STL #3: A Little Tale of Liberty

This is an entirely fictional tale. Anything that resembles real life is entirely coincidental. Or truthful. One or the other. Whatever it is, I hope it sheds a little light on that thing we like to call the "New American Myth".

It's seldom ever told that there was once a nation called Peoplite. The people of Peoplite lived under a benevolent king, Peopleton the First, and for many years it was good.

After many years of peace, Peopleton the First died. His sons fought for power, until the oldest, Peopletine, mysteriously disappeared, and the youngest son, Peopleton the Second (named after his father), ascended to the throne. Peopleton the Second was not the benevolent ruler his father was, and he made new taxes upon the people of Peoplite, he took much land and it was even being rumored that some were being made to work in slave labour.

So the people of Peoplite met one day in the square of their largest town, Peopleville. There, after much deliberation, three groups formed who opposed the new king.

The first group called themselve the People's Republic of Peoplite. The PRP, or the Peoplecans as they liked to be called, wanted the workers to rise up and own everything of Peoplite equally. The second group that formed was Peoplites for Social Democracy (or the Peoplecrats), who wanted pure democracy so everyone could vote on everything, insisting that it'd be the only way everyone can be truly equal. The last group, the largest, was not named, instead, it was a group of people who disagreed with both groups, and the king. This third group wanted peace like they had under the first king, but did not want to elect kings for fear of a king like the current one. They thought there might be a better way to run things. This third group took to calling itself Peopletarians. The Peopletarians didn't know much of what to do with themselves, not siding with any of the other groups.

Of all the people who met that day in Peopleville square, half of the citizens of the town did not attend the meeting, instead, they toiled in the fields and lived under the rule of Peopleton the Second, content, not willing to go out of line and question the king by supporting any side. The People's Republic of Peoplite's leaders laughed at the other groups, insisting in the formation of a Revolution to dethrone the King and bring equality to the people. The Peoplites for Social Democracy agreed in the need for a Revolution, but disagreed as to how to make the people equal. The Peopletarians knew that equality wasn't something to be dictated and simply went back to their lives, hoping for a better solution, living amongst the many other peasants and other people of Peoplite.

Peopleton the Second put a tax on the roads, a tax on the sale of goods, a tax on imports, a tax on industry, a tax on tea, a tax on stamps, and had his military take over the food and agriculture of Peoplite. He then commanded that the workers toil in the field, that they pay him tribute, and that all the young men were conscribed to the military for service to the King. For the people who lived in the towns and cities of Peoplite, especially in Peopleville, Peopleton II made many demands. Peopleton's royal officers commanded that the butchers abide by butching only the meat that they see fit, the brewers brew only the beer that they see fit, and that the bakers bake only the bread that they see fit. Of course, all of which had to give their staple of meat, beer and bread to the king and the ruling elite of Peoplite. Peopleton II declared all the fields of the workers to be his, and charged rent of every citizen of Peoplite who owned property.

After 5 years of this harsh rule, the poor were starving, the better off were poor, and the rich were barely better off. In response, the leader of the People's Republic of Peoplites, Perry Persone, put out booklets and flyers announcing the end of the king's rule. The king despised this, and sent his military to kill the people of the People's Republic of Peoplites, especially Perry Persone, although they could not find him. In a bold move, the Peoplites for Social Democracy organized a group of assassins to find the King during his monthly wild hunt and killed him one day. Indy Individuale, a young upstart in the Peoplites for Social Democracy, took credit for the death of Peopleton II, and there ensued chaos.

The biggest riots were not by the Peoplecrats or the Peoplecans, who often stayed at home during the revolts, but by the many peasants and poor of Peoplite who simply hated the King and grew tired of obiding by his rule. The Peopletarians also fought with the poor and after the fighting finished they sat back once again, hoping that this Revolution would bring the kind of change they wanted, something better than the King. The struggle began for control over the Peoplites by the Peoplecans and the Peoplecrats.

The people agreed to an election, to elect either Perry Persone - the Revolutionary writer and leader of the People's Republic of Peoplites - or Indy Individuale - the war hero of the Revolution and the person responsible for the fall of the King. Persone wanted equality for the workers, so he asked some of the workers, in a secret meeting, to run Indy Individuale out of Peoplite for the elections so that he might win. And they did so. Indy Individuale went into exile, and Perry Persone was the new leader of the new nation, the Peoplviet Union (or the United Peoplist Peoplviet Republic).

Premier Perry Persone brought great change to the people of Peoplite. He had his worker's army go into the fields and make the agricultural farms of Peoplite communal workplaces, where he made it a voluntary requirement for the people to work (he especially saw to it that the former owners of the land, who had enslaved the workers for so long, volunteered first for the hardest labor). Then he made the roads public, free with a few tolls and taxes. Premier Persone also put a tax on the sale of goods so the private employers wouldn't profit at the worker's expense, he put a tax on imports so they wouldn't give jobs away to people abroad, and he put many taxes on industry to "help" the poor and needy workers so they could be equal too (although the volunteers of the mandatory volunteering did not constitute either the poor or needy). Persone put a tax on the income of all the workers, so that all the workers might be more equal. He even made sure such tradeable commodities, from tea to stamps, were taxed so they did not become unequal to the workers. Persone wanted to have plenty of trained soldiers to help him instruct his orders, so he did pass a legislation for conscription of all the young men. Perry Persone made many reforms on the people in the towns, he insisted the butcher not butcher more meat than any other butcher, the brewer not brew more beer than any other brewer, and the baker not bake any more bread than any other baker. This was to make sure all the workers were all equal, and any excess meat, beer or bread was immediately confiscated by the Peopleviet Union, to keep competition fair (especially to the favor of Premier Persone, who liked meat, beer and bread). Finally, all the lands of Peoplite were the worker's equally, oversaw by the Worker's Leader, Premier Perry Persone.

