GOVERNMENTS TRICKSTERS DEMAGOGUES
I came across a sci-fi tale in an online magazine the other day that intrigued me: The Rise and Fall of Dethko. The author is Leon Zafayona. His work is published by Bibliotox, an internet platform that’s been banned by the Anticlocks. The authorities here think that Bibliotox publications are too controversial by far. The last thing they want to do is to give people ideas that might undermine their faith in Anticlockwise. The storyline reminded me of Max’s frequent assertion that all governments were composed of tricksters and demagogues.
I’ve read a few things by Zafayona before. His deep space action sequences are impressive but there’s usually more to it than that. He invites you to reflect on your own life as well. That’s not necessarily a good idea for me of course. I need to steer clear of too much introspection. Navel-gazing doesn’t do me any good. But in this case I found the story enlightening.
The action takes place on a mythical planet called Obelanta. The citizens of Iznavia, the capital city of the planet, were trying to decide who would govern them. They voted in elections four times in the space of two years but each time the result was inconclusive. At the end of it all, the Iznavians were sick and tired of the whole affair.
The problem was that each time they voted there was insufficient support for any of the three major political parties to form an administration. They kept bickering amongst themselves to try to wrestle power from their political enemies, but they failed miserably each time. None of them could accept the idea that one of the others should take precedence over them. Each of the three leaders insisted on being the top dog, so they never came to an agreement. None of these leaders had a shred of integrity. Their actions highlighted the underlying relationship between governments, tricksters and demagogues.
In the end, Dethko, a vicious general in charge of the army seized power for himself, enslaved all the citizens and made everyone’s life an absolute misery for twenty years until he was finally overthrown by a popular uprising. The Dethko regime reminded me of what’s happening in Anticlockwise now.
The interesting part is the moral conclusion that Leon Zafayona seems to draw from the story: most of the citizens of Iznavia, he says, considered that the best time in their entire lives was the two year period before Dethko took over when the three parties were arguing with each other about how to form a government. `Life was so much better without any government at all’, they used to say. `Business was good, nobody interfered in your private life and everyone was happy.’
Zafayona is scathing about politicians. For him they’re no more than tricksters and hustlers. All that happens with elections, he maintains, is that the people are lied to by those in power. And even if they’re not lied to, they can never be sure who it is in their interest to vote for anyway. It’s just a lottery or at worst a complete fraud. He tells an amusing anecdote about one of the elections when it was discovered at the count that the voting lists included the names of 850 Iznavians who were at the time of the election lying six feet underground in the city cemetery. Some of them had been dead for over two hundred years….
The worst part though for Zafayona is what happens after the elections when one of the political factions finally succeeds in forcing itself to the front of the queue. Those who’ve `won’ fix it to suit their own particular purpose whatever that happens to be. And if all those squabbling to be in charge are stupid enough to be unable to agree among themselves, some power-crazed lunatic will quickly get tired of their `democratic’ wrangling and will seize control for himself. So there are very few genuine winners in all this. Most of us finish up disappointed, disillusioned or at worse oppressed.
Zafayona’s conclusion is that it would be better to have no government at all…
I’ve been thinking about that story a lot. Life would be so much better for everyone if we could just got rid of all governments, all tricksters and all demagogues. Politicians are just self-obsessed manipulators who make your life a misery. Life couldn’t be much worse here after we voted in the Anticlocks. I don’t suppose that I’ll ever get another chance to vote again but if I ever did, I’d opt for `no government’ and the permanent exile of all politicians.
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