Random Essay 1

Future history

(Democracy dies a quiet death)

It was their idealism and blind faith in their high flown institutions of justice that were their ultimate down fall. They had an expectation that those institutions would save them in the event of catastrophe. But those bodies were cumbersome and riddled with some small corruptions as well. They could not act with any swift certitude when at last the deception was discovered.

The people who had thought they were electing a bulldog, had in fact installed a lap dog, whose every loyalty had been bought and owned long before the race had begun. The reality is that idealism is easy to manipulate with empty promises and rhetorical slogans. Promise that there will be easier times ahead and put it on a hat or bumper sticker and and you convince people of your sincerity. But this is merely the culmination of a victory that started years before.

Driving a wedge between political factions is easy when there are only two. It also helps to have all or nothing elections, where folks tend to buy into the philosophy and rhetoric of one side and ignore the strengths of anyone else. It is easy to play on the undercurrents of fear and injustice towards anyone who is different. Women, minorities, gays, immigrants. All of these groups can be pitched as the enemy to the right audience. Those fears were manipulated into a fabric of districts that promised a victory for our lap dog long before we talked him into playing our game.

It is also critical that we drove wedges between the faction on the other side. Keeping them separate and pushing their cause ahead of the others. Manipulating the calendar and holidays to accent their otherness, in part to keep the winning side firmly in our pocket, but also to keep any unity from happening on the other side.