Page 103 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

One Born Every Minute

would attend free, and mingle without segregation. It would be
Ringling Brothers, Buffalo Bill and Barnum’s American Museum.
Effectively, this would advance the cause of liberal education by
decades, providing the basis for a multicultural population living in
civil, political and legal equality. Whether or not such an ambitious
program would succeed or fail is up to you, Cyril, as higher-level
puppet master.”
“Might be nice,” said Fred Feghootsky, shaking his head sadly,
“but it sounds more like a Depression-era fantasy, Santa Claus ex
machina. Instead of the Greatest Show on Earth, the country is liable
to get the biggest do-nothing in history, outstripping Buchanan,
Hayes and Coolidge. We—and I refer to our species, not
citizenship—are not able to behave rationally in the presence of a
charismatic leader, or one with too much authority. That is why
built-in stasis makes the United States the longest-lasting democracy
in history. It may well require radical change to conform to its self-
image, but that is yet to happen. Despite the Civil War, we’ve bent
instead of broken. Barnum would find powerful interests arrayed
against him, as the saying goes: the people occasionally want an
outsider to shake up things, but the pendulum swings back and fire-
breathing reformers end up staunch defenders of the status quo
once in power. In short, I don’t think the premise—Barnum’s
particular talents and personality—could have any interesting
consequences other than the unforeseen. Maybe that is where you
could find a denouement striking enough to attract an editor and
audience. What if Borneo declared war in order to get us to return
their Wild Man?”
“Thanks, folks,” said Kornfleck. “You needn’t continue. I’ll be
back with this once I flesh it out a bit more. The man and his
message are not easily distinguished by most people, so perhaps I
need to understand the popular mind of that era a little better—as
well as Phineas T.’s murky motivation. Voters may be born almost
as often as suckers and aspiring writers—one a minute.”

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