Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Political Potentates

The political potentates from various countries were coming to visit the land. Much preparation had been done in their honor. The host potentate of the honored land was reportedly spending over a billion dollars of the serfs tax money to make them all feel at home. Fences and cameras were installed at the meeting place and it was reported that snipers were positioned on the roofs of nearby buildings. The serfs who were paying for all this security were not allowed near the place of honor, because it was said that there were those amongst the serfs who were not impressed with these would-be “princes” of politics. Still, it was a sign of how much these “rulers” were loved that they had to be isolated for their safety.

Safely ensconced in their rich and opulent surroundings, the new political “royalty” would discuss their solutions to all the problems of the world. Some of them were communist, others capitalists, some could be called dictators and others despots, some were free marketers and others were freeloaders; this was a motley group of state heads—or head cases, depending on one’s point of view. They would issue upbeat press releases to the controlled and over-taxed masses and tell them they were working on solutions and that they were all moving forward in unison to help the people everywhere. “Yeah sure,” thought some cynical people.

A number of the people thought that their political “masters” were a gathering of gossips wasting time with other peoples’ money; but hey, who cared what the serfs thought. This was the “princes of politics weekend” and they were all going to have a ball at the peoples’ expense.

No expense was to be spared for the comfort and enjoyment of the political potentates. A fake lake was even built courtesy of the serfs tax dollars; now the people knew the meaning of that old saying, “money flows like water.” The honored ones would also be watered and fed in a manner fitting their status as political princes. The camp followers of the political potentates would also be part of the extravaganza; some were called “sherpas” and they in turn had assistants called “yaks.” These are the new buzz words of the political elites. After all, “sherpas” sounds better than sycophantic bureaucrats feeding off the serfs tax dollars and “yaks” is a good fit, for there will be plenty of noisy yakking going on as they spend the serfs’ tax dollars.

Big dollars for big personages would be spent to “showcase” the land, and a political flack reportedly said, the gathering of the “great” was worth every penny! Still, some of the serfs were thinking over a billion dollars was a lot of pennies for an orgy of political excess. But, these were considered to be negative people whose only contribution to this gathering of the “greats” would be their tax dollars paying the bills.

Alas, bills are the serfs lot in life, and to be ruled and fooled, and taxed to the max by out-of-control political “princes.” At one time, political leaders used to be described as servants of the people. Now the people are servants, or serfs, of these political potentates.

Stephen J. Gray
June 24, 2010.