Colonial Suffrage

Abstract

Politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic significantly hampered a consistent and scientifically grounded response to prevent and control the spread of sickness. Populist-nationalist leaders used the COVID-19 pandemic to consolidate power and maintain the status quo of their inequitable societies through divisive means. Colonial forces have historically controlled and restricted the privilege of voting to maintain the status quo of the nation. Disinformation was consistently wielded to enhance anger, fear, and social divisions for political gain. The 2020 US pandemic election was a textbook example of colonial hierarchical processes and privilege at work. Political events and voter barriers contributed greatly to SARS-CoV-2 viral spread, risking exposure of vulnerable minoritized people to COVID-19, and resulting in inequitable treatment. Colonial proponents made every effort to protect hierarchical self-interests, privilege, and white supremacy through intimidation, voting barriers, and challenging results. Indigenous psychology is used to examine these events with an eye toward the healing the inherent divisions inherent in colonial social orders. True democracy, like health equity, is incompatible with artificial colonial social hierarchies. Psychological stability and well-being would be better served by egalitarian governance with an interdependent vision that thrives on consensus rather than hierarchy and privilege.