Challenge #01478-D017: Popular Lies
Write about a false prophet. -- WriteAboutNowBlr
"And in the bright new age of reckoning, we will no longer have freeloaders sucking on the government teat," preached the man in the large, bright suit. "There will be no need for government! No need for taxes! Those who can fulfil a need will do so, and those who need will be sated!"
The crowd cheered. Of course they did. It was a message they wanted to hear.
"In this way, and in this way alone, we will be a great nation, once more. We'll send those who don't belong back to where they do! We'll get rid of all the unstable elements! We're looking out for number one! Who do we look out for?"
The crowd, already excited by their bright new future, shouted, "NUMBER ONE!"
"What nation are we?"
"NUMBER ONE!"
"Who decides?"
"NUMBER ONE!"
"Who are we?"
"NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!"
The man in the large, bright suit basked in the chorus of "we're number one" like a reptile basking in the sun. He showered the auditorium with dollar bills, care of chaff cannons, as he left the stage. It was no shock that he was immensely popular. He was also immensely rich, and could easily afford his own campaign.
But the money flooded in anyway. A rising tide of green from the common throng and businesses alike.
And it was no great shock that he won by a landslide. People wanted what he preached. None of that was shocking. Neither were his appointments to key governing positions to 'downsize' the administrivia.
What was shocking, after the senate assisted in gutting the laws of the land and homogenising the laws all over the land, was what happened after his position was secure.
The term 'freeloader' was legally defined as, "anyone who receives government assistance". And the elderly on their pensions were rounded up into state facilities to work to their utmost abilities. The red tape was cut, and government assistance plummetted. As did many laws that protected the weak.
Schools were closed, and children put into factories.
Busses and public transport closed down in favour of industry-run transit that did little or nothing to maintain their systems or police their fallout.
Environmental protections vanished, allowing for the first on-site resorts to spring up in the middle of national parks. Allowing industries to dump their toxins wherever they pleased.
Hospitals had been transformed into prisons. And if the citizens fell sick, they had the freedom to be helped by anyone who wanted to help... or die with their friends and family. But, since everyone was looking out for number one... hardly anyone wanted to help.
The money still poured into the man in charge. Voluntary donations for this facility or that. Always perverted into ways to get the maximum amount of money out of everyone who had a need, and giving little in return.
The nation was dying, and it seemed determined to take everyone with it. But the man in the large, bright suit didn't mind one bit. He was always looking out for number one.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / kawing921]
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