Democracy is the worst form of government
except all the others that have been tried.
– Winston Churchill
RB dragged his burden to the store-room. The sentry waved him in.
– Cast your vote yet? the sentry asked.
– Nah. RB scurried out. He wasn’t sure. The National Block wanted to keep things as they were. The Forwards Party wanted change: Shorter hours, less military service.
Shorter hours sounded good. But where was the food to come from? With less military service, more workers would be free, they said. Would the sentries know how to forage? What if there was an attack?
Difficult questions. RB’s antennae waved ceaselessly. Getting the vote didn’t seem to make life easier for a worker-ant.
* * *
T. Mastgrave’s story challenge: The Lesser of Two Evils.
Stray Thoughts 
If only humanity had the intelligence of ants. The work ethic of bees, and the memory of elephants.
Or maybe the Bonobos’ ability to take it easy?
Thanks for visiting.
Interesting. I’m sure than an entomologist would point out that ants generally don’t have the kind of personal freedom necessary for this. I’m assuming that this is some kind of sci-fi hive race, but it isn’t entirely clear in your story. I do like the idea that non-human races would have some of the same political issues though, it’s a nice twist.
True, I didn’t situate the story. My starting point was actually T.H.White’s ants: I loved “The Once and Future King” as a child.
Thanks for the challenge.
The balance of nature, human or otherwise shall decide in the end no? In the end, I believe, the human heart will trump conflict with the mind that wants to practice arm chair social engineering.
I’m all for the balance of nature and the human heart.
I’m not sure what you mean by social engineering: I would hope it could help us overcome some the ills of today’s society.
Have you ever watched those little ants march and work. They KNOW how it’s done. Yep, a lesson from them wouldn’t be a bad idea.
They do soldier on. And it’s quite hard to stop them going somewhere when they’ve a mind to. My balcony threshold now practically consists of filler, I’ve filled in so many gaps…