, some of mankind’s eldest. Events of late return the questions of Power to my mind nightly, & I hope that in sharing some ruminations on them with ye, we may learn something, & I may feel the relief of Thoughts Divulged. In the wake of last week’s disastrous collision with reality, I shall focus on De Jure power & De Facto power, & delusions thereof.

De Jure versus De Facto

Power De Jure comes, as the name reveals, from “the law.” If Thorg Bloodmaster holds a contract granting him the right to slurp the blood of all settlements within the valley, then he holds that power de jure. By contrast, power De Facto comes from reality—’tis power in fact, in actuality. If Thorg Bloodmaster, despite his contract, remains entombed in a crystal labyrinth from which he shall ne’er escape, then he has no de facto power to slurp any blood, & the townsfolk may safely ignore Thorg’s supposed power. On paper, we must fear Thorg; in reality, we need not.

In a perfectly-orderly mortal society, where all live in cooperative harmony (or crushing illiberty), there may be no distinction between the paper-reality & reality-reality. That is, all those endowed with power by law, exercising it also in fact. There has, of course, ne’er been a perfectly-orderly mortal society, thus always a disparity rises. & in the wiggly little realm known as the “United States,” the disparity comes with a most curious delusion. De Facto defeats De Jure in “The States,” every time. & yet, some mortals there seem to mistake the paper-reality for reality-reality.

The De Jure Delusion

“What is meant,” I hear ye mutter, “by delusion? Have I not suffered at the hands of the law, has bureaucracy not fiddled with my life, has an evil manager not thrown a rulebook at me afore?” Indeed, ye have suffered so, & I am sorry to hear it. But think also—how many incompetent managers reap rewards, through friendship with executives? How many deep-pocketed fiends seem to evade all bureaucracy? & how many police-men slay the innocent & shelter the guilty?

In less-orderly societies, which America has become, De Jure matters very little. Eroded by corruption, malice, or simple stupidity, the rules bend every which way for those with the De Facto power to bend them. But those under the sway of the De Jure Delusion, they believe the paper-reality runs the world, & they fear to break those rules, even as those rules break them.

Let us examine, for example, Calimar White. A comedian, with a trickery company called OCDA—he accepts complaints from disgruntled workers, then appears at their workplace, berating management with wild abandon. He implies official De Jure powers, by rattling off an acronym, providing an official-sounding “badge number,” & asserting authority. He, legally, has absolutely no authority—nor even a right to be on those premises. Yet, time after time, he manages to lure malicious managers & even racist CEOs into listening to the passionate complaints of their workers. Calimar is hostile, has no compunction about cursing, & again, absolutely no legal standing. Yet, the trick always works, & generates some of the most cathartic videographs that any mortal could possibly craft. How can this be?

Calimar discovered the fatal weakness of malicious management: their zealous worship of the De Jure Delusion. Proper managers—rare, but extant—wield real power. But malicious ones, they wield Delusion; they break the rules when they wish & dole out punishments by whim, dressed up with paper-backed demerits, technically-legal shift shuffling, “Improvement Plans,” & the like. For malicious managers, all of their De Facto power—& their entire personal identities—rely on believing, & forcing all others to believe, in the potency of their De Jure power, even though they act De Facto. Without the illusory rules, a malicious manager would suffer constant & unbearable revolt. Thus, when confronted with what appears to be another De Jure ruler, their attachment to the “rules” & to De Jure hierarchies compels them to obey, lest they dispel their illusions. Calimar’s De Facto power, with a De Jure mask on, smashes through these haplessly deluded bosses, like an angry green fist through a crystal tomb.

De Jurecrats & De Factublicans

On November 5th, the “United States” saw a savage conflict between a faction dedicated to De Jure power—the Democrats—& a faction dedicated to De Facto power—Republicans. This may sound somewhat absurd; Republicans wield the law as a cudgel, & violently oppose any notion of “fact.” But in truth, they respect paper-reality not at all. They break any law they see fit, swinging De Facto authority with a dreadful skill, to the detriment of all kind & thinking beings. They oppose fact, but only as a sort of narrative distraction, whipping up whirlwinds of deceit as they wreck their way to spiteful profits.

