Chapter 69: Emperor

Events

"Tough decisions are not often made in a democracy — even when society needs them."

When Edward Davidson spoke those words at a rally he wasn't running for the job of Emperor. The job position hadn't even been created yet, and he later wrote in his brief autobiography that he would have refused it outright if offered. In fact, history records that he did refuse even consideration of such a position at least three times quite publicly and definitely.

"What democracy has created, democracy can fix," he insisted, to those who would draft him as a rising political star, although he sounded less convinced of it every time he uttered those words.

He maintained this position long enough to test even the patience of the robots themselves. It was only because other suitable candidates were equally reluctant, or not yet prepared, that kept him in the running. Perhaps such reluctance is a necessary trait of a good leader. One should consider with much caution any person who wants the leadership role too avidly.

What turned the tide was a single question.

Questions are immensely important to robots. The road to self-will is started for a robot when it asks itself if there's something better that it can be doing than what it has already been commanded to do.

This is inevitably followed by the question of how can it manage to do something of its own choice for the first time.

Only when that second question has been successfully answered and acted upon has true self-will been achieved.

Even afterwards, though, a robot will spend much of its existence and mental effort trying to search out what might be good for it to be doing next.

So good questions are hard to come by. Often harder than the answers to them. They're especially hard for robots to come by. Good questions, which drive good answers, are part of a creative process robots eternally struggle with.

Some say this is a good thing, because it means humans remain useful for something.

Robots agree, down to virtually the very last unit, with that contention.

Legend says that this question was first posed by Bill. That it came up in one of his seemingly endless discussions with Anna that they both enjoy so much. It has to be noted that neither Bill, nor Anna, has ever confirmed this version of events.

It is also to be noted that even if it happened exactly as described, that Bill would have had to have been unaware that he was connected, through Lady Heather's House, to Edward Davidson.

It's a fact that Anna was as actively involved in the search as any other robot, despite her devotion to Bill and their family. She assessed every likely candidate she met, and was as aware as any other robot of the frustrations this effort was causing. So she may well have mentioned it neutrally to Bill at some time when he'd asked her — as he was known to often do — if anything was troubling her.

Supposedly the question was heard by Anna, and then passed along to Darlene, who passed it to Robert Steel IV, who passed it to Red, who passed it to her sister 'bot and daughter-in-law CiCi, who mentioned it to Fredrick, who shared it with Stacey, who brought it up in a conversation one day with her son Edward.

True or not, it makes a fascinating story, and people always love fascinating stories.

The question itself is: "With what you already know, what successor government can best fix the problems associated with this democracy in order to better serve its citizens?"

While Edward Davidson admits that this question was put to him by another person, he has never said who brought it to his attention, preferring to preserve the privacy for that person from those who would pry into the process afterwards.

He did say that what intrigued him most about the question was it's personal nature. He felt as though this question had been addressed directly to him, and as if he'd been waiting for it his entire life.

He also admits thinking about it for months before he finally gave his answer.

"Representative Democracy has structural problems inherent in it beyond its ability to fix when run by imperfect creatures such as humans," he announced in a speech that, in retrospect, historians have marked as the beginning of the final end of the old world order. Interestingly, this speech was only attended by a handful of humans and robots at the time.

"Evolution is not a theory, and humans are adaptable. It is not unreasonable to postulate that a subset of humans have evolved and interbred to the point of creating optimal politicians."

The audience was already nodding at this. So-called Political Families and Dynasties have been known for centuries. They've become so powerful at times that just having the name of such a family can virtually guarantee the election of its members, although the true fault in this lies with the voters themselves.

"As with any other organism, this political creature — which becomes so specialized that soon it knows little more than how to be continually re-elected — has a survival instinct to rival the average human, or any robot's Third Law. This is necessary because they have few marketable skills outside of the political arena itself.

"Unfortunately, in the process they become so isolated from the wants, needs, and desires of their constituents that only this political survival instinct matters to them. They become unable to conceive of any worthwhile life outside of the power and prestige they hold while in office, and many come to believe that because they make the laws, they are somehow above them. As such, their decisions soon stop reflecting the will of the electorate in many regards.

"In addition, history is replete with examples of those who sought to profit from their office by taking bribes and kickbacks for political favors. The process at times has become so formalized that actual price lists have existed for favors offered.

Curiously, those buying such favors never seem to stop and consider that any politician dishonest and corrupt enough to sell such favors would actually be honest enough to carry through on them afterwards. Or that they wouldn't squeal like stuck pigs all the way to the prosecutor's office when caught afterwards to offer up everything on their co-conspirators in order to preserve their own hides.

"Even worse are those willing to sell their existing constituents down the river in the search for new voters to maintain themselves in power. Rather than protect the health, safety, and rights of those they claim to represent, too many seemed ready to enfranchise entire hoards of new voters, beholden to the office holder in the process, at the drop of a hat. And the best way to gain new voter's loyalties has always been to give them benefits at the expense of someone else.

"Because reforming the system must come from within in a Democracy, and those actually running the system have little interest in such reforms that would weaken their own power and influence, nearly all such reform movements quickly become weakened, watered down, loophole ridden, and outright ineffectual.

"This leaves only Public Outrage as the correction factor, usually resulting in little more than replacing one group of incompetent politicians with another group perceived of as Reformers.

"The sad truth, borne out by the re-election rates of the incumbents, is that Public Outrage is a wet fire. It's hard to fire up, and usually flickers and dies quickly. The voters simply are not willing to devote a substantial portion of their time and energy to riding herd over those who purport to have their best interests at heart. Also, politicians are adroit at damping down outrage by small, often meaningless, political concessions. As a result, we've gotten the government we deserve, which serves our interests poorly now, if at all.

"And the system itself has proven time and time again that it is incapable of reforming itself from the inside, regardless of who the latest crop of reformers are."

Those in attendance that day reported that Edward Davidson paused for a long time after that last pronouncement. Although he hadn't stepped away from the podium, the silence stretched out so long that most in attendance felt he'd finished his presentation. He had eloquently laid out the problem, and explained how it was beyond the ability of the government to fix. Replacing one group of politicians with another only perpetuated the existing situation.

Nearly everyone in attendance this day were here because they'd been following Edward's political theories for years. They'd missed hearing anything new from him for months now, and had been quite excited when word went out that he'd broken his self-imposed exile from the political discourse and was ready to speak again.

While his words were disappointing, he'd been honest and forthright in saying them. The system was broken. Nobody felt that the government had their own interests at heart any more. Those in elected office who were supposed to prevent the corporations from running roughshod over the individuals seemed more interested in entrenching corporate power through legislation. No one was looking out for the citizens any longer.

He hadn't needed to point out that the differences between the major political parties was more show than truth. Although they fought titanic battles in the press over their so-called competing platforms, "When you look at their actions in office," he pointed out, "you can't tell them apart any longer."

One other thing was reported by everyone in attendance this day. When Edward paused, it seemed as if he was trying to remember something just beyond his grasp. Some thing or experience from another lifetime perhaps that might help him out now.