Planita13
Living by the Lake
Prosperity Through Efficiency: The History in the American Technate from 1975 to 1999
Along with the Second American Revolution and the Corrective Revolution afterwards, the Sunrise Era has left an inerasable mark on the American consciousness. However unlike those Revolutions, the Era did not completely cast aside the old corrupt system but instead rebuilt it with the same stones. While not as radical, it still forced the end of a broken system and laid the foundation for a movement in the end that the technocrats could not fully control. For those who experienced, participated, or even led the mass movements during the era, it holds a deep personal meaning that resonates throughout American society even today. However a generation has passed since the Hundred Days, and the students entering today's universities were barely toddlers in the final years of the Era. For this generation and all the ones after, teaching them about the most important two and a half decades of our lives is our moral duty. This is my humble submission for this cause.
-The Eternal Dawn: The Legacy of the Sunrise Era
NUMEROUS groups of people are requesting information about Technocracy, and in many places study groups have been formed for the purpose of studying Technocracy and its underlying principles. Unfortunately, the headquarters staff of Technocracy have not yet completed a comprehensive treatise which can be made available for the use of the general public. In the absence of such a treatise the following outline lessons are designed to serve as a guide for study groups which are now organized and ready to proceed.
-Preface, Technocracy Study Course
Chapter 1.1: The State of Things to Come
On the 123rd day of 1975, the American Technate marked the fortieth year since its founding with a short public speech by Continental Director Henry H. Jackson declaring the scientifically proven benefit of the technocratic model in creating a new and prosperous America. Of course, behind the old bureaucratic exterior of the Continental Board, they were well aware that 1) things were not alright, and 2) not a single person on that Board believed it, much less the "educated" engineers and accountants that made the system creak along. Ostensibly the leadership of the Technate were more than qualified to address these issues, as they were supposed to be all policymakers drafting policy in their field of expertise. However, as the years passed, the ruling Committee on Technocracy would become less interested in evidence based policy and more interested in consolidating and holding onto power. The basic structure of the Technate would only serve to exacerbate this, with every leader of a Sequence or other body appointed by their superiors, all the way to the top. The near absolute power of the Continental Director combined with the limited oversight by the Continental Board effectively meant that any anti-corruption efforts by the Continental Guard would need their blessing. More often than not, the Guard would have support, but on occasion they wouldn't, meaning the Board was up to no good. However, whether the Guard was tackling corruption or not, the economy remained a complete basketcase. Those who attempted to make the economy work had to face a bureaucracy unable to handle the command economy and no amount of tweaks to the energy credit system or to the energy accounting guidelines could make it work. Their recordkeeping, which was central to the function of their command economy, proved inadequate, and under or over budgeting became an annual occurrence. For those in the technocracy, the burden of a weak economy would be effectively addressed by special subsidies and corruption; the benefits of privilege. However the remainder of American society had to deal with the already overburdened bureaucracy, which did little to alleviate their poor economic straits. Instead of relying on inadequate support from the government, they took matters into their own hands.
The disdain of the technocrats toward the "proles", the "uneducated" of society, would be matched by the growing disdain among the proles toward the "techies". By 1975, while the older generations of proles just shrugged their shoulders and carried on, a growing number of the younger generation looked to what the future had in store for them and were completely disillusioned. For the majority of proles, only grunt work would be available to them; while the most talented could certainly be promoted, any major leadership position would be closed off to them. Their only chance of advancement would be to attend any of the certified education universities (CEU) and earn a Level 2 degree in a certain field. This may sound simple enough for anyone if not for the fact that a CEU was not only an institution of learning, but an institution of politics. Any student not only needed the aptitude for their field of study, but also an aptitude for technocratic politics. University programs would thus also feature informal studies on party politics and how to govern with an eye towards maintaining the status quo. Needless to say, most of the attending proles didn't make it and the ones that did either sold their soul out to do it or were smart enough to keep their mouth shut. With no way out, few youths were sated with small annual dividends that consistently fucked up year after year and instead many turned to the underground economy. Long a thorn in the side of the technocrats, after the 1950s the black market exploded in size and complexity as the formal economy continued to stumble along. In 1970, it was estimated that over 90% of proles had participated in the black market in some form, and half of those people operated or previously operated an underground business. At that point the black market encompassed nearly any product the customers could barter for, ranging from alcohol to guns to car parts or for services like markets and gambling halls if they knew where to look. Dealing in the black market proved to be very profitable and many prole families grew very wealthy and powerful in their community. For this reason, these families largely represented the communities they serve to the technocrats. Faced with this monumental but technically illegal institution, the best efforts of the Continental Guard could only chip away at it; the technocrats learned the hard way that any major attempt at a crackdown would be met with major backlash. So they pressed softly but firmly, taking out and breaking up the less popular businesses, before taking swipes at more ordinary targets. As the years passed even the light pressure proved too much, and the general apathy of the population melted away into simmering discontent.
