A would-be tyrant manipulates an election to take over a country much like our own in my serial novel, "The Country/The Country." Based on the catastrophically divisive election of 2016, the story pits the campaign of the autocratic Mr. Pig against a citizen opposition led by the seer Mrs. Nathan, who calls herself a witch.
In the segment posted today, the Leading Candidate Karol Pegasso in the vote for a new Chief Xec of The Commonhope of UZ (that country much like our own) seeks an answer to an age-old question posed by the great Renaissance political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli: "Is it better for the ruler to be loved or feared?" He poses this question to the novel's protagonist, citizen Keel, a retired professor who taught "the old books," and whom Pig has kidnapped to use as a sounding board for his strongly autocratic views.
Keel pleases him with his reply: "It's a question of tactics."
Meanwhile the leader of the opposition, the elderly seer Mrs. Nathan, rests up in her mountain hideout, calling on the Ancient Ones to help plot her next move. And the country's august Constitutional body, known as the Sacred Commission, finally sensing that their country's revered but complex electoral system has been manipulated and subverted by the tactics of the Pig campaign, calls a halt to the Voting to investigate claims of voter intimidation. In response, Pig vows to take matters into his own hands.
Here's the link: https://www.inkitt.com/stories/thriller/226757/chapters/37 Click on "Chapters" to go back to the beginning or pick up where you left off. New segments posted every week
And here's an excerpt from chapter 37:
"So, yeah," Pig said, "my men
come into town and they shake things up. They stir the pot. The ground moves
under the feet of all these sleepers. They are thrown out of their cozy beds, knocked
off their feet."
He stared at his
companion, or opponent, in dialogue; who made no reply
"And, yeah, a few
people get hurt. Well, a few must be sacrificed, for the good of the many. Yes, there
is fear, there are rumblings, rumors, stories are passed. Some egos get
bruised. Some dirty secrets spilled. The little sins of men -- and a few
'careless' women, let us say -- are exposed.... It is a cleansing. It's all
part of a necessary renewal. This is a new age, man."
Pig looks darkly about
him. No one is cheering, by then the only voice within hearing is not objecting
either.
His expression
lightens as he focuses on the un-objecting Keel.
"The new air
rushes in. It's my breath, Keel, you're feeling on the back of your neck. The
fresh air of a new day. Don't you taste it, smell it? Feel it?"
Keel had no wish to
feel the breath of the Pig anywhere on his person, but he has determined not to
get into a rhetorical contest, or mere mud-slinging. Moderation is not
exciting. Who wishes to defend sleepers? To accept this battleground is already
to be defeated.
Instead, he summarized.
"So what you are
saying, if I understand correctly, is that citizens of this country no longer
have a choice to make. A change must be made, and it will come whether they
wish it or not. A necessary change." He spoke slowly. "That will
benefit all in the end. That will save them from decline."
Pig grunted, softly.
Less in satisfaction, it appeared, than in cautious attention.
"And so,"
Keel resumed, "if we are pursuing the question of how the leader, the new
leader, should address the populace of the Commonhope of UZ... Whether, that is
-- as you first put the matter -- he should seek to be loved or feared, then
the goal is no longer appealing for their consent. Consent, in our traditional
form of government, comes through a vote. But what you are seeking is
acceptance. Acceptance --" he hesitated for a word -- "of a regime. A
new regime. You wish to win the people's acceptance, if not their approval, for
the new directions you believe are necessary. Their obedience, we might say. A
ruler must be obeyed, as Mac-Vey would say. A regime must be accepted. Or else
things, the ordinary daily life of a civil society, the polis, will not run
smoothly."
He stopped speaking,
to take in the face of the Leading Candidate.
"So it's a
question of tactics, then, isn't it?"
Pig's throat made a
grumbling noise. And then he laughed.
"This is why I
like you, Keel."
https://www.inkitt.com/stories/thriller/226757/chapters/37
A would-be tyrant manipulates an election to take over a country much like our own in my serial novel, "The Country/The Country." Based on the catastrophic election of 2016, the story pits the campaign of the autocratic Mr. Pig against a citizen opposition led by the seer Mrs. Nathan, who calls herself a witch
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