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Billi 99, by writer Sarah Byam & artist Tim Sale, was a four-issue miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics in 1991. It presented a sort of detective story set in a dystopian near-future. It was not technological science fiction, but social commentary. On the inside back covers were short essays about the themes & politics of the story.This page has the essay from issue #3. It is very much about the invented setting of the fictional story, but still worth reading on its own for its view of the American popular mentality. |
from issue #1 / from issue #2 / from issue #3 / from issue #4 |
Never elect a man with a funny-looking tie. He won't make a good president and you’ll be the laughingstock of the world fashion community.
Also, never re-elect someone who bumps his head a lot and begs you to balance your checkbook. Or someone with a funny accent who asks you to drive less and consider alternative energy sources. Especially if he loathes war.
Never vote your pocketbook if it’s narrow. Instead, throw your lot in with those you wanna be.
And never, ever, ever elect anyone who will sponsor legistion that might actually do something. Better to allow your elected officials to nominate judges to interpret old laws to new political times. Then you can be governed by officials who were elected by no one, for whom no one takes responsibility.
Common people prefer common law. So, following the auspices of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the courts filled a political vacuum by attempting to guess what someone might have legislated about a given problem if anyone had bothered to try. This shift in the once coveted power balance was perfectly acceptable to the legislature. Federal judges can’t be voted out—and congressmen can. The executive branch took up the remaining slack, having the carefully funded media machine to cope with public reaction.
In the year ’99 the federal government finally succeeded in passing at least one bit of crucial legislation. It was called the “Emergency Crime Act” and was designed, in theory, to curb epidemic urban crime. What it did, in fact, was temporarily suspend half of the Bill of Rights. Among those suspended:
The right to bear arms in specific “high crime zones.”
The right of free speech on “sensitive issues.”
The rights against unlawful search and seizure in “high crime zones.”
The right to freedom of movement in and out of “high crime zones.”
The right of due process as it had been historically defined.
The right of appeal.
The implied right to privacy.
The right against arbitrarily harsh punishment.
There were more, but we didn’t miss them. Less than half of America could recognize the Bill of Rights on a bet. The death penalty was reinstated for violent crimes involving rape or death, no exceptions. That made us feel like we were doing something.
It doesn't really matter what happens to the leadership thing, as long as it’s nobody’s fault.
