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# The Elections are Punctual.
- URL: https://www.layersofzoe.net/the-elections-are-punctual/
- Published: 2025-09-24T23:58:45.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-05T12:38:07.000Z
- Author: Layers of Zoe
- Tags: The Follies File, administered cruelty, history

The world  
has not entered a new chapter.  
It has remembered  
an old one.

Power has changed clothes.  
This season: cruelty in neutral tones.

Someone is always explaining  
why this is not the same  
as last time.

The clever say *polycrisis*.  
The tired say it was always like this.  
The young say nothing.  
They film the credits.

The satire writers are on leave.  
They say it is a conflict of interest.

Under a drone-lit sky,  
a hospital becomes a crater  
marked *regrettable*.

The old horror dressed well.  
It carved awe into façades.  
These now arrive  
in suits that do not fit –  
cuff links against subpoenas,  
shuffling between rallies  
and kitsch palaces.

The hats are gone.  
They wear caps now –  
branded,  
authority as merch.  
The stitching already frays at the brim.

The speeches stumble,  
recited by faces  
too tanned for terror,  
too blank for memory.

Blonde mouthpieces are dutiful –  
jaws set to default smile.  
They mispronounce countries  
already burning.

The holy men arrive too –  
clean-shaven, white-shirted.  
Obedience as insurance.  
They nod toward heaven  
and price legitimacy as service.

There are still elections.  
They are punctual.  
The winners praise tradition.  
The losers thank the winners  
for the opportunity.

No tyrant calls himself one.  
No party calls itself extreme.

And still the air thickens  
at the checkpoint.  
And still the silence learns  
to kneel.

Meanwhile, the planet  
is politely preparing  
to dissolve the question entirely.

The world  
has not scripted a new chapter.  
It has revamped  
an old one.

The arc of history *is* long  
and it bends  
toward  
real estate.

The contract is signed.  
The water is listed.  
The shade, leased.

You should have bought sooner.