When the Republic first gained traction, the leader of the movement declared
himself the first president. He did this with the promise that he would step
down, and make way for a replacement in a few years, after the first elections
decided on the first official regime. That was exactly what he did in the year
2100. He didn’t even run for reëlection, or allow loyalists to start a
write-in campaign. He firmly believed in the government they were building,
and didn’t want anyone to be in power who did not deserve it, and did not
prove to the people that he did. The system was staunchly misogynistic, but
within its own parameters, a fair meritocracy; well...maybe not quite at
first. Anyone who wanted to run for a particular position was free to do so,
as long as he fit the initial criteria, number one being that he had a penis.
Every candidate was given equal opportunity to announce their platform, and
raise awareness. Seeing as money was a new thing on this world, they weren’t
quite sure how they were going to prevent the wealthiest from having an unfair
advantage, but they knew they wanted to protect the elections from it. They
didn’t want it to be like it was on Earth. It was the preliminary
administration’s responsibility to figure this out. There were technically
around twenty thousand eligible voters living in Aljabara at the time of the
election. When it came to voting itself, there was a secret rule about who was
eligible, and who wasn’t. Bear in mind that formal misogyny was only beginning
to take hold, and the Republicans feared that a rebellion would rise up once
more if they did not at least pretend to make things fair. Everyone over the
age of fifteen was allowed to vote, but that didn’t mean every vote was going
to be counted. The voting committee left themselves under no obligation to
reveal the final tally of the votes. All they were required to do was announce
who won which race. Voters did not place their ballots in the box themselves.
They handed it to one of the poll workers, who dropped it into the box in
front of their eyes. This gave the appearance of equality, but there was
something else they were doing at the same time. Each worker wore a special
stamp ring on his finger, which he used to mark the corner of each ballot he
received from a woman. Every ballot bearing one of these markings was simply
thrown into the recycling bin at the time of counting. The counters didn’t
even bother looking at who the woman voted for, because to them, it no longer
mattered. Their opinion stopped being valid six years ago. The first official
administration would go on to make voting illegal for women, and this was
always the plan, but the Republicans didn’t want anyone to know that. There
was actually a lot they had planned for the future that they realized they
couldn’t introduce all at once. Had they wanted to do that, they would have
needed a monarch, and if there was one thing all monarchs from history had in
common, it was that they were always—be it sooner or later—overthrown. While
things had been bad for years now, this was the day freedom truly died on
Durus.
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Current Schedule
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The Advancement of Mateo Matic
The team continues to struggle through the Third Rail. Enemies approach from all sides, and threaten them in all ways. Even the strongest bonds will be tested as an ominous future war places all of reality in jeopardy.
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all weekday stories.
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all Saturday stories.
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My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Mateo Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Mateo, and add to the larger mythology.
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Microstory 1447: First Elections
Labels:
administration
,
election
,
equality
,
freedom
,
government
,
inequality
,
law
,
lies
,
men
,
misogyny
,
oppression
,
power
,
president
,
rebellion
,
rich
,
secrets
,
society
,
strategy
,
voting
,
women
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