But, for some reason, the poor again became starving, the better off became poor, and the rich became very barely better off. Soon there was a clamor amongst the workers, especially when it was found out that their former employers actually were killed, and that many of the lands the Peopleviet Union were being misused by Premier Persone and the ruling classes. So, one day, Indy Individuale came back from exile, and with his same group that killed the King, he killed Premier Persone as Persone was, coincidentally, out on his monthly wild hunt.

New elections were held, while there still remained many powerful Peoplecans to face Indy Individuale's Peoplites for Social Democracy, but without their leader Perry Persone and with the public against the recent turn of events, the public elected Indy Individuale, twice the war hero now. The Peopletarians tried to participate in this election, led by a new leader, believing they had finally thought of a better way, but the Peoplecans and Peoplecrats didn't feel they were important enough to be on the ballot. The Peopletarians went into deep hiding, although no one knew for sure if it was out of scorn, or because they were planning something, or because they foresaw some pending doom.

With the loss of public support for the Peoplecans because of Premier Persone's rule, Indy Individuale took the reigns of power and was elected the new leader of Peoplite. He formed a new Democratic government, the National Peoplist Government. Unlike Perry Persone, Prime Minister Indy Individuale thought that true equality would come through democracy.

His reforms were different in many ways. Prime Minister Individuale didn't want the military going into the fields, in fact, he thought the fields should be owned by private peoples. So, to make sure more private people owned farms, he taxed the people of Peoplite to subsidize private people to purchase the lands, and to make sure they didn't accidentally misuse their private property, Individuale made some regulations, fixing the farm's prices and routines to a certain order, to ensure they stayed in the public's equal service. Prime Minister Individuale also had the public vote to ban all guns in Peoplite, since they didn't need them now that the Revolutions were won against Perry Persone and Peopleton II. Not before, of course, he made sure that there were some quotas as to who could be hired where and what their wages would be, to ensure equality, especially making sure the fields of the country were worked with frequency, equally, by all peoples. Prime Minister Individuale proposed a bill, which the people passed, to have the public own the roads and pay for their upkeep, of course, with a few tolls and a few taxes to support them. Indy Individuale asked the people to pass a bill of his to create a Sales Tax, to help the poor and needy (although few people knew who was the poor and the needy), which also passed. There was a tax on imports as well to offer up more funds for the welfare of the immigrants of Peoplite, and Individuale had taxes passed on commonly traded goods, like tea, to offer similar programs to the citizens, for equality. Then he created the Post Office, funded by another tax, to handle letters and stamps. Individuale wanted to ensure that there was no overthrow of his rule, so he set up a draft in case war came, and made all the young men sign selective service forms with his newly created Post Office. This reform spread to the towns, ensuring that the local butcher did not sell more butchered meat than the public voted for, that the local brewer did not sell more brewed beer than the public voted for, and that the baker did not sell more baked breads than the public voted for. And if they did, of course, the surplus would have to seized by the government of Peoplite, to later be redistributed equally to the people (although much of the meat, beer and bread was to spoil so it was surely used up by the government officials, after all, they needed not go to waste). In the end, all the lands of Peoplite were owned by an equal share of the public, through an equal vote in the government that regulated them in virtually every regard, all of course approved by the policies set by Prime Minister Indy Individuale.

The people of Peoplite expected a great boom of prosperity. However, after some years of this reform, again, the poor became starving, the better off became poor, and the rich were certaintly not that much better off. Upset, again, that this was the state of things, the Peopletarians rose up and declared a new Revolution. They had found out that Peopletine, the eldest son of Peopleton the First, was in fact in hiding, and Peopletine negotiated with the Peopletarians to create a new way of government which would not be like the King, the Premier or the Prime Minister. But it would rely, they said, on the people not demanding the new taxes (especially on the tea or stamps), staying away from the business of farmers, butchers, bakers, brewers, and, most importantly, not trying to use force to make people be equal - that real equality instead lies in the respect of equal laws and equal rights for all people of Peoplite, regardless of imagined titles or political power, democractic sway or force. The public clamored once again, but Indy Individuale was prepared, using the Draft to form a great army. He sent out his military with all the arms he confiscated through the gun bans, and sent them into the towns of Peoplite where people waited unarmed. The people of Peoplite ran in fear as they were caught, accussed of being Peopletarians, and killed regardless of whether they were or not. By the coming of the end of the civil war, the body of the royal son Peopletine hung in the public square of Peopleville, where everyone could see it.

In the chaos, and Indy Individuale started to kill his superiors and friends, he became paranoid, purging the leaders of his government and groups which revolted, eventually dying himself in obscurity, alone, in the now vastly destroyed Peoplite. With the rich mostly dead, the poor starving and dying, and the starving long since dead - Peoplite fell as a great nation and disappeared, the people moved to better lands and better places.

That was the last anyone had ever heard of the Peoplites.