Merchants, Warriors, and the New Church – The Real Power Struggle Behind Woke Politics

Introduction – The Hidden Engine of Woke Politics

Woke politics did not appear by accident. It wasn’t voted in by citizens or demanded at the ballot box. It was built and imposed by powerful forces that shape every society.

To understand how we arrived here, we need to step back and look at a deeper pattern that runs through history. For centuries, three great powers have competed for control:

Merchants — wealth, trade, business, and finance.
Warriors — the state, political leaders, and military power.
The Church — moral authority, once rooted in religion, today replaced by secular ideologies like woke politics.

Every era has been defined by which of these forces dominates. In our time, it is the Merchants who rule — and “woke” has become their chosen moral shield.

Part 1 – The Three Forces of History

Merchants: Profit and Control

Merchants represent the commercial and financial elites. In medieval times they were traders, bankers, and guilds. Today they are Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Big Tech, and multinational corporations.

Strengths: vast resources, media ownership, lobbying, global reach.
Weaknesses: they lack legitimacy on their own, so they borrow moral authority from religion or ideology.

Merchants have always pushed for open borders, free trade, and deregulation — because these expand their markets.

Warriors: The State and Political Leaders

Warriors are rulers, generals, and elected governments. Their role is to defend territory, enforce laws, and lead nations.

Strengths: sovereignty, military force, voter mandate.
Weaknesses: vulnerable to capture by wealth and dependent on legitimacy.

When Warriors dominate, nations act independently. But when they are weak, governments become administrators for Merchant interests.

The Church: From Religion to Woke Morality

For centuries, the Church provided shared values. Today, in much of the West, organised religion has faded. Its place has been taken by a new moral system: woke ideology.

Strengths: power to shame, silence, and legitimise authority.
Weaknesses: hollow slogans that collapse without financial and institutional support.

The new Church doesn’t preach salvation; it preaches “equity,” “inclusion,” and “diversity.” Its rituals are HR trainings, hashtags, and public apologies.

Part 2 – How We Got Here

The 1980s: The Merchants’ Rise

Deregulation, privatisation, and globalisation supercharged corporate power. Banks, hedge funds, and multinationals became more powerful than many states.

The 1990s–2000s: The Warriors Retreat

Governments outsourced sovereignty to global institutions: the EU, WTO, IMF, and UN. Political leaders became managers of globalisation rather than protectors of nations.

The 2010s: The New Church Arrives

As inequality soared, corporations faced backlash. Their solution? Adopt the language of morality.

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing.
DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) mandates.
Rainbow capitalism and performative activism.

This wasn’t democracy. It was marketing. Corporations rebranded themselves as moral leaders, wrapping themselves in woke slogans to shield their power.

Part 3 – The Logic of Power (Mearsheimer’s Lesson)

John Mearsheimer’s theory of offensive realism teaches that powerful actors expand until they are stopped. States do this on the global stage. Corporations do the same in the marketplace — and in politics.

Unchecked, the Merchants did what powerful actors always do: they expanded. They captured governments, reshaped culture, and built a new Church to enforce conformity.

Woke politics is not an accident. It is the logic of power.

Part 4 – What This Means for Ordinary People

Economics: Inequality and Stagnation

Wages flatlined while shareholder profits exploded.
Small businesses suffocate under regulation written for giants.
Wealth concentrates in fewer hands.

Politics: Leaders Without Power

Presidents and prime ministers defer to the EU, WTO, UN, or corporate lobbies.
Elections change faces, but not policies.

Culture: Morality as Marketing

Criticism of woke slogans is labelled “hate.”
Citizens are treated as identity categories, not individuals.
Activism is commodified — Black Lives Matter banners and Pride logos on corporate products, while working conditions remain poor.

This is not democracy. It is Merchant rule, cloaked in woke ideology.

Part 5 – Why the Merchants Win

Why have the Merchants succeeded where Warriors and the old Church failed?

Fragmentation: collectivism divides people into identity groups, preventing unified resistance.
Legitimacy through morality: woke slogans provide cover for profit-seeking.
Global leverage: corporations are mobile; governments are stuck with borders.
Allies in bureaucracy: academics, NGOs, and consultants feed on the endless creation of new categories and regulations.

The more categories, the more control flows upward.

Part 6 – The Way Forward

If we want to restore balance, three shifts must happen:

1. Break Merchant Dominance

Split monopolies.
Tax financial speculation, not small business.
Spread ownership and wealth through local enterprise.

2. Re-empower the Warriors

Restore sovereignty to elected governments.
Cut down the power of unelected global bodies.
Demand accountability to voters, not boardrooms.

3. Rebuild the Church on Real Values

Replace hollow slogans with enduring truths: family, community, responsibility, merit.
Encourage debate, not censorship.
Uphold individual dignity, not group labels.

Conclusion – The Mission of WokePolitics.com

Woke politics is the visible surface of a much deeper power game. Beneath it lies the struggle between Merchants, Warriors, and the Church.

Today, the Merchants rule — richer than nations, more powerful than presidents, armed with a new Church of woke slogans. But history shows that no force dominates forever. Warriors can rise again, and real values can return.

At WokePolitics.com, our mission is to:

Expose how Merchant power drives woke politics.
Explain the theories and history behind today’s cultural battles.
Imagine a different balance of power — one where wealth is spread, leaders lead, and values unite rather than divide.

This is not left vs right. It is the eternal contest of Merchants vs Warriors vs the Church. And the future depends on which one wins.

👉 Want the bigger picture on how power really works? Visit our Politics of Power Explainer Hub to see how leaders, corporations, and ideologies battle for control.

FAQ – Merchants, Warriors, and the New Church

Q: What are “Merchants, Warriors, and the Church”?
A: A framework from historian David Priestland. Merchants = business elites. Warriors = rulers and political leaders. The Church = moral authority (once religion, now ideology).

Q: How did woke ideology become the “new Church”?
A: As traditional religion declined, corporations adopted social justice language to provide moral legitimacy for their dominance.

Q: Why focus on the Merchants?
A: Because they hold the most power today — controlling politics, media, and culture through wealth and woke branding.

Q: Is this just capitalism vs socialism?
A: No. This is about who rules. Both left and right have been captured by Merchant power.

Q: What’s the solution?
A: Break corporate monopolies, restore sovereignty to leaders, and rebuild cultural values around family, community, and truth.