In order for democracy to work, we have to fight the impulse to surrender our power. We have to take responsibility for our own lives, individually and collectively. That means making a practice of taking back power from those who we have surrendered it to—even when believe they are using it benevolently.

Elections have the habit of making even the most radical among us elevate the project of democracy. If the United States were a true democracy, that would be a vast improvement over the present condition. But what this line of thinking fundamentally does is provide a simulacrum of arguments for equity.

We tend to reject hierarchy instinctually in some parts of our lives, while accepting it uncritically in others. Anarchists strive to eliminate all hierarchy, in every aspect of life.