Marcelo's Reading and Thinking Log

by Marcelo Gilli

The findings of what was revealed to be the ruins of Banania caused a sizeable stir in the scientific community. The splendor of its buildings, visible even in its present state of deterioration, testified to the greatness that this nation had achieved at such a remote era. But its opulence, impressive though it may have been, and still is, came a distant second in affecting the curiosity and the imagination of all those who turned their eyes to this magnificent civilization of yore.
What astonished them most was the peculiar political system that was prevalent among this people, which only now, years after the first archeological unearthings, is being understood with reasonable clarity, thanks to the undefatigable efforts of the ancient languages experts.
The Bananians had achieved a stable polis for many years, through a system which aimed to be extremely democratic, and fiercely dictatorial, all at once.
I will explain it here, only for a fraction of the government agents, remarking that the system was practiced in all spheres of power, at all layers of the geographical administration.
The president of the republic would hold a meeting with all his secretaries, which would be broadcast to all citizens by all the available vehicles of mass media. The citizens would have a direct access to the presidential gathering, and would cast a vote on which secretary they disliked most, or liked least. The secretary who received the greatest number of votes would be obliged to resign, and the remaining secretaries would somehow take over the duties of the expelled one.
Similar meetings would periodically happen, until there were only one secretary. This person would concentrate all the powers of the republic on him, and the president would then be relieved of the exercise of power. He would from then on have only non-administrative powers, like a king in a modern monarchy does.
This template, as I explained earlier,would be applied also to all other spheres of power, such as the Higher Courts, the Legislative Bodies, and so on.
At the present stage of our understanding, it is not clear what led to the decline and eventual downfall of the regime of Banania. What is clear, though, is that they had many centuries of prosperity and happiness.