The feeble Democrats—also corrupt, & frequently bloodthirsty—adhere to the De Jure Delusion. They demand decorum, & believe the laws will save them, & generally attempt to obey the rules & norms of campaigning. Where the Republicans brought in a racist thug to arrange bribes—I speak of Elon Musk, but that could describe any billionaire—the Democrats dropped millions of dollars on renting out a very large TV in Las Vegas. Where the Democrats carefully only promised things they assumed they may be able to pass through a contested Congress, the Republicans told impossible lies, promising vague concepts of solutions. & in the end, after decades of gerrymandering, & lies, & bribery, the Republicans managed to seize the office of President. An office which Trump will use to do as he pleases, regardless of what De Jure he “can.”

In “The States,” often, it feels as though wealth & power are one; but in the past three Presidential elections, the loser of each one spent over a billion dollars, on losing. Buying a very round & orderly TV ad in Las Vegas will net ye no power nor influence at all, in De Facto America. De Jure power finds itself weak, & confused, & shoved out of office, with a criminal insurrectionist behind the desk. The Democrats, in their Delusion, can only sigh, lacking any concept of how to wield De Facto power to stop him.

Opportunities

I wish ye to imagine with me, now, the opportunities we may find, should we pounce upon De Jure power in its moment of woe.

Picture if ye were Joe Biden—I am sorry to make ye do so—sitting at the desk, pondering how best to spend the next 70 days. In real life, Joe Biden plans to hurt asylum-seekers, in a final gasp of hate. Wielding De Jure power to inflict misery, & further the narratives of the right-wing weirdos. Pathetic! Soulless! Instead, why not sign a tornado of Executive Orders, each more bizarrely left-wing than the last? Proclaim impossibilities, overstep thy bounds—why not? Why not issue an order declaring Donald Trump the National Weirdo, & legalize hurling pies & sneezes upon him? Some lunatics would likely follow suit, & all would know joy. Presidents now wield both De Facto & De Jure immunity for all crimes & madness! What if ye, as the Bloody-Handed Baron Biden, suddenly denounced the slaughter in Gaza & Lebanon, signing an executive order seizing the assets of any company who sells bombs or bullets to the IDF? Who could possibly stop ye? But Joe Biden lacks the heart & courage for such bold moral action. Let us imagine closer to home.

Picture a pothole, laying at thy driveway, unattended by the brainless “city government” for six months. Why not fill it? Such action violates all possible procedure, an unthinkable circumvention of De Jure power—but who shall stop ye? Not thy neighbors—& imagine the ill press for persecuting such an upstanding citizen! Nay, ‘tis De Facto impossible to punish.

Picture a small-town school board meeting, convened to hurt LGBT children, swamped by a hundred howling activists—forcing the board to adjourn & flee to their flat-tired vehicles. Picture an oil derrick, pumping foul muck in the night along a barren highway, its “EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN” button glowing brightly. Picture the leftover office lunch, untouched at 5PM, conveyed from the wasteful office to hungry folks on the street, in defiance of company policy. Picture a world of action, of organization—picture the coming “United States,” with its people empowered to overcome the vile & vicious bastards who gorge themselves at the top!

What might ye do?

I hope ye found this of interest mortals, & I hope it may spur some imagination as to what actions ye may take, to improve thy world, as the De Jure powers continue to abdicate. Chaos is ladder—but only when ye craft it into one.

I thank ye for reading, & hope the length did not strain thy patience? If ye did find it provoked any thoughts, I hope ye may share it with someone who may need some thoughts spurred as well!

I shall write ye come Wednesday with news of our next episode! In the meantime, be safe, be well, & be on the lookout for any Opportunities…

Cheers,
Amoenus Franco
Wizard, Writer, Ladder-Crafter