Meine Damen... Meine Herren... and everybody paying taxes... Welcome! I have good news. Everything is wonderful. The streets are clean, the sky is blue, I know because they told me so. I read the paper...half a page... then someone said, “Enough. Now go.” I know the people. I am the people. The people love whatever I say. And if they don't... Well... they'll come around someday. Smile for the camera, darling, chin up, shoulders high. If the ceiling starts to spin... Is the room leaning, darling, or am I? I make decisions all alone, with independence, strength and flair. Nobody whispers in my ear... What? Ah, yes. Nobody there. I have opinions! Very strong opinions! Some arrived this afternoon. Wrapped in paper, tied with string, with instructions: “Open soon.” Freedom! Freedom! Ring the bell! Freedom photographs so well! Ask me “freedom from exactly what?” Darling... Must we spoil the plot? There was a problem once, they say. Numbers. Doors. A little grey. Forms were signed. The curtains drawn. Somebody asks me what went wrong. Wrong? They were going to die anyway. Champagne for the living! Statistics for the dead! If questions become difficult, change the question instead. Left is right and down is up, truth depends upon the day... And every little tragedy looks prettier... from far away. I know economics! History too! I know precisely what to do. Don't ask me how. Don't ask me why. Just find the camera... Where was I? Ah, yes! Is the room leaning, darling, or am I? Behind the velvet curtain little shadows pull a thread. I turn left. I turn right. Such clever thoughts inside my head! Who put them there? What silly questions. Ideas are free, you know. Oops. Which way do I go? Meine Damen... Meine Herren... Why are you so serious? It was only politics. Only numbers. Only names. Only people you never knew. Besides... They were going to die anyway.
