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The Future

Derek McMillan

    “The project involves looking forward in time 200 years to witness the election. We can access the internet of the future,” Tilly began, “I have done a reconnaissance and it seems that elections to the parliament are annual. First however I think we need to solicit the opinions of Wolf-Dietrich von Raitenau who has a unique perspective on democracy.
    The graveyard of St Sebastian was not a welcoming venue at the best of times and Wolf-Dietrich was as vexed as he always was when he had been snatched from a dream of Salome Alt. Still he agreed to accompany them on this fact-finding mission.
    There was still a Queen of England which Wolf-Dietrich thought right and proper. In the pictures, the Queen looked very young. By accessing Google Tilly was able to ascertain that the Queen the previous year had been a different person and the year before yet another. She had about as much power as the Queen of the May, no matter what some folks say.
    Buckingham Palace had been turned into council flats and one of them was always reserved for the Queen.
    Black Rod had been retired and given a stick to play with. There was no summoning of the commons to the Lords.”
    “Why is that?” Asked Wolf-Dietrich.
    “They abolished the House of Lords,” said Xavier.
    Wolf-Dietrich just shook his head at that.
    “Have you looked at the moon?” asked Tilly.
    They looked. It was a waxing gibbous moon and it was green.
    “The green is a distant relative of wheat adapted to the lunar conditions. Most of it is under glass and will be harvested. There will be ‘Luna Pops’ on sale in the shops soon although most of the harvest will go to feed the 50,000-strong population of lunatics. That’s what they call themselves.” Tilly insisted. “The rest of the wheat you can see is trying to survive in the lunar atmosphere and contributing to the terraforming of the moon. It will be OK for humans to live on the surface in another hundred years.”
    “Now about the election we are here to observe.” Wolf-Dietrich was keen to keep his companions on track.
    “There are no news channels. They were continually being disproved on social media so 80 years ago a woman known only as ‘Alice’ developed an application which could create a bot...” Tilly began.
    “A bot is...”Xavier interrupted
    “I know what a bot is.” said Wolf-Dietrich, somewhat surprisingly.
    “Anyway this bot will filter the facts for you according to your own predilections. I have chosen to focus on this election but there is surprisingly little coverage.”
    Tilly added,“This is because there are no political parties.”
    “They were abolished?” asked Wolf-Dietrich with altogether too much relish.
    “No. They withered away. There were no careers to be made in politics. The ten MPs only get the average wage of a skilled worker – no expenses. And they can only stand once. Next year a different ten take their place.
    “And what do they do?”
    “The real decisions are taken by the general public who can promulgate and then vote on propositions. They verify the proposals. Or negate them of course.
    “For example?” Wolf-Dietrich asked.
    It was Xavier who answered. “They rejected a proposal to limit the number of whales killed in the North Sea.”
    “Mind you,” added Tilly, “that was only because it contradicted a recent motion to ban whale fishing altogether which had a larger vote.”
    “So all you have told me is this. You have abolished the monarchy and replaced it with a show. You have scrapped the House of Lords and replaced it with nothing. And these ten men...” Wolf-Dietrich thundered.
    “Six of them are women,” Tilly interrupted.
    “These ten people are just a rubber stamp for the will of the people? You have effectively abolished the state. Where is the chance for a strong leader to emerge in all this mess?”
    “You have analysed the situation and concluded that there is no way for autocracy to gain the upper hand?” asked Tilly quietly.
    “You could say that,” Sensing a trap, Wolf-Dietrich answered cautiously.
    “What about a military coup?” asked Xavier.
    Wolf-Dietrich’s eyes lit up but Tilly had done her homework on this too.
    “There was a public inquiry in which it came out that there were more admirals than battleships and more generals than tanks...”
    “What are tanks?”
    Tilly brought up some pictures and Wolf-Dietrich was fascinated for half an hour with the potential of this battlefield weapon. He briefly imagined himself driving the Bavarians back with a division of tanks.
    “Most of the officers were pensioned off. You can still read their blogs complaining that the army is no career for a gentleman these days. Their main complaint is that the officers are now elected for a fixed term and then have to serve in the ranks.”
    “That is utterly ludicrous. Officers require specialised skills.”
    “And it is from the people with specialised skills that the officers are elected. Regiments regularly send NCOs for training and the officer class is no longer recruited from the ‘Hooray Henries’. So the chances of a coup are greatly reduced.”
 

From the Diary of Wolf-Dietrich von Raitenau

    I will be pleased to get back to the old certainties of my life in Salzburg. It was good to spend time with my young friends but the world they showed me seemed horrific. Rank and file soldiers are not fit to take decisions and the common people are not fit to frame referendum questions.
    Of course Tilly is right in saying that they are better educated and better informed than at any time in history and I must put my faith in that. “Blessed are the poor” but being blessed and the recipients of charity is one thing. Putting power in their hands is another!

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