A Digression on the Subject of Janet
The funny thing was, despite what anyone might think about her scheming, Janet really did care about democracy.
People liked to naysay and criticize, of course.
People always did. Janet knew perfectly well that being very sneering and cynical about something new and difficult that someone else was trying was the easiest way in the world to feel very clever and superior.
If the project failed, you could crow about it, and if it succeeded, you could immediately turn on your heel and claim that you’d known it was a good idea all along and had only been pointing out its flaws in order to help turn it into the great success that was its sure and obvious ultimate destiny.
People like that old witch Gretsella could nitpick and criticize all they wanted from the sidelines while people like Janet did difficult things.
Janet didn’t mind that at all, so long as she was winning.
Janet came by her democratic inclinations honestly.
Her father had been a part-time carpenter and full-time drinker, as was the ancient tradition of the Findimatabar men.
Their little cottage had been held together mostly through the efforts of Janet’s mother and elder brothers, all of whom were relentlessly practical types too consumed by keeping their heads above water to contemplate things like the workings of the national government.
Janet was a puzzle to them all. She was a voracious reader as a child, in a household without any books.
Though she was a natural romantic and a sincere lover of her fellow man, her life experiences had conspired to make her into a misanthropic cynic.
She was a ruthlessly ambitious young woman with no money, no connections, and barely any formal education (though people tended to assume that her career in jesting was backed up by at least one extremely expensive degree).
She was a naturally socially awkward and contrarian personality who had very intentionally studied human behavior purely in order to more effectively manipulate it.
She was, to put it simply, perfectly suited to help foment a democratic revolution.