Chapter 3
In the palace in West Fenia, Cherie spent her winter break mostly resting, trying to give the fetus inside as nice a time as possible. She did not have much energy to run around anyway. One of the best things about the Imperial School was that each class had one classroom it spent the entire day in, meaning she did not have to get schlepped everywhere during what would be the later stages of her pregnancy.
Natonito and Bathsheba were very caring towards Cherie�s state. Bathsheba herself was in the later stages of pregnancy, and was still bedridden. Cherie knew that she might be close to that herself by the time she was going to have her baby. She hoped that she would be able to do all of her homework and classes without trouble. One thing good about the break was that it gave her the chance to talk a lot with her brother-in-law.
"Is Henry going to be alright?" Cherie asked.
"What do you mean?" Natonito replied.
"Is he going to get in a lot of trouble?" Cherie asked.
"His parents are going to be very disappointed in him," Natonito said. "A future duke of the house of Bravia cannot afford to make too many mistakes like this. Part of what keeps people able to accept having less power and authority in society is our effectiveness and our character. If we do a better job than people think they could, they will let us do it, and if we are better than they think they are, they will let us rule as well. Without one, the foundation of our rule is shaky, without both, we are ruined."
"What sort of government do we have?" Cherie asked, puzzled. "I was always told by my parents that we had a dictatorial government that had once been more democratic."
"Well, they are part right. We do have a rather dictatorial form of government right now, but it has been that way for as long as I can remember," Natonito said. "As far as I can remember, there has been no genuine representative government in Secfenia"
"What do you mean?" Cherie said somewhat shocked. "Isn�t the Senate a relic of a more democratic government?"
"No, my dear. You have much to learn. In the beginning there were petty absolute rulers over small tribes. As those tribes of people consolidated, there became fewer sovereignties with stronger rulers, and higher social stratification. Instead of tyrants and everyone else on the same level, there became kings, aristocrats, merchants, farmers, and landless peasants and workers. The kings were now more limited in power, though they had command of greater resources than before. The aristocrats, proud of their own position, began to demand some say in government, since they were major landowners in their own right. Thus the Senate was formed, as the aristocrats wanted the right to review the acts of government."
"So the Senate was always a debate house for the aristocracy?" Cherie asked.
"Well, it has always been a place where the interests of the aristocracy were represented, but it used to hold important powers, especially during the reigns of weak kings, or during times of instability where the aristocrats would throw their private armies behind the king if he supported their wishes. But with the rise of the empire, the new emperors no longer needed private armies to support their forces, and had command of enough resources that they no longer needed the support of the wealthy magnates to implement their policies. So while the aristocracy continues to own large amounts of land, and hold large amounts of local power, they are powerless when it comes to deciding the path of empire. In order to gratify their egos, though, we let them keep the Senate, so they can imagine that they are still important," Natonito stated bluntly.
"Why doesn�t the empire just control the personal life of all of its citizens as well?" Cherie asked.
"With our resources, that would be impossible. We would first need to know what all of our citizens were doing, which would demand technology to spy on our population that we do not possess. We would then need to control all forms of media so that people had nowhere to gain quick information that was not monitored, and then keep people so busy working and slaving away that they would be too tired to conspire against leadership, as well as a crack force of police ready and able taking out any threats quickly and efficiently so that people would obey us in fear. At this point we are unable to do that," Natonito said.
"That sounds like slavery," Cherie said, aghast.
"That is exactly what it is," Natonito said.
"Do you like this form of government that we have?" Cherie asked.
"We are corrupt from the top to the bottom. Our emperor is insane, our aristocrats impoverish the masses so that they can live idly, our merchants steal from the people so that they can buy land and become landed aristocracy, our soldiers and petty officials demand bribes before they do their jobs, and all of this happens in all parts of the empire. No, I do not like the form of government we have, but it is the best we can do right now. The people are not ready for democracy yet," Natonito replied.
"What will it take for the people to be ready for democracy?" Cherie asked.
"I doubt that will happen for very long. In order to have a democracy, one must have a populace that is middle class, has enough land and money so that the population is made up of homeowners or small farmers, and is well educated enough to either read or write intelligibly or at least be able to think rationally. It would be great for the people if they ever reached that level. Barring there being leaders who are capable of arresting the moral slide that democracies seem to take, based on the failed examples we have seen, a democracy will end in catastrophe," Natonito replied.
"What kind of catastrophe?" Cherie asked.
"The supreme irony of a democracy is that it depends on two contrary things. The first is a populace that is morally upright, well educated, and rational. This sort of thing is difficult to find, for when the people control government, the government must in some way reflect their hopes, their dreams, and their fears. Most of the time popular government reflects their fears. The second thing is a leadership that can appeal to the populace, but yet does not reflect their prejudices. Acting once step ahead of the people towards absolute truth, a popular leader must be a shepherd of the populace, protecting them from external threat, knowledgeable of how much more competent he is at ruling than they are, and yet loving of them and looking out for their best interest and not his own. I think that is asking for too much, myself. Thus, democracy is almost always an abominable failure. For it to work would be tantamount to divine blessing," Natonito said.
"Diving blessing?" Cherie asked.
"Yes, it would have to be a gift from God. Mind you, a gift that could be taken away. Democracies fail when either leadership takes too much power for itself and the people are not strong enough to stop it, in coups, or when the people lose their sense of moral compass, their integrity, and their intellectual vigor, and become prey to large companies and a paternalistic government that give them bread and circus while taking their rights and freedoms away unsuspectingly. Worse, the people at these times tend to be temperamental about asserting their own rights. There is nothing worse than a people not capable of ruling themselves but demanding rule over others. If you do not have self control, you have no business trying to rule over anything else," Natonito said pointedly.
"You are an intelligent man," Cherie said.
"You must remember that when I was younger I had my time in the rebellion against the empire," Natonito said. "Hiding in caves and forests is a great time to sharpen your mind, if you survive."
"I never knew you were in the rebellion," Cherie said.
"I will have to tell you that story sometime. You look like you need to rest, and that child inside of you needs some rest too," Natonito said.
"Yes, I will go to sleep now," Cherie said.
"Alright, dear," Natonito said, patting her head. "I need some sleep too."
"I see," Cherie said, getting up to go into her bedroom.
That is how the break went, lots of conversations and lots of rest. That was not bad for Cherie, because she was tired a lot. Still, she would have liked to see Henry again and cuddle with him. She hoped Henry would come early to the Palace so that they could be together before the rest of the students came.
[ Chapter 2 ] [ Chapter 4 ]
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