Will we wake up from this fake fairytale? ‘Once upon a time, we had free speech, religion, democracy...’
Once upon a time there was a great nation. Its people hallowed freedom as a sacred right with free speech, religion, and democratic election of their leaders. There were two political parties who skirmished, but passed laws that were mostly beneficial for the people.
After many years, lawmakers became lazy. Many were corrupt or colluded with rich CEOs to get their agendas passed. The two political parties became estranged and little was accomplished. The people became tired of the corruption and finally elected a non-political leader who had no governmental experience or know-how. But this new leader was a person who craved attention, obedience and adulation. Many of his supporters thought he was superb, and found no fault in his cravings and his allegations that anyone who criticized him was lying.
The leader decided that the news media lied so much that he had his attorney general propose that journalists writing stories deemed untrue be jailed. And this came to pass. Any TV networks and newspapers criticizing the leader were shut down. The leader was happy that all criticism was quashed.
Now he demanded that all people stand for the national anthem and salute the flag under penalty of arrest and/or fines. The leader’s cabinet appointees used taxpayers’ money for lavish luxuries. The political parties were completely divided and most of the individuals in the leader’s party feared to speak out against him. The nation became divided and bigoted. A vocal minority supported the leader’s bigotry, but only a few who opposed this evil dared to speak out.
The nation, once great, is now a place where the ruler runs the show. There is no dissension, no compromise, no democracy.
Please understand that this is merely a FAKE fairytale – or is it?
Judith Alpert
Bradenton Beach
This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Will we wake up from this fake fairytale? ‘Once upon a time, we had free speech, religion, democracy...’."