This was how Deregs start... they had it as a neighborhood association. A way to help each other during emergencies, or when families needed a friend to lean on. But somehow, were tricked, at least some of them, into signing an HOA charter. Those that refused began being harassed, threatened, and then the vandalism began. However, in one house was a person you harass at your own peril. And this whole system was shut down before it really got going. No one died, but some sorely wished they had. -- Anon Guest
[AN: Dereg planets usually start with grand ideas of freedom and corporate irresponsibility, hence "deregulation" being a core ideal... but I can still work with this]
Industry wants to be free. Profit and market growth are all that is and must be desired. Once all the corporations have all the money they could eat, the rest simply has to trickle down to the rest underneath. Just like a champagne pyramid.
But when they got everything established, they learned that other things had to be regulated. Certain bodies, for example. Or how one kept one's house and yard.
All for the greater good, you had to understand.
Freedom had to have restrictions, they said, or there would be nothing but the anarchy and ruin of the old place. Didn't they come all this way and do so much so that they could be free? The associations and organisations they joined existed to help them.
Help them conform so that they all fit in and knew their place. Help them behave so that everyone could get along. Help them help the greater good, so that the greater good would, one day, happen to them.
After all, the next economic boom was just around the corner. Boom tomorrow, they promised, and didn't their glorious leaders always tell the gospel truth? Everything was getting better. They said so, and said it so often, that disbelief was impossible.
Things were getting better. There was going to be an enormous boom tomorrow. All they had to do was behave themselves, keep their lawn at regulation length, and obey, obey, obey.
Keep an eye on your neighbours. Report them if you think they're thinking against the True Word. Definitely report them if they're not following the Hallowed Rules.
After all, the only way to achieve true freedom is complete and unthinking obedience.
[Photo by Alhidayah Kadar Regency on Unsplash]
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