An Election of Words

3 Best Intention by Gadiel G. Madriaga

The year is 2024 and Gideon has achieved time travel. The need for it seemed to be very appropriate considering the world’s current state. He has no interest in making great personal gains. No great love to pursue or desires to become rich and famous. He’s tormented by many great regrets in his life but one, in particular, troubles him most. Gideon is regretful with who he had voted for. He intends to go back in time and change it.

Time travel is not as complicated of a task as one might think. After all, Gideon did achieve the feat all by himself. Inspired by popular literature and film, it took him years and years of dedicated research and practice. He studied mathematics and physics, teaching himself all he will need to know. All of which he learned through internet videos, articles, and obscure online forums. All for him to be able to traverse back in time with a single controlled thought.

Gideon focuses on a specific moment in the past and thrusts backward through time. He arrives on Election Day within his body as he was at that time, several years younger. He wastes no time and makes his way to his nearby voting location and casts his ballot for the opposing party. Satisfied with himself, he sticks around to witness the results and embrace the air of a better time.

It came as no surprise- nothing became of his efforts. The results of the election remain unchanged. Gideon feels, at least, like he can have a clear conscience.

Upon returning to his time, Gideon remembers the dystopia he lives in. He begins to fantasize about a better world. He wonders about the possibilities of his new ability. It would be irresponsible of him, he thought, to not make any attempts at bettering the world. He owes it to society. Yet, he is only one man, and the winner of that election was not decided by one vote. He has to give more effort to make real changes. So, he takes his precious time and gives it more thought. He’s mastered time travel, after all. He’s got all the time in the world.

Gideon returns the next day with a plan. It’ll be quite the undertaking, but he believes to have the resolve to take on such endeavors. He set forth many years prior with intentions of convincing others of his reasoning. To have an active role in the community and bring change to as many voters as possible for the cause. He attends rallies and protests. He becomes a figurehead often speaking in front of thousands of potential voters. He becomes a unifying and inspiring force for change. In a short time, he’s spearheading many local ballots and offices.

As the general elections approach, Gideon leads a march of thousands of voters to the polls. This time, he thinks, with the support of enough people to make an actual impact. Once again, he votes. Once again, he fails. He loses to his rival for public office. The presidential election result remain unchanged. Neither of which he could understand why. He returns to his time in dejection and without any sense of direction.

Gideon thinks to himself what he might have neglected. He wonders whether he had tried hard enough. Whether he explored all available avenues. Did he not aim high enough? Somewhere higher up the ladder that will afford him more opportunities. He traverses many times more to the past. Each jump redirects his pathway toward his ultimate goal. Using each unique position to do what is right for the people. He treads the floors of the Capitol Building through several attempts. He dabbles with major federal government agencies in a few instances. In others, he enters into judiciary roles within some of the highest courtrooms. Each time leads to the same barren results. Time after time. Position after position. Life after life. Learning more with each role but becoming more callous with each failure.

Back in his time, Gideon grows weary of research. He sits down in his lavish and lofty mansion home in the new successful life he’s led. He begins to reminisce of good times and good people. Of all the lives he’s lived and all the hard work he’s put into his cause. He longs for the bittersweet memories of the many jumps through time. Though the world around him is still in tatters, he realizes now what his efforts have brought him. A distinguished life on the hillsides in a placid gated community. He saunters about his home in fascination with the paintings on his walls. He wonders at the extravagance of the craftsmanship of the architect. Giddy with curiosity and confusion, he studies the many gadgets and gizmos laid about. He stands in the doorway of his extensive garage and stares in awe. A small collection of expensive vehicles- a yacht, an RV, a couple of ATVs, several sports cars, and a top-of-the-line luxury SUV. The latter belonging to his wife.

The memories are flooding into Gideon’s mind. He’s gotten married since he jumped back from the past. He’s in love with this woman but he can’t overcome the feeling that she’s become unfaithful. She has become distant since the abortion. He thinks about how she was able to take care of that. That she should be thankful for him. Not a single financial worry for once in his life. He cannot complain about his hard-earned, well-deserved wealth.

Gideon stands on his bedroom balcony overlooking the vast city from the hillside. He could see the dark spots where all the lights have shut off and emptiness looms. He feels a slight but sharp pain in his heart. Clutching his chest and shaking his head, he recognizes an omen. “This world deserves better,” he reflects. He steps away from the balcony railings. Mentally withdraws himself from the temptations. All for the sake of the world.

