Once upon a time a people existed who were thought to be the most progressive, advanced and intelligent society on the planet. They had led the planet in technological advancement, were admired for their economic resourcefulness and were respected as strong and reliable allies. Internally, they enjoyed open and passionate debate over any and everything. Whether the topic was the best way to serve eggs for breakfast or the soundness of the country’s defense strategy, the debate was passionate and free.
These people, the “Gullibles” had a system of selecting their leaders that most of the people believed to be fair and reliable. Indeed, most of the people were so comfortable and complacent with the system, believing that the differences between the choices for leadership were so small, that they sometimes neglected to even cast their vote. From time to time, the people heard rumors that their leaders had been involved in unfairly exploiting other peoples, arguments that religion should be the driving force in government policies and theories that the rich should be heavily favored in government policies at the expense of the poor as opposed to measures designed to provide for the general welfare of the people. The Gullibles generally paid little attention to these rumors, believing them to be crackpot extremists that the majority of all Gullibles would never take seriously. There were even rumors that sinister ideological technology geeks were plotting to corrupt the system of selecting leaders to manipulate the outcomes of elections. Again, these rumors were dismissed as the ravings of conspiracy theorists.
There came a time when these people were caught up in a change of leadership. The newly elected leaders were chosen by a razor thin margin that even required the highest judicial sages of the land to decide who the actual winner of the election was. In several areas of the land, large groups of people complained that they had been discouraged or prevented from casting their vote for leadership. THey even brought forth proof of the mishandling of elections, flaws in the electronic machines that counted the votes and actions that intimidated poor and elderly voters from getting to the polls. These tended to be poor people and so their complaints were dismissed.
The new leadership took control and declared that there would henceforth be a "new way" of governing the people. According to the new President, taxes were cut for the richest of the people so that the economy would grow for the benefit of all. Economic resources for education, health care and relief to the poor would be cut in order to run a more efficient government, he said. If the poor needed help, he declared, religious organizations and charity should be the organizations to provide such help according to their beliefs. If the poor were not of the same religious beliefs, then they were obviously not deserving of aid. He declared that those people and governments in foreign lands that did not agree with his beliefs were “evil” and were enemies. To address this problem, the new President of the Gullibles increased the funding for the military.
Several groups of people on the planet had taken the advice of internationally respected scientists and came together to reach an accord on ways to reduce pollution and hydrocarbon emissions that were a long term threat to the welfare of all people on the planet. The new President of the Gullibles declared that there was no scientific evidence that such a problem existed. Although his lands were responsible for the single largest contribution of hydrocarbon emissions, he declared that the land of the Gullibles would not cooperate in the accord. The Vice President met secretly with the heads of the major oil and energy companies and developed an energy policy that would make their companies more profits. The President thanked the Vice President and ordered the Congress to approve this policy. Because the Congress was led by a majority of representatives of the president’s political party, Congress did as they were told. They ignored the cries of dissent that adopting such an important policy without allowing for the open debate that the people had previously enjoyed and expected was unwise and unfair. The critics were labeled as unpatriotic.
Some people expressed concern that the steps taken by the new President of the Gullibles were harmful to the people, to the diplomatic relationships around the planet and to the welfare of the planet itself. However, media channels that broadcast information to the people assured them that the President had declared that he, and only he, knew what was best for the Gullibles. He had stated that what he was doing was what the Gullible really wanted. If a media outlet broadcast a different viewpoint, the President no longer allowed members of that media organization into press conferences and cut off their access to news releases from the President’s office. So the media faithfully reported what the President told them to broadcast.
Believing that things were pretty much under his control and moving in the direction that he wanted, the President of the Gullibles started on his secret plans to attack leaders of other peoples that disagreed with him and that he considered personal enemies.
TO BE CONTINUED……
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