Too Awakened For the White House?
February 16th, 2057
There can be no doubt about it; the proven fraud in last year's election, and the shortened campaign season announced by congress have conspired to, by far, the most eclectic and diverse group of candidates to ever run for the UCAS' highest office. With a dwarf/troll shaman ticket from the Democratic One World party, an ork VP running for the Republicans, a female mage running the New Century Party, and a great dragon running as an independent, it seems like the "plain vanilla" candidates, Booth and Brackhaven, are the minority.
The choices for the voter seem endless. Who would vote for a plain-jane politician like Booth, when most of the candidates have exotic looks and access to fantastic magical powers? Wouldn't a mage or a shaman be best to deal with the magical bug spirit problem in Chicago? What about a dragon? Nobody really knows what dragons are capable of or how they think; all we know is that they're ancient creatures of great power. Wouldn't Dunkelzahn be able to wave his claw and banish the bugs forever? It seems as though choosing one of the many "awakened" candidates is obviously superior to choosing a "mundane" leader like Booth or Brackhaven.
But is the choice really so simple?
James Booth has years of experience on the hill, with numerous successes in both legislation and foreign policy. His term as VP saw him negotiating tough treaties with our North American neighbors (none of which harbor much love for the old Stars, Leaves, and Stripes), and winning strong terms that favored UCAS trade. Kenneth Brackhaven is a politically intentioned businessman who's had several successes of his own. While neither man is adept at magic, they are, to varrying degrees, clearly adept at governing, and isn't that what we want in a president? After all, what's more important to the UCAS people; conjuring or congress, magic or management?
With recent reports from Knight Errant showing that metahuman magic users, the so-called "insect shamans," are the original source of the bug spirits that inhabit our world (and thus, the Chicago Containment Zone), do we really feel comfortable trusting the White House to Vogel's "eagle" shaman VP, Gary Grey? Do we want, as our leader, a woman who flaunts her membership in a secretive magical order and proposes "integrating" more magic into every UCASer's daily life? Last of all, can the UCAS afford to have a commander-in-chief who is irreperably magical by his very nature, has an unknowable alien mind, predates the time of Christ, and is a multi-ton predatory carnivore?
Maybe now we can see why plain vanilla is so popular.
February 16th, 2057
There can be no doubt about it; the proven fraud in last year's election, and the shortened campaign season announced by congress have conspired to, by far, the most eclectic and diverse group of candidates to ever run for the UCAS' highest office. With a dwarf/troll shaman ticket from the Democratic One World party, an ork VP running for the Republicans, a female mage running the New Century Party, and a great dragon running as an independent, it seems like the "plain vanilla" candidates, Booth and Brackhaven, are the minority.
The choices for the voter seem endless. Who would vote for a plain-jane politician like Booth, when most of the candidates have exotic looks and access to fantastic magical powers? Wouldn't a mage or a shaman be best to deal with the magical bug spirit problem in Chicago? What about a dragon? Nobody really knows what dragons are capable of or how they think; all we know is that they're ancient creatures of great power. Wouldn't Dunkelzahn be able to wave his claw and banish the bugs forever? It seems as though choosing one of the many "awakened" candidates is obviously superior to choosing a "mundane" leader like Booth or Brackhaven.
But is the choice really so simple?
James Booth has years of experience on the hill, with numerous successes in both legislation and foreign policy. His term as VP saw him negotiating tough treaties with our North American neighbors (none of which harbor much love for the old Stars, Leaves, and Stripes), and winning strong terms that favored UCAS trade. Kenneth Brackhaven is a politically intentioned businessman who's had several successes of his own. While neither man is adept at magic, they are, to varrying degrees, clearly adept at governing, and isn't that what we want in a president? After all, what's more important to the UCAS people; conjuring or congress, magic or management?
With recent reports from Knight Errant showing that metahuman magic users, the so-called "insect shamans," are the original source of the bug spirits that inhabit our world (and thus, the Chicago Containment Zone), do we really feel comfortable trusting the White House to Vogel's "eagle" shaman VP, Gary Grey? Do we want, as our leader, a woman who flaunts her membership in a secretive magical order and proposes "integrating" more magic into every UCASer's daily life? Last of all, can the UCAS afford to have a commander-in-chief who is irreperably magical by his very nature, has an unknowable alien mind, predates the time of Christ, and is a multi-ton predatory carnivore?
Maybe now we can see why plain vanilla is so popular.
10 comments:
"has an unknowable alien mind, predates the time of Christ, and is a multi-ton, predatory carnivore?"
What? I really just don't think that Brackhaven is that old or that heavy.
"has an unknowable alien mind, predates the time of Christ, and is a multi-ton, predatory carnivore?"
What? I really just don't think that Brackhaven is that old or that heavy.
And I did not mean to post that twice.
While many will simply ignore this article (and I admit, it is a bit slanted) the author makes a good point. It is foolish to choose a leader because of flair, or some misguided belief that because of discrimination a non-human "deserves" the position. We should be electing someone who can do the job, not someone who is simply "interesting."
Dragon for Prez! Dragons rule!
He's right about a lot of that stuff, but General Yeats isn't going to let Penchyk do anything once he's president. She's going to get the orks and women to vote right, and then stay quiet. You'll see. Yeats can handle her.
kwan, I don't know that I agree. Insofar as "interesting" in this situation is basically the same as "out-of-the-ordinary," I think electing someone based in part (or mostly) because of their interestingness isn't necessarily a bad idea.
Think about it: what do we know for SURE about the UCAS presidents of the last couple decades? Only that they've tended to make a mess of things, and the the culmination of their efforts has been at least one completely corrupt administration that LITERALLY stole an election. Do you think, really, that the recent mess was an isolated incident? I don't.
So what we know is that Business as Usual has led us to badness. Will different-for-different's-sake lead us to goodness? Maybe not...probably not. But we know with a much greater certainty what we'll get if we vote for more of the same.
So, me? I'm not voting. But if I did, I'd definitely vote for the candidate who is the LEAST like the last few presidents.
Besides...if Dunky wanted to use his awesome power to work evil plans with the country's government, why in the Sixth World would he come out and take the position legitimately? Why not just take it? Or set himself up as the power behind the throne? I reckon a Great Dragon's got plenty of power to abuse us if he wanted; he wouldn't have any real reason to ask our permission first.
His whole premise is ludicrous, but ignorant mundanes eat it up. Magic is not evil: it is a natural awareness put forth by the Great Mother, and it can be used for good or evil. To suggest that magic is dangerous is deny nature and spread fear in those who cannot sense the rightness of the manasphere.
Wow, so much for impartial reporting, eh?
It's NewsFax. You want impartial reporting, you go to...
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