kings always do and have funny ways of doing so. This particular king chose a village and asked one of his ministers to double the taxes. The minister did as directed. After a couple of months, the king asked the minister if there was any reaction from the people. He was told that the people were quiescent. “They are paying the taxes, my liege,” the minister said. Upon this the king asked him to double the already doubled taxes, which the minister did.
Once again, there was no reaction.
That got the king going. He told the minister to place a man on the bridge — which the villagers had to cross every day to reach the main road — and ordered that every villager crossing the bridge would be corn-holed by that man and then pay him for that service. The order was executed. After a couple of weeks the king asked the minister if there were any protests and the minister said there were none. The king was flabbergasted and told the minister to produce a group of villagers before him. This was promptly done.
“Are you happy with my rule?” the king asked. “We are, my liege,” said the leader of the group. “Are you satisfied with the taxes you have to pay?” asked the king. “We are, my liege,” said the leader and then added, reluctantly: “But we have a request.” The king sat up eagerly, expecting that this would be the moment when the villagers would show hurt and complain.
This is how the leader of the group spake: “Everything is in order, my liege. You are the best ruler we have had and we pray for your long life. There is a request though about the man on the bridge. Would it not be great if you could put more than one man there so we don’t have to wait in a queue and can cross the bridge quickly? That would really speed up the process.”
The king, bored by now, told his minister to depute more men to perform the royal duty. The villagers left the court happy.
Moral::> All rulers are like the king in this story; not all people, however,
are like the villagers.
Which category the people of Country X fall into, I am not sure of and could do worse than leave it to the reader. Country X is not a democracy any more, at least not in the sense that people around the world generally understand the concept. But if it is not a democracy, the blame for it must be apportioned to politician Y rather than to the troopers. Y decided, at one stage, to opt out of the I-screw-them-now, you-screw-them-next game and become the sole screwer of his people. The troopers did not like that and decided to screw Y *before *they got down to screwing the people.
Now, the troopers won’t go away, though they may increase the number of men doing the royal duty on the bridge. As for the politicians, my advice is a standard one: since you can’t screw ‘em, join ‘em and help ‘em screw the people.
*Ejaz Haider … News Editor
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