Challenge #01942-E118: Made Great Again

in #fiction6 years ago

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Mouth on Legs politicians willing to promise anything or come up with grand schemes to get elected. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I need an image of Google Search asking "Did you mean Donald Trump?" Nonny - I write fiction. Nevertheless, I'll give it a go.]

It was going to be a bold new era. Things were going to change. The rich would pull their weight in the economy. People were going to have the playing field both leveled and cleared. No child would go hungry. No home uneducated. Socialised medicine would become the norm. And everyone would have the right to control what happens to and inside of their body.

Lies. All lies.

It took less than an hour after their chosen leader for him to betray them. Government benefits were taken from the poor and given to the rich. The free lunch program was banned. People who gave food to people who couldn't afford to pay for it were jailed for criminal misappropriation. People attempting to be more ecological were jailed for interrupting the flow of business. Houses and cars were repossessed. People were thrown out into the streets, and then jailed for being homeless.

Everyone below a certain income level suffered. The dream of the nation... died.

Since the greater public were now felons, they could no longer vote to disenfranchise this great liar. All that were left were the kind of people who were above the law. Suburbs were ploughed under to make more prisons. It was a bold new era. A bold new era of medieval-style serfdom blended homogeneously with slavery. The people lived, died, bred, and raised children based entirely on the whims of those who held them custody.

It was supposed to be a new golden age. The privileged few had never lived better. And then their glorious leader promised a thousand years of prosperity.

Which was followed immediately by the rest of the world cutting all trade ties and the nation's economy sinking harder than the Titanic. The wealthy few could no longer sell the mass-produced products that came from the prisoners, and those selfsame prisoners could not afford to buy the things they made. The storehouses creaked with poorly-made luxury item stand-ins.

Revolution followed shortly thereafter. The few who'd been chosen to be guards did not get paid. And thus joined the side of those they guarded. Slipping on the button that released the gates and opened the cells. And supplying the arms they were allowed to carry. And with revolution comes a reign of terror.

The leader and the wealthy few who thought it would be a good idea to own people again were obliterated. Their belongings were stripped for anything valuable, and the warehouses were incinerated. Their estates turned into community gardens, and their surviving mansions turned into hostels for the ones who had been wounded by their policies.

It was only after his death at the hands of the revolutionaries that their betraying leader actually made their nation "great again". Or rather, great for the first time ever.

[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / nito]

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