The Black Pill: Political Kamikaze, Not Just Suicide

In recent years, the idea of a colored pill system as a metaphor for one’s political attitudes has gained currency online. The original idea of red and blue pills comes from The Matrix, was adapted to politics by the political theorist and commentator Curtis Yarvin, and has since expanded to include a plethora of different colors, each one representing a different disposition. One such “pill” that has gained traction among the Right is the black pill. Those who are “blackpilled” remove themselves from the political process, holding that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats represent their views and that there is no hope for redeeming America’s political system. This, I would argue, is a destructive approach to politics, not just to the one who takes the black pill, but to the entire body politic.

The right-wing “blackpillers” argue that the same politicians with the same views fight over the same issues and achieve the same non-solutions. They observe that, even when Republicans have unified government, they either achieve nothing due to intraparty spats or pursue policies contrary to what their voters want. From Republicans’ inability to repeal Obamacare in Trump’s first term to the Senate’s inability to pass the SAVE America Act today, Republican politicians seem to be unable to deliver on their promises. Furthermore, Republican infighting jeopardizes their chances of holding onto power this November. One need not look any further than the Senate race in Texas, where John Cornyn’s refusal to endorse Ken Paxton may help flip the seat to Democrat James Talarico in a state that every Republican presidential candidate of the 21^st century has won by at least five points and that Trump carried by 13.7% in 2024. Republicans have historically either been unwilling or unable to achieve what we elected them to do, and this leads to frustration.

I share this frustration. Yes, the Republican Party has been ineffective. Yes, infighting threatens to sink the Republican agenda both in Congress and at the ballot box. Although I do not deny the truth of the diagnosis of the black pill approach, I believe in the opposite prescription. The solution to this problem is not less political action on the part of everyday citizens like you and me but more. Don’t sit out of elections because you’ve lost hope; vote in more elections, like the ever-important primary elections that somewhere from 75% to 82% of eligible voters usually skip. Primaries decide who the Republicans will run in the general election, so if you have problems with the candidates put up to vote, back different candidates in the primary. Encourage your conservative friends and relatives to do the same. If you have the means, donate to a campaign you feel passionate about. Write to your congressman or senator about the issues that you care about most. The Framers gave our government a strong republican element, which requires the input of the people; as Plato said in his Republic, “one of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Our political system instills in us a responsibility to participate in the political process. If we refuse to do so, we hand power over to those who would use it for far worse ends than an overly moderate or weak Republican. In other words, through our refusal, we sabotage conservative priorities far more through inaction than would a Republican lacking the conviction we would like to see. Not only that, we also sabotage the body politic and the American political project as a whole by handing political power wrapped in a ribbon and bow to the Left.