To exercise power with no regard or concern for resulting consequences is to exercise sovereignty. Former German political theorist Carl Schmitt defined ultimate sovereignty as one who decides the exception: society has its rules and norms, and those who can get away with such rules and norms are those who enjoy true sovereignty.
NBA player Andrew Wiggins tried to exercise his own self-sovereignty by being one of the players in the league choosing not to receive a Covid vaccination. But after much malignity at the hands of the corporate press, as well immense pressure coming from the state he plays in, California, Wiggins eventually chose to get the shot. Being able to play the game that pays his bills won out in the end.
You see, Wiggins doesn’t have sovereignty. That belongs to the corporate press, as they enjoy ultimate immunity to the consequences that could result from being able to both dictate narratives and decide upon who and what receives exception from these narratives.
Only the corporate press can for years promulgate the narrative of systemic injustice against blacks, and then turn on a dime and pressure a black man to give up his medical autonomy by threatening loss of livelihood if he doesn’t abide by the rules they themselves push onto society. The seeming contradiction here proves sovereignty and power, two things that obviously go hand in hand.
One might see the contradiction and scream, “hypocrisy!” with the hope that those who hear might have a lightbulb moment and agree. This has become a failed rallying cry, however, because the hypocrisy at play is likely not given a second thought when these actors do their thing. Them acting upon their own sovereignty is them acting upon a hierarchy of power: the corporate press does not see themselves as providers of information on the hierarchies of power that rule over us; rather, they see themselves as, and subsequently act upon, being the providers of our rules, norms — and exceptions.
Until this is realized by the right at-large, the power-wielding press will continue as is. But even once realized, something still needs to be done. What should that something be? One answer that’s persisted — one that I’ve come to believe is allowed to continue — is that you fight these powers of control through individual sovereignty. Because while in many cases some forms of self-sovereignty are worthy goals, undying devotion to it can actually lead to an increase in the power of those wielding control over us.
This is why individualism is not the only answer. To combat institutions that utilize their sovereignty to suppress us as individuals, we must look to, build up, and find our own institutions, working to create sovereignty for and within them. And do so collectively.
What are these institutions? The answers can be simply found: what institutions do the state-controlled press hate? The family. Non-social justice-compromised Christian organizations. Rural communities. In these we can find a way forward. Not merely as associative combatants, though, but rather as new structures — yes, even hierarchical ones — to become ingrained within.