Despite their role in the current state of America, the technocrats fully believed that the ones to save America would not be the uneducated masses, but the esteemed graduates of America's best universities and technical schools, well versed in their field of study and party politics. Director Jackson himself was a law school graduate, although his graduation had been postponed because of his participation in the purges of the Corrective Revolution. In his early days, Jackson was a low level member of the Committee for Technocracy, shadowed by leaders such as Hugh S. Johnson. With the passing of Harry Hopkins in January 1976, it quietly signaled the end of the original revolutionary generation and the start of a new era in Technate, despite as much Jackson wanted to pretend otherwise. Of course some did embrace the fact that things needed to change, but they kept their heads down so they could keep their necks. One of these people was a prominent official for the Special Sequence of Social Relations, Birch Bayh. A prominent government lawyer and master at technocratic politicking, being one of the few to climb to the top without sacrificing all of his principles. Still Bayh sacrificed quite a few of them in his time at Yale CEU with his legal and political studies. It was impressive for a son born to a family that was rather low on the Technocratic hierarchy. He built his career as an effective but fair(ish) prosecutor in handling legal cases among the prole population, especially with dealing with the more nasty parts of the black market. Despite the fact his job entailed bringing cases against the proles, over the years he gained a new perspective as he liked to say. From interviews and case studies in the field, he began to fully grasp the life of an average prole instead of just reading numbers on economic reports or judicial records. With it he understood the true significance of the black market beyond just their economic survival: it was a means to gain their self worth. With this knowledge in hand, he had a desire to help, but he still had a paternalistic view of them, typical of the educated.
With his relatively modest upbringing, unorthodox ideas, and sympathy for the proles, he was quite an oddball candidate for a position on the Continental Board. Still his work record was impressive and he was quite knowledgeable on the intricacies of prole society that could not easily be explained on a spreadsheet. With the proles growing increasingly restless, Director Jackson reluctantly appointed him Director of the Special Sequence of Social Relations, which in turn gave him a seat on the Continental Board in July 1976. It has been often said that Director Jackson simply wanted Bayh to advise the Board on how to keep the proles complacent. Of course Bayh had other ideas. Despite the hardliners continually maintaining power in the Board since the Corrective Revolution, their grip had been slowly weakening. By the time Bayh came along, several were openly reformist to various degrees and many more were sympathetic to their ideas. Presumably the hardliners expected Bayh to just be another one in the ranks and fall in line like the rest. Unfortunately for them, Bayh soon started gathering support from the reformists and openly voicing proposals for Director Jackson to consider, much to the latter's annoyance. Jackson could have easily dismissed Bayh, but his appointment to the Continental Board had been done with some public fanfare, as the move was done as a public relations gesture. Thus, the Director decided to slowly cut out Bayh from the Board meetings, label him as a poor worker, and quietly dismiss him from his post as Director of Social Relations and the Board after several months. In time, this would have likely worked and Bayh would have been just another reformist whose career had been snuffed. However as fate would have it, Bayh would have a pivotal role in the months to come that would shake the very foundation of the American Technate.
Last edited:
