
% RIGHT TO SECESSION.  CHRISTIANITY TRUMPS DEMOCRACY.

Ecks raged on while his producer signaled furiously from the booth.
Finally, he waved his assent, sank back into his chair and let the
camera switch to Wye without bothering to introduce her.

Wye: "We have a long-standing principle, captain, that states are not
allowed to secede from the Union!"

Mercuriou: "Oh, that won't be a problem!  We'll just wave a bunch
of orange flags around in the air!  You'll let us go!"

Wye: "This isn't a communist dictatorship, captain.  The people will
see through any gang of criminals no matter what color flags they
wave!"

Mercuriou: "What if every pot smoker in this country packs up and moves
to Hawaii?  What would you do then?"

Wye: "We live in a nation of laws.  You are not going to just
make up rules to interpret the election results however you see fit."

Mercuriou: "But these are the laws!  We have free movement between
states, and Hawaii only requires residency for one month before
the election."

Wye: "Our laws were created to implement democracy, and if there are
loopholes, they will be fixed!"

Mercuriou: "In other words, you'll change the law to make sure you
get the results you want!"

Wye: "We will enforce our laws, captain, we will enforce our laws!
You're not the only criminal in this country.  Also, I'd like to know
what's going to happend once you throw off our hated government?"

Mercuriou: "It's a symbolic act, showing that minorities can choose
their own leaders and live under a government of their choice."

Wye: "Minorities do have freedom... we have freedoms... minorities
don't need to secede because they have freedom already!"

Mercuriou: "I don't..."

Wye: "We have many laws to ensure freedom for our minorities -- except
for these people who don't believe in democracy!  You don't believe in
democracy!  You don't respect the people!  You support everything that
the people oppose!"

Mercuriou: "It's freedom for the _majority_!  You're shocked that
somebody else would even _aspire_ to freedom!"

Wye: "We have freedom!  But we have people in this country, born here,
some of them, who won't obey our laws!  You reject one of the most
fundamental human rights, that people have the right to
_choose_their_own_government_!"

Mercuriou: "French propaganda!  You can define 'majority' to be
anything you want.  What about all the illegal immigrants; can they
vote?  What about the people halfway around the world who desperately
want America to change; can they vote?  What about people like me?  I
don't support this government!  Can I choose my own government?"

Wye: "Captain, let me state this as clearly as I can.  The majority
rules.  You are not going to twist our laws around to make them
mean anything different."

Mercuriou: "Then the only reform possible for you is the reform of the
terrorists.  Perhaps a nuclear bomb in every major American city..."

Wye: "America will make whatever reforms her people choose to make!"

Mercuriou: "Senator, your idea of reform and mine are two different
things.  You think a revolution means one group of people is in
charge, then we have a revolution, then the same group is still in
charge.  I think a revolution means..."

Wye: "I've got a web update for you, captain!  The people of this
planet have decided on democracy, and we're not going back!"

Mercuriou: "Democracy is one of two things, and it means different
things to different people.  It's either a particular system of
government or its a philosophical principle that the majority are
entitled to rule over everyone else.  We can certainly have a system
of government without any conception that it is specially entitled to
rule.  All systems of government are subject ot the same tests, and no
one of them is special."

Wye: "What tests?  The will of the people!"

Mercuriou: "No, it is not the will of the people, which invariably
means the will of the majority, which is one group only; that's your
propaganda.  Governments are justified by moral judgements on their
actions, not whether any one group supports them.  You have to look at
their actions to see whether they're moral, just, and Godly.  These
are the things that determine whether a government is legitimate."



Mercuriou: "Senator, your hair is falling off."

Wye: "I don't know what you're trying to imply..."

Ecks:  "Actually, Patricia, your hair _is_ falling off..."

% by this point Wye has dropped the facade and is really answering
% questions, at least at first

Wye: "Wh-What!!"

A large section of her hair, apparently a wig, had in fact detached
from the top of her head and slid approximately to her left ear!
As she turned her head confusedly and started to grab for her hair,
it detached completely and came off in her hands.

Wye: "Oh my God!" she cried, then started weeping, "I can't
believe..."

The camera switched off, leaving only Ecks and Mercuriou on the
screen.  Ecks recovered first and smoothly segued into a prepared
segment profiling _Columbus_'s fairly typical astronaut crew, seven
spectacular overachievers remarkable only for including the first
Palestinian astronaut, on which half of the piece focused.  When it
ended, Rev. Caiaphas Zee strode confidently into the video Colosseum.
