House Davion - Amazon Web Services

THE POWER OF ADVERTISING
In 2253, lngram, the second-largest town on New
Avalon, was holding municipal elections. The front-runners
for mayor were two men named Boyce and Janovic.
Also on the ballot were several other lesser-known candidates
and three or four more write-in campaigns-all in a
town of about five thousand people. There were no residency
requirements to run for office because people
tendedto move back and forth between the handful of early
settlements on New Avalon.
One of the newer residents of lngram was an entrepreneur
named Louis Smithson, who had just arrived to
open a branch of his firm, Smithson Fertilizer. As the political
campaign heated up, Smithson had a public relations
brainstorm that would have planetary repercussions.
Smithson hung a sign outside his office window that
blended right in with the political banners in the main town
square. The sign read, “For good city government, vote
for whomever you like. For crop yields of 10 to 40 percent
higher per acre, vote for Louis Smithson!”
Most of the people of New Avalon were second- and
third-generation pioneers who had never seen a modern
advertising campaign. Needless to say, Smithson won the
election on write-in ballots. Janovic, Boyce, and a couple
of other candidates disputed the election, petitioning that
an undeclared candidate could not be allowed to take office.
Smithson, who had no political ambitions, supported
their suit, and he suggested that Boyce, the number two
vote-getter, be declared the winner. The judge’s decision
was completely unexpected. He not only declared
Smithson the winner of the election, but proclaimed that if
he did not serve his term of office, he would be liable to
prosecution for defrauding the public trust. Though the
mayor’s job was part-time, Smithson’s fertilizer business
suffered both from his neglect and the suspicion of the
townspeople.
Ultimately, Smithson Fertilizer went bankrupt, Janovic
retired from public life, and Boyce succeeded Smithson
as mayor of lngram. The town began to flourish under
Boyce’s guidance, but fell into decline once again when a
competing settlement lured most of the population away
to new jobs. As Avalon City continued to grow, it eventually
annexed lngram, which is now one of the oldest and
most prestigious neighborhoods in the capital.
—From Democratic Exigencies: Experiments in
Government During the Exodus, by Marty Fiore,
Federated Press, 2589
RISE OF NEO-FEUDALISM
Compounding the problem was the rise of Neo-Feudalism
across the planet. The few centers of industry
that did exist on New Avalon generated vast personal
fortunes for their owners. In one decade, a handful of
industrialists had built huge power bases. Economic
power translated into political power, for the common
citizen tended to vote for candidates who had the power to put
bread on the table and tools in their hands. By 2248, most of
these “Industrial Aristocrats” had formed their own private armies
to further their ambitions and as protection against rivals. As the
tenth annual planetary elections drew near, sporadic violence
and civil unrest broke out, but the planet’s central government
was too weak to put it down.
Three months prior to the scheduled Independence Day elections,
Jason Hasek mustered the planetary militia to impose
martial law and to bring the more aggressive power groups to
heel. In a clash at the estate of the Jorgensson family, the
Jorgensson “retainers” routed the militia and killed Jason Hasek.
Almost on signal, there followed a complete breakdown of order,
with each of the so-called “First Families” making a separate bid
for power.
It was left to two surviving officers of the militia, Colonel
Adam Davion and Colonel Nathan DuVall, to save New Avalon
from chaos and seemingly inevitable collapse. Both of these officers
were themselves from powerful First Families, but each
knew that if the feudalistic rivalry continued, it would spell doom
for their world. Backed by their own militias, Davion and DuVall
set out to unite supporters from their families so that they could
negotiate from a position of strength.
SCHEDRIN’S NEO-FEUDALISM
The idea behind Schedrin’s theory is that previous economic
systems have failed for one of two reasons, always
related to population movement. A system in which vast
numbers of the population were mobile could never become
stable enough to develop its economic potential. With
large population shifts, demographics become difficult, if
not impossible, to determine. Jobs in one part of an economic
area go begging while people in another area do the
same, and neither wages nor taxes can be fairly apportioned.
At the opposite extreme are governments that require
people to remain in the same place indefinitely. In ancient
times, this principle was known as having “pass laws” (the
practice still exists throughout the Draconis Combine and
the Capellan Confederation), and it was an economic disaster.
Though an overly mobile society decreased stability,
no mobility at all imposed such rigidity that the economy
ground to a halt.
Schedrin’s solution was both simple and elegant.
Through Neo-Feudalism, a government could assure its
citizens’ right to move around at will, while ensuring social
stability though enormous tax incentives for families remaining
in a particular locality. The system, in other words, combined
the best aspects of capitalism and socialism. That is
why Schedrin’s theories will never die, andwhy they continue
to offer us so much in the present age.
—From Neo-Feudalism: Ripple from the Past, Wave
of the Future, by Lawrence Robert Head, Perspectives
Press, 2832.