Political Post Modernism

It seems that in the modern world
there are no democracies, no places
where citizens decide with each other
how they should rule, and be ruled, together.

But we do have a wealth of oligarchies,
each one of which insists
that it needs our vote to sustain it.

Deference to Emperors

in the Roman Empire was unconditional,
for this reason they had to be consistently
contrary and capricious towards their subjects,
near and far, for their subjects' obedience
to be assured. But for the ruling family
to live their life of toughness and luxury
they had to have reliable servants.
The trust they lent their closest slaves
gives the lie to how the first family
were supposedly like the gods they served,
whom their doyen made offerings to,
tricksters who were contrarian.
The public lie was that there was no trust
that was not worth devaluing in mistrust
and the violent pursuit of power,
all of which lent the first family a strange anonymity
-holding power meant the manipulation
of written history such that nobody could ever
say anything about how they personally trusted The First Family
without it being retrospectively rewritten by their successors.
Their rule stood for there being no trust
that could not be marked down through violence.
Thus it has proved for many attempted despots since.