The General
The General is dead now, and he is sinking rapidly into the oblivion to which he sent so many of his nation's citizens. He was corrupt in life, so he now succumbs to the corruption that is the final end of all tyrants -- and all the rest of us too, but at least we are not tyrants. Once upon a time, and in my lifetime, there was a General on every street-corner, it seemed, and a new one emerging every other day. We just loved Generals, and did as much as we could to encourage their ascent, and support their contunued reigns. They were our bulwark against the Bad Guys. Well, those Bad Guys went away, mostly on their own, but the generals have had more staying power, even now that their utility to us is minimal. We have new Bad Guys, of course, but they're a shadowy bunch and it's not clear how Generals can protect us against them.
"I will not tolerate agents of chaos," the General declared, just before he took power. But chaos is built into the system, and by trying so hard to eliminate it, he only displaced it. Only the agency of chaos can account for the transformation of his nation-state, after his reign, into exactly the kind a place he despised. The General was not, in the end, the master of history; it was the master of him. Now throw the dirt over him, and let the darkness swallow him up.
