by S. K. Kruse
When the alien apocalypse comes
democracy won’t matter at all.
When they intercept our satellite transmissions
and scratch their thoraxes
in perplexity
at the hijinks they witness on our news
and laugh at self-governance
……………as an idea
……………ideal
……………and practice
and then
……………upon further reflection
become enraged
……………that the subprime species
……………Homo sapiens
……………endeavored to give everyone a voice
and decide
they better get in their ships
to come obliterate us
……………because if one species
……………on one planet
……………in one galaxy
……………should have this
…………..preposterous
…………..and quite frankly
………….. dangerous idea
………….. who’s to say it
…………..might not spread
…………..to every corner of the universe
and then when their ships arrive
and they wipe us out
and take over the planet
democracy won’t matter at all.
And when
this worst system of government
………….. except for all the others that have been tried
is reduced
…………..in the alien textbook “The Rise and Demise of the Sentient Sapiens”
to a slim chapter
…………..carefully positioned
…………..between one on the
…………..holland tulip craze
………….. and another
…………..on fast food chains
and some young alien scholar
decides to do her PhD
…………..on the topic
and finds that corporations
…………..which were somehow considered sapiens too
spent billions of dollars
to influence their representatives
……………at the expense of the non-corporate sapiens
and that sometimes
less than 50% of eligible sapiens
showed up to vote
and that sometimes
they voted for candidates
who promised to act
like tyrants
then no one could fault that alien scholar for concluding that
……………as far as the sapiens themselves were concerned
democracy didn’t matter much at all.
And when another alien scholar
……………same school
……………different class
pursues her PhD
and is granted access
to the archives of the sapiens
…………… to document the incessant wars of the sapiens
…………… ……………as justification for the xenocide of the sapiens
…………… ……………should their own species ever be brought
…………… …………… before an intergalactic tribunal
and she gets a look at all
…………… the books
……………and movies
…………… and songs
……………and art
……………they made
……………and all
…………… the things
……………they were free
……………to do
……………and say
……………under their system of self-governance
……………and all
……………the sapiens who died
……………to procure
……………and protect
……………that freedom
…………… ……………though she could not find one single corporate sapiens who’d ever done so
imagine her surprise
when she concludes that
……………despite all the
……………foibles
……………and failings
……………of that subprime self-governing species
democracy did matter for all.
And when she agonizes over
whether to publish her findings
…………… and have all six of her legs pulled off
……………in a public spectacle
……………and be left to die on her back in the town square
………….. her husband and children banished to the desert
or just keep it all locked away
in the privacy of her own mind
……………because
…………..even to suggest that the sapiens
……………took a shot at something great
………….. and that for a brief moment
…………..in their sad, sordid history
…………..they made things a little better
…………..for a lot of their kind
…………..would enrage the powers that be
…………..who didn’t want
…………..any of their own kind
…………..getting any of their own ideas
and when she looks at her daughters
getting ready for school
…………..eating their alien mush
…………..and washing their alien antenna
and then at her sons
who she’s been secretly teaching to read
…………..down in the basement
…………..by the light of a candle
………….. before they must leave for the mines
she wonders
if it might be worth it
and what it would take
to bring about such a revolution now
if she’s willing to make that kind of sacrifice
…………..of her career
…………..her life
…………..her family
…………… …………..whom she loves
…………… …………..bug-eyes and all
to bring about
once again
such a world
as the sapiens had created
in their
…………..short
…………..nasty
…………..brutish
existence
and as she hands her children their lunches
and locks up their flat
she wonders
if those sapiens revolutionaries had been able to see into their future
………….. how much
…………..in-fighting
…………..and apathy
…………..and absurdity
…………..would follow
…………..and how it all would come
…………..to an unceremonious end
if they would still do what they had done
and if
…………..sleepless in their beds
…………..on the eve of their revolution
…………..not knowing the future
…………… ………….. neither its victories
…………… …………..nor its defeats
they had the same
…………..doubts
…………..and fears
she has now
and if they wondered
as she does now
…………..sitting down at her terminal
………….. to enter her true findings
whether the sacrifices
she is about to make
will matter
to anyone
at all.