Gideon thinks of all that allows for his lifestyle. The products and services he takes advantage of to allow for this luxurious living. All that were enabled by hard-working sweat. By broken backs. By spilled blood. All for the commodities and comforts of strangers. He thinks of what sacrifices it must have taken. The travesties committed. The money involved.

It hits him.

Gideon looks back on his time in various government positions. He recalls certain moments with certain colleagues. Implications to their unwavering devotion for any particular cause. Even in spite of their constituents. Even in spite of morals or ethics.

Gideon jumps back in time and straight to business. His mind dances with thoughts of where he can go if he has more money. What he can accomplish with more money. The many more people who would follow him if he has more money.

The entertainment industry looks most promising to him. Film, musical and athletic stars have not only the money but also the platform to spread a message. To promote a new way of life. He doesn’t have those kinds of talents to speak of. He has a different experience from having lived many lives. It allows for his mentality to shift and make the appropriate adjustments.

He takes control as a major corporate executive. From there he sees where the true powers lie. Who and what he can control with such power. He starts focusing on making powerful allies. On gaining trust from wealthy and influential individuals from celebrities to government officials. If they’re uncooperative or stubborn, he forces them into compromising situations. He places them into his pockets. Holds them like a retainer with strings attached and paid for with trepidation. When the time comes to move the masses in a certain direction, he places the call and pulls the strings.

Now, all that remains for the world to see is what he wants them to see. If he controls how the people of the world view the world, he controls the narrative. As an omnipresent shadow looming over humanity, he casts himself as a new movie release. A new catchy song. The next festival or convention. The latest tech device or fashion trend. Who won the match? Who lost the bout? Who’s terrorizing your countrymen? Who’s striking fear in your neighborhood? Inciting anger deep in your psyche and deeper in your hearts. Raising children of hate into a society of violence. While the zealots clutch onto these self-destructive distractions, he slips through undetected.

A bill enters before Congress presenting within it new laws. Many of which benefit him beyond measure. A majority of those representing a seat occupy his influence. All voting to appease him. Whether they’re for or against, these people sway in his direction like a moth toward the light. Whether contrary to the public’s interests. Whether it enhances the public’s livelihoods. Whether it heals, maims, saves, or kills. Whichever direction to progress his cause. To bring him in a position to control the next leader of the “free” world. And so, he does.

The votes no longer matter.

He does it with clever and effortless manipulation. Turning millions of people against each other over trivial pursuits. The majority of the planet quarreling over insignificant concerns. All while he gets behind the wheel and steers society at his whim. He issues the command from atop his castle in the mountains and a new trend appears for everyone to follow. A new scandal emerges to gossip. A new threat to fear. A new crisis to avert.

Many disagree with the direction the country is going. They amass onto the streets wielding homemade signs of defiance. They chant songs of war and revolution. The police intervene, riots ensue, and buildings catch fire. Homes and businesses lay waste to opportunistic looting and wanton destruction. Panic spreading faster than the structure fires could burn and raze. None the wiser to his existence, the world crumbles to its knees before him and into ruins. Leaving only him and his insignificant group of unwitting followers to reign.

All according to plan, he thinks. Nobody will get in the way of achieving his goal of being able to make real change. Nobody will get in his way before all his hard work and determination come to fruition. Even more so as he becomes such a great influence in the global economy that it ebbs and flows with his every movement. Only the sun and moon have more influence on the planet than him.

He sits in his home office with a scenic view now higher up a mountain at the top of the world. Contemplating his victories and recollecting his thoughts, he looks out over his empire and sees the dark spots in a city in tatters. With the image of ruins, he reminds himself of his original timeline. Confused, he travels forth to bear witness the fruits of his labors. Attempts to enable the jump back to where he came from meet him with failure. He realizes where he is. So much time has passed since he last jumped. The future in which he originated has long become past and overwritten. It is no longer a time he can return to. His destiny manifests in an instant.

The votes never mattered.

The thought disturbs him. In dissent with himself and who he has become, he fast forwards into the future. In search of evidence of a thriving world dominated by him, he jumps days at a time. Then by the weeks yet still no signs of a world in wealth. He jumps by the months, then by the years, and still nothing. Though his own prosperity seems to grow, the rest of the world deteriorates further. He jumps decades out into the future from his new timeline and finds himself on his own deathbed and in mental ruins. Having lost his mind in old age, Gideon dies. His consciousness is flung into nothingness. The world now better off without him.