Interviewer: So then Blake... may I call you Roj?

Blake: No.

Int: Right - OK. So then - why did you become a freedom fighter?

B: To fight for freedom.

Int: I see. Haven't you ever worried about the fact that people might find freedom burdensome?

B: Are you some sort of idiot? We must fight until we are free, and then we'll be happy.

Int: Haven't you ever read Gide's "The Immoralist"? It disturbingly reveals the tortures of freedom... Or how about Dostoyevsky's "Notes from the Underground"? This novella reveals vividly the ingratitude of mankind and its delight in suffering hardships.

B: No I haven't - you know perfectly well they are censored.

Int: Yes indeed - but they are available on the black market, and I would have thought that a political activist would be interested in such works...

B: Well I'm not! I don't read that much...

Int: Have you studied deeply the methods that previous political activists used? Or have you studied historical texts that describe the appalling suffering that occurs when a totalitarian state is successfully overthrown?

B: Not really... I haven't had the time - what with my friends and family being murdered!

Int: I'm sorry Blake... It's just that I am a little worried about your education in politics...

B: I'm an Alpha Grade!

Int: I know... but I have never read any of your political treatises...

B: That's because I haven't written any! We need action, not words!

Int: Aren't you concerned that your political ignorance and gung ho tactics may damage people more than help them?

B: How on earth could that happen? My Freedom Party was formed to help the oppressed, not hurt them!

Int: Yes, but what of the ordinary people - those whose loved ones were killed by your Party? Aren't Federation guards human too?

B: Are you a wishy washy liberal or something?

Int: Don't you care?

B: Of course I care! But radical actions always have big consequences... The long term freedom from oppression in the future must outweigh the short term suffering of the present.

Int: But what if you succeed? If you destroy the Federation? What would you replace it with? A constitutional democracy? An oligarchical republic? What?

B: The people would take control.

Int: How exactly?

B: Er... they'll be elected in free democratic elections with a ballot.

Int: Yes, but that is exactly how the Federation was formed.

B: Was it?

Int: Yes! Originally it was elected fairly by a very broad electorate. They elected a radical party that promised to relieve the awful stresses of overpopulation, lack of fossil fuels, unemployment, poverty, high inflation and global warming.

B: Really?

Int: Yes! But the elected government extended their power base by making all other parties illegal and establishing a dictatorship... A democratic system had paved the way for totalitarianism!

B: Well I'll have to ensure that won't happen.

Int: How?

B: Er... by making sure the people will run the entire populated worlds! A committee must be formed that will always represent the people!

Int: So you are saying that you would create a new form of totalitarianism?

B: Am I?

Int: Of course! You are echoing Lenin... and you will, like him, only be able to maintain your ideal vision through terror - basically you would have created another Federation.

B: Oh dear... politics is a bit more complicated than I thought.

Int: Well you just go away and have a think about it...

B: Right...

Int: I'm sure you will conclude that things are best left as they are - politics should be handled by professional statesmen, not vague idealists.

B: OK. Thanks for the chat... Goodbye!