Note (Nov 14, 2025)
This just came in. It seems relevant to the approval of the new funding bill that keeps the government running, AND gives senators special privileges none of the rest of us have to sue the government. Hmmm….
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translated by the historian Sardonicus
Among the lesser scrolls recovered from the Monastery of the Eastern Gate, scholars discovered a series of instructional dialogues between the venerable Master Po and his perpetually earnest pupil. Their precise antiquity is uncertain. The monks who preserved them Stay tuned for Scroll IIwere known for many virtues, but accurate labeling was not one of them.
Though ancient, these dialogues appear to describe the governance of a once-prominent republic in the late stages of civic decay. Whether allegory or reportage, they provide an instructive glimpse into the sorts of political habits that precede collapse: unread laws, panicked leaders, and a populace baffled by decisions supposedly made on its behalf.
Any resemblance to modern institutions is, of course, purely coincidental.
The reader is invited to study these fragments and draw whatever lessons may still be applicable — assuming, of course, that anyone in power still reads.
— Sardonicus
SCROLL I — ON LAWS TOO LONG TO READ
Master Po and young Kwai Chang Caine were walking along a narrow path above the village. From below came a clamor of raised voices and, occasionally, the unmistakable sound of pottery breaking.
KC: Master Po, why are the villagers so upset this morning? I have never heard such noise.
PO: They have discovered the contents of the new law issued by the Council of Elders.
KC: But… Master… the elders themselves seemed surprised by the law’s effects. I overheard one of them say, “I never thought that was in there.”
Po stopped. He turned his head slowly toward Caine. His hand tightened slightly on the staff.
PO: They are surprised, because they did not read the law.
KC: [blinking] How can that be, Master? They passed it yesterday!
PO: Indeed.
KC: But how could they pass a law without reading it?
Po resumed walking. Caine, scrambling a bit, followed.
KC: Master, why do some leaders create laws so long that no one can read them?
PO: Perhaps you should ask, Grasshopper, why leaders pass such laws once they have been created.
Caine opened his mouth to answer, but Po raised a hand.
PO: First, let us consider a simple matter. How long was this new law?
KC: They say it was very long, Master. Something like ten thousand lines.
Po nodded.
PO: And how many of the elders read those ten thousand lines?
KC: [frowning] None, Master. They said there was no time.
Po stopped again and tapped Caine lightly on the forehead with the end of the staff.
PO: And yet they voted.
KC: [rubbing his forehead] Yes, Master.
Po began walking again.
PO: Tell me, Grasshopper: who then authored the law?
KC: The elders?
Po’s staff swept behind him with the speed of a striking snake and clipped Caine sharply on the shin.
KC: Ow! Master, what—?
PO: Do not repeat foolish things that others have said without thinking. Try again.
Caine limped a few steps, thinking.
KC: The scribes who serve the elders? And… perhaps others who advised them?
PO: Others. Yes.
There was a long silence as they approached a bend in the path.
PO: Let us imagine, Grasshopper, that a large group of scribes write up a huge list of instructions about how farmers must stack their grain: which stalks to place where, at what angle, in what sequence. The scribes say these must immediately be passed as laws, or else the EBT crop will fail and the people will starve.
KC: That sounds like an emergency.
PO: Indeed. Now suppose the village elders approve these instructions without reading them, claiming that the matter was urgent.
KC: That seems unwise.
PO: Just so. And the elders have given their authority to those who wrote the instructions, not to the people they claim to represent.
Caine frowned deeply.
KC: Master, if a law has ten thousand lines, and a man can read one hundred lines an hour, how many hours must he read to understand it?
PO: Precisely.
Caine counted silently on his fingers.
KC: One hundred hours, Master. More than four days of reading without sleep!
PO: And how many elders had four days?
KC: None of them, Master.
Po nodded approvingly.
PO: And yet they rule.
Caine’s brow furrowed even more.
KC: But… Master… perhaps they were in a hurry?
Po stopped completely. He turned. The staff rose.
KC: [alarmed] I mean—perhaps—maybe—!
Po brought the staff down smartly on the path next to Caine’s foot, the impact scattering gravel.
PO: Haste is the mask worn by those who do not care to know.
Caine swallowed.
KC: Master… if the elders passed a law they did not read, and the law was written by others… then who really governs the village?
Po looked directly into Caine’s eyes.
PO: At last you ask the right question.
He turned, resuming his steady walk along the path.
PO: When leaders pass laws they have not read, the people are ruled not by their elders, but by those who wrote the words their elders did not see. The leaders can thus absolve themselves of complicity in writing unjust laws by pleading ignorance. Since the people don’t know exactly who did write the laws, there is no one to hold accountable. And remember — laws are much easier to pass than to repeal.
Caine followed in silence.
Translator’s Note (Sardonicus)
Some naïve readers insist this dialogue must be allegorical. They cannot imagine any council of literate, ostensibly responsible elders approving laws they have not read. The alternative interpretation — that such things actually occurred — is too disturbing to be literally true.
One must therefore assume this is merely satire from an age less sophisticated than our own.
Stay tuned for Scroll II …