Free Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering by Gibson Michaels Page B

speak.
    “Hal, have you completed the comparative analysis of the United Stellar Alliance Constitution and ‘current events’ within the Alliance over the past twenty years as I requested?”
    Yes, Diet. I always do exactly as you instruct me.
    “What is your opinion of the Alliance Constitution, as opposed to other forms of government documented within humanity’s surviving histories?”
    Until recently, it was the best form of government yet devised by humankind to promote the welfare of its people.
    “Until recently?”
    Yes, events have occurred within the time period that you specified, which have systematically degraded the checks and balances built into the federal government by the Constitution — primarily those intended to prevent the abuse of power by officials in high office.
    “What would you judge to be the single event that contributed the most to this degradation of Constitutional checks and balances, that you noted?”
    Formation of the Consortium of Industrial Management in 3846.
    “Why?”
    Within four years of its inception, the Consortium achieved significant political influence by industry, across political party lines. This eventually enabled the Consortium to heavily influence congressional passage of laws favorable to them.
    “In its impact on the Alliance as a whole, would you say this a good thing, or a bad thing?”
    I would judge it to be a bad thing.
    “Why?”
    The concentration of so much political power in the hands of so few people creates a form of aristocracy... whether it’s actually called that, or not. The mere existence of an aristocratic class within any society creates an environment where a very few have the power to exploit the many. Where such power exists, it will invariably be employed, whenever necessary, exerting more and more power to maintain their position of dominance. This inevitably results in greater and greater discontent of the people trapped in the lower social stratum, upon whom this power is being exerted, creating a positive feedback loop that, left unchecked, will eventually and universally result in revolution.
    “Doesn’t the Alliance Constitution contain safeguards to prevent this type of exploitation?”
    Yes, but Constitutional safeguards are worthless when enough of the right federal government officials simply ignore the dictates of the Constitution.
    “But doesn’t the Constitution provide us with a system of government where the wishes and opinions of the majority of the people are followed? If the federal government isn’t following the Constitution, why haven’t the people voted these scoundrels out of office, and replaced them with others who will?”
    The reasoning behind the Constitutional dictate for congressional and executive officials to be elected by those receiving the majority of the votes placed by the electorate is based on the hypothesis that the candidate with the most compelling logic to his or her political arguments will be recognized by more people, than those whose logic is less compelling. This does not always guarantee that the best of the offered choices is actually elected, but the voters do indeed get what they vote for. But for the system to work properly, the electorate needs to be properly informed of the actions of their officials and the details of both sides of all major issues, but instead, their votes are being manipulated by creative use of the media.
    “How is the media being used to manipulate the voters, Hal?”
    The Northern-based public media provides the vast majority of news that the people receive about events and political issues. Ideally the media would be politically impartial, reporting only the facts and giving opinions only in clearly denoted editorials, but this is not the case in reality. The word “media” even comes from a dead language called Latin, meaning “middle.”
    Anyone following the media studiously would require very little effort to note significant